Paul Gleeson (left), with Mike Cameron (right), who restored the Albion, a truck which once belonged to Pahīatua County Council.
Editor’s note:
Mangatainoka resident Paul Gleeson reminisces about an Albion truck once owned by Pahīatua County Council.
It’s believed that the truck was brought over from the UK, sailing from Glasgow in April 1926. Paul’s story, in his own words, is an example of his love of vintage machinery and his tenacity in efforts to own the vehicle.
OPINION
By Paul Gleeson
For me, it all started around 1952. I was about 9 and I noticed the Albion truck parked at JC Davidson’s – they were manufacturing engineers in Main St, Pahīatua.
What attracted the truck to me was a number of brass cast badges which were in excellent condition.
I saw the boss of the engineering firm. Bert Barton was a short, tubby man and very growly towards kids who disturbed him (ie. me). Mr Barton always wore a dust coat and his eyebrows met when he was talking to kids.
I asked him about the Albion and he informed me that it was none of my business.
“Why are you not at school?” he asked.
So I asked him, could I remove the badges?
He told me it was getting converted to a farmer trailer and he couldn’t see that the badges would be of any value.
He said, yes, I could take them.
So I did. And polished them up and treasured them all my life.
The next time I saw the Albion, I would be around 22 or 23 and it was parked behind a hedge at Joe O’Brien’s, in Scarborough Road, Mangamutu.
Mr O’Brien was a short man, second generation Irish, who talked very fast and was proud to be an Irishman.
He ran a large dairy farm there.
I was very interested to see if could purchase the Albion off him as I knew the history. He assured me he would never sell it.
Over the succeeding years, myself being a general carrier, we did lots of work for Mr O’Brien and it had become an obsession for me to ask if he would sell it.
Quite often, before any conversation was taken on the next farm visit, he would say, “No, Paul.”
As time went on, I became a big truck collector myself and always fancied that I would like a veteran truck and the Albion was pretty complete.
Alas, one day I drove past and the Albion was gone.
I dived in to find Mr O’Brien and he said: “I always told you Paul, that I would never sell it (to you).” But he told me that a fellow Irishman had called in and said if he could purchase it, he would take it back to Ireland, that he would restore it and write O’Brien Brothers on the door.
Joe O’Brien had two brothers: Jim and Vince. And they all thought it was marvellous.
So once again, I wrote the project off.
However, many years later, my brother Maurice and I had gone to see the Foxs at Ōtaki – Stewart and his sons Brendon and Jeff.
I remember the day clearly because it was teeming with rain. I dashed out of the car to shelter in a shed where the Foxs were standing and upon looking across the yard, my eyes focused on the Albion. I couldn’t believe what I was looking at.
Getting totally drenched, I walked over and had a look at it. Lo and behold it was Mr O’Brien’s Albion. I said: “How come?”
The Foxs all giggled and said there was an Irishman out doing the Pan Pacific Rally and Stewart knew this man, so they paid a visit to Mr O’Brien where the Irishman conned him that he was going to take it back to Ireland and restore it.
But Stewart told me: “It ain’t going back to Ireland – I’m going to restore it”. So once again it slipped out of my hands.
However, sadly, a few years later, Stewart Fox died. While he was a carpenter by trade, his hobby was restoring motor cars. His sons contacted me and said, “You were so interested. Would you like the Albion back?” Of course.
Back then, I owned an old dairy factory at Mangamutu. So I parked the truck behind the hedge there thinking how ironic is this? It was less than half a kilometre from Mr O’Brien’s.
Meanwhile, I had purchased a 1912 Daimler Type CKA, which is a magnificent truck, and I have fully restored it. I felt I only needed one veteran truck.
Mike Cameron and his wife Jackie, who live in Taupō, had gotten a Thornycroft off me and expressed great interest in the Albion.
So in the end I gave it to Mike and Jackie and they have restored this Albion to brand new condition. It’s perfection-plus.
I was delighted at that stage to give him the badges for it which he didn’t know I had until that moment. I had held onto those badges for 70 years.
Publicly I would like to thank these two folks because this truck is now restored for all time.
