Diamond T Texaco truck truck finds new home in New Zealand

NEWBERRY COUNTY — This newspaper uses, “Just Like a Letter From Home,” on its’ masthead. The following story is a letter to “home” from New Zealand from a 1938 Diamond T Texaco (The Texas Company) truck, 614D, 95 HP, 320 CI flathead 6 cylinder with a 1,005 gallon Heil tank. Its’ early life was spent serving businesses in Newberry since it was new 85 years ago.

New Zealand is twice the land size of Florida, and has 5.2 million people, compared to Florida’s 22.6 million. South Carolina’s population is about the same at 5.2 million. Not a very big country, but one that has some dedicated craftspeople.

This truck’s journey to New Zealand began about 11 years ago at an auction for the estate of Wayne Turner, the owner of a Newberry automotive repair facility. It had been stored outside at his facility for about 25 years. The bidding was fierce, but it was eventually won by local businessman Billy Ackerman.

“I really didn’t know what I am going to do with it but my sentimental side wanted to keep it out of the crusher,” he said.

This was the second time Ackerman would own the truck. After being a gasoline tanker for the Texaco distributor delivering gas to Newberry area filling stations for many years, it was sold to a local sawmill at Boyd’s Crossing. It was used to haul water to keep the sawdust down around the mill yard. When “Pink’s” Mill closed, Ackerman’s Used Parts bought it and stored it at the Turner repair facility; however, because it was left at the garage so long, it became part of the Turner estate, which meant if Ackerman wanted it he had to buy it again, and he did.

Soon after the auction, Ackerman had it listed on eBay.

“Someone is looking for this truck,” Ackerman said of the truck.

That someone was New Zealander Hamish Stroud, who bought it and shipped it from South Carolina to California. At the time, no one knew it was going all the way to New Zealand. Getting truck Into the container to ship it to California was a task. It languished there until Peter and Yvonne Phillips bought it and shipped it to New Zealand where it again sat until 2018 when it was finally sold to the current owners and restorers Steve and Sue Keys. Steve Keys learned of the truck after it arrived in New Zealand and pursued Phillips to sell him the truck. He did, and finally Keys could now get his hands on it and start his five-year restoration project.

“I’ve done restorations in the past but the Texaco truck would prove to be a real challenge,” keys said. “Finding any parts for this 85 year old futuristic looking truck was daunting at best, so every piece was painstakingly evaluated, repaired or made new from scratch if necessary.”

Soon after he started, his wife Sue Keys began contacting everyone with questions on the history of the truck. She wanted to document the truck’s history down to the last detail, if she could.

“It took thousands of hours, blogs from around the world and numerous local craftspeople to complete the restoration. This was a project that was not for the faint of heart, but Steve was up to the task,” Sue Keys said.

What makes the project so note worthy is that the truck is thought to be the only one left in the world, with the exception of two other similar Texaco trucks, one in the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation and the other one in the Walter P. Chrysler collection. It is interesting that Chrysler would have one because they are noted for their aero designs in their cars and trucks in the 1930s and 1940s. Which adds another 6,000 pounds to the truck’s weight.

“There is a third streamlined tanker at the Richardson museum in Invercargill, New Zealand and a fourth privately owned in Atlanta, Ga. None of these have the unique 1,005 Heil tank,” Sue Keys said. “It is impossible to assign a dollar value to the project.”

A truck of this size and scope is seldom put through a restoration process. The exchange rate between the US dollar and NZ is $158 to $100 US dollars. In addition how do you calculate the thousands of hours from volunteer workers. The eBay selling price was $1,200 US.

If you have a mind to visit the Keys and see the truck at the Classic Museum a round trip ticket to New Zealand will set you back about $2,500 and keep you in the air about 14 hours.

If you have any additional information on the truck, or pictures, you would like to share with the owners, you can reach them at, contactus@texacotankerproject.com.