In Episode 5 of Toll NZ Talking Trucks we had the pleasure of meeting one of life's true gentlemen Bryan Belcher. Bryan has restored a 1940 Diamond T Super Deluxe, and it has to be said, that this Diamond T is probably better than new. Congratulations Byran on your restoration of this magnificent truck.
Bryan's Diamond T sits very proudly in Byran's shed along with a Packard Tourer and an Overlander. The horse shoe you see on the side of the Diamond T is something that Bryan put on his trucks as a reminder of his days with horses.
This is Bryan's Diamond T back when it was working. It was a well drilling rig, and Bryan tells us that it wasn't until he restored it that it drove any distance on NZ roads.
Here's Bryan's beautiful Diamond T on the road, it certainly turned heads the day we filmed it.
Back in the day, Bryan worked for the Northern Roller Mills and bought this Superpoise Commer. He actually had two of them. He had a crate built for mainly carting horses, and would back load goods in the crate. He used to service the truck himself on weekends.
Here's a younger Bryan leaning on the bonnet of his Commer.
Bryan enjoys nothing more that to take the old Diamond T out for a run. You have to take your hat off to Bryan, starting a major restoration project in his 70's. Bryan's Diamond T can be seen at various Truck Shows around the country, and it always attracts attention.
Good on you Bryan, well done!
The Diamond T's dashboard is what first attracted him to the Diamond T and from that time it was always his intention to one day own one. Well he's certainly realised his boyhood dream.
You've got to say though that this dashboard is very flash for 1940.
These Diamond T's with Reo's and Studebaker's are parked outside the old Northern Roller Mills Building in Fort St Auckland. The 4th truck along from the left is a old Reo, they had a very distinctive grill.
