Classic Pix – Retko Atkinson

#5   Shot in 1987, this International Atkinson 4870 worked for Retko – Steve Reddy and Kevin Kitto – and was set up to for the, then, looming arrival of the 44-tonne era.

The truck produced 400hp from its Cummins 86NT powerplant, and the tractor cost $243,000 (gst inclusive).

This particular rig was owned by Steve, and it’s identical sister rig was co-owned by Steve and Kevin, were put on the road to do the Turangi-swap run, and while these days that’s nothing special – back in the eighties – double shifting and the Turangi swap were novel innovations that followed the deregulation of the road transport industry in 1984.

Basically an International T-line Eagle, the Atkinson had a better spec for this run, and Steve and Kevin opted for the longer legs of the Atkinson over the Eagle when they placed the order.

For more on how we got to the High Productivity – 50-Max- current era – hit this link.