HCVC

Robert Hyde

By Robert Hyde

My love for trucks goes back to when I was 10 or 12 years old and Dinky toys were the ones to collect. Doing any odd jobs to earn money I would then splash out on a boxed Dinky truck or tractor toy. If I worked really hard, I would buy the Super Toy’s which were about one guinea or 21 shillings.

My first Super Toy was a maroon Foden with chains and eight wheels - all singles at the time. I still have two of them in my collection of approximately 500 Dinky’s, Corgis and many other brands. Whilst I don’t play with them anymore – I enjoy looking at them.

One of my favourites is the B model Mack in all its splendour. When I was about 20, I was lucky enough to hitch a ride in a B61 Mack from Bell Bros. in Guildford and go for a trip to Port Hedland.

We have been a building company since about 1922 which was started by my Grandfather Harry and I have never really considered our role in transport only in building. When I sit back and think about it, the building materials needed to be transported to sites somehow. Sometimes this was done by contractors, but also we had to have our own trucks.

My Grandfather started out with a bike and a Gladstone bag tied to his handlebars and did all his work around West Guildford which is now Bassendean where we still reside. We never shifted very far.

When my father was alive he told me they bought a brand new Chevrolet one ton truck which was delivered to our building yard in Bassendean much to the delight of everyone. This was 1926.

The truck came as an engine and firewall and you built your own body to suit your business. My father and his father proudly drove it to Guildford, both sitting on the fuel tank which was where the seat was situated. The body was built by a company named Douglas Jones which was eventually taken over by Millar’s and then Bunnings - and the rest is history.

The Chev did many years hard work and my Grandfather gave it away about 1960. When I started my building career in 1962 a bit of nostalgia started to creep in and after I and Lorraine were married I went looking for a 1926 Chevrolet truck to restore. I found one for $50 not realising the work and money that was required to restore old vehicles.

In my early years, you could not get your truck licence until you were 21. I remember another Chev around 1944 with big singles, an Austin with a C cab all wood and no doors and on the metal dashboard the carpenters had scratched their girlfriends’ names - and there were many. The next truck was a Ford Thames which I learnt to drive with its crash gearbox. She never let us down, slow but steady.

The next truck was a Bedford J3 which was my daily drive, but being a young guy I was always in hurry and it was too slow. It was sold and that was the start of my Holden one tonnes which I still have one to this day.

Fast forwarding to the 4th generation of Hyde Builders – of our four sons, Scott has been running the company for 16 plus years now which means Lorraine and myself have taken a back seat.

The business has expanded quite a bit since the days of the old 1926 Chevrolet that my Grandfather bought. The business now has five Isuzu’s which have been very reliable and trouble free.

Our grandson, Kristian, has completed his Carpentry apprenticeship and hopefully the fifth generation will continue to be as successful as the past ones.

In summing up, even though we have not really been in the trucking industry as most know it, we have always been around trucks..