Iveco Australia has moved to ensure its venerable and most succesful ever truck model will be preserved for posterity, by donating the last ever Acco built at its Dandenong plant to the Australia’s National Road Transport Museum in Alice Springs, and Truck and Bus News/Transport & Trucking Australia has played a significant role in making it happen.
We were honoured to be asked by Iveco to be a part of the story by driving the truck that transported the last Acco to Alice Springs last week, arriving in time for just in time for the Australian Festival of Transport which is being held at the Museum this weekend. We completed the delivery drive with the Acco on a float towed by Iveco’s latest model, a new S-Way prime mover, owned and operated by vehicle movement and logistics company, PrixCar.
The last locally manufactured Euro 5 ACCO rolled off the production line at the former Dandenong plant in November 2019 and has been in storage in Melbourne ever since, riding out the Covid shutdowns until it was able to be moved to the Museum.
The truck is the last example of the fully built local model before it was superseded in 2020 by a European sourced version based on a global platform.
The donation to the Museum will see the truck on regular display, allowing visitors to see the lineage of the last totally Australian designed and engineered truck through a succession of other Acco models on display at the Alice Springs institution. The donated 6×4 Acco cab chassis is finished in bright red paintwork and will be a stand out for visitors for generations to come.
The truck was transported using PrixCar Services’ new S-Way AS 550 prime movers with a drop deck trailer.
Iveco ANZ Managing Director, Michael May, said that the National Road Transport Museum was a fitting home for the final Acco produced locally.
“In the late 1960s through to the early 2000s, the Acco played a massive role in Australia and New Zealand, being the truck of choice for a great many applications including general freight, linehaul, emergency service work and vocational duties including waste collection and agitator work,” May said.
“In more recent years Acco’s primary focus was the refuse industry where it continues to be a favourite among operators for its extreme reliability and low total cost of ownership benefits, in what is arguably one of the most demanding truck applications there is.
“At the end of 2019, Iveco celebrated the delivery of the 90,000th Acco, a testament to the overall success of the model, so the truck’s inclusion within the National Road Transport Museum is deserved and well earned.
“And while it may mark the end of an era, we very much look forward to what the future holds with the imminent release of all-new Acco,” May said.
In accepting the donation, Road Transport Historical Society Inc. CEO, Nick Prus, cited the contribution that Acco has made to the Australian road transport landscape over many years.
“We’re very very happy and grateful that Iveco considered us for this donation,” Prus said.
“As an exhibit, the last locally manufactured Euro 5 Acco aligns very well with the goals of the museum: to preserve the heritage of the local road transport industry. The Acco will be on permanent displace in the ‘Trucks in Action’ venue, which showcases the diversity of vehicles that were built in Australia.”
Iveco says that while this generation Acco has been consigned to history, it will make the latest iteration of the model available in Australia in the coming months, saying that it is already taking significant multi vehicle orders for the truck from several national fleet operators in the refuse sector.
The company says that the latest models build on the underpinnings of its predecessors, while also introducing the latest in modern technologies and appointments for owners and drivers.
Iveco says that advancements include the latest active and passive safety features, powerful yet efficient engines that meet stringent Euro 6 (Step E) emission standards, and enhanced cabins that are more comfortable and fatigue-reducing.
It says that a further benefit of the new Acco is the availability of a locally designed and engineered dual control system that was designed specifically for the model.
It says that its Australian engineers and product teams also consulted widely with industry, particularly the refuse sector, to ensure the model is fit-for-task and continues to be a leader in demanding vocation-based applications.
