Manufacturers Bottle Co - photos guaranteed to make you thirsty

Murray Langford has sent in a wonderful batch of photos taken by Andy McNabb when he worked for the Victorian Manufacturers Bottle Co on the Darwin run. Sent to Murray by Zane Morrison, no background is known about the photos so any information as to the trucks, the companies and even the locations would be great please. Do any of the trucks still survive?

I've kept the original dimensions of the photos so you can see the original format of what are great archival items. How good would it be to see these combinations as restored vehicles? Lots of investment - yes - but what fun!

Above: An MBC Kenworth with a Foster's Lager roof sign. I'm hopeless with Kenworth models. Can anyone ID please? The B61 behind appears to have two stock crates hooked up with what looks like a water tank for the stock trailing the second trailer. Below: Sigh. Leyland bonnets! Super Hippos I reckon but definitely all MBC trucks. Any more details?

Another B61, this time a B61T I reckon, of Sydney Melb Transport. The tarp says DR & G Miller - Sydney (ring a bell with anyone?). The Kenworth with the impressive roobar has what looks like 'Cold Tap' on its headboard so must be another MBC beastie.

Out and about in NZ with HP

Howard Pettigrew, Commer nut and owner of http://www.commer.org.nz/ , travels around a fair bit for work (and attending old truck rallies) so he regularly comes across old bangers that have seen better days, have been lovingly restored or, as is the case with this selection, are still giving their owners good service. Here's what H had to say about these three old girls:

The Inter was in the fog one morning - just up the road from where I live when I had an early start to Mid Canterbury. I was at the extreme of my camera's zoom. Must get a better one some time!

The Dodge/Commer RG was on a farm just outside the town I was working in called Methven. It had a load of seed of some sort on board and the farmer was sowing with his late model John Deere. There is another RG Commer on another farm nearby that is also in regular use. The interesting thing is that if you look closely at the Dodge you will see the lazy axle is in front of the drive and has only one wheel offset to the rear wheels, i.e. the track of the tyre is between the inner and outer rear. There are two TKs in the district with the same setup so it must be a local, and unusual, conversion.

Earlier this month after attending a commercial run of the Canterbury Branch of the Vintage Car Club around Christchurch I came across the early '60s KW which was being used as a tractor unit for a transporter.

How to bed your rings and de-glaze your bores...

This is probably a photo many of you have seen already particularly the Victorian and SA chaps. Similarly, many of you will have seen photos of Murray Langford's stunning 1969 12-cylinder Kenworth LW924. Murray decided she needed to do a bit of work...