Max Winkless left school at 13, was working as a truck driver’s ‘boy’ or offsider at 14, and after observing how each driver handled the steering, clutch and gears on a fleet of old Leyland Albions figured it wasn’t all that hard.
By 15 and after a couple of opportunities at standing in for drivers, his boss told him if he had his licence he could work as a driver. The next day the driver he was assisting took him to the police station.
Filling out the form for him, he asked: “How old are you?”
“Fifteen,” he answered.
“No, you’re not. You’re 17,” he replied, and after a run around the block with a police officer Max’s first driving licence was duly issued.
Those were the early days of a career that has spanned eight decades, half of it on and along the east coast of Australia, but ending here in the West, where he built Truck Centre WA from a single Volvo dealership to a conglomerate that heads up Volvo, Mack and UD trucks across the state, with a couple of flings into Foton and Hyundai trucks for a season or two along the way.
And now the global Volvo Group – the biggest truck builder in Europe and third in the world – has bought the business through its local entity, Volvo Group Australia.
What now for Max Winkless?
We spent a couple of entertaining hours with Max at his Perth home recently, reflecting on events that have shaped his life and character through to this, his 97th year.
He’s had his share of excitement – pedalling his Volvo 142S to the 1968 NSW Rally Championship; achieving his dream of bringing the Volvo truck brand to Australia, as well as disappointments, plus a measure of personal tragedies – the loss of his beloved Jeanetta in 2008 and in 2020 the unexpected loss to cancer of their son Phil, who at the time was running the Truck Centre dealership.
Now, he looks at the future with some anticipation of good things still to come, but without the host of plans he always kept on the boil during his working career.
His history is a lesson in hard work, determination, taking good opportunities when they arise and not being shy to turn away from offers that sounded great but didn’t have a future.
A significant one arose in the late 50s when he and one of his shareholders in Mascot NSW-based Truck Sales and Service decided they needed a new truck to compete with the Mercedes-Benz 1418, at the time the most popular truck in the heavy-duty and linehaul sector.
Max headed up most of the NSW operations for Mayne Nickless, as well as Antill Ranger, a large interstate transport group that also sold Mack and Commer trucks.
The Commers were on their way out, the Leylands the transport group operated couldn’t supply parts and the Macks were several thousand dollars more expensive than the Benz.
So, in search of another range of trucks they headed for Europe, as those manufacturers had the most reliable diesel engines.
Max spent three months exploring brands, starting with German-based Krupp Group, who built trucks for construction and military applications. But when Max looked hard at the product, he told his business partner that the brand wasn’t suitable for the Australian market they were targeting.
At the same time Max asked his Mack contact in Europe which of the two brands, Volvo or Scania he would take to Australia. The answer? “Volvo. Technically, the Scania is the better truck, but Volvo will be much better at marketing.”
That was it. 1960, and Max Winkless took on Volvo for Australia.
Back home, after lengthy set-up plans were finalised he imported four F86 4×2 test trucks in 1965 and placed them with Mayne Nickless for three months on the interstate runs where the Benz 1418s were used almost exclusively.
Only one problem arose. The exhaust manifolds split and needed a factory fix, which Volvo did by air freighting replacements out in record time. Mayne Nickless were impressed enough to buy the test trucks, and the business was off and running. By 1972, Volvo trucks equalled Mercedes-Benz market share.
Part of that success was due to expansion of a dealer network. Max and his team had NSW, Queensland and Victoria, but for a national market spread Adelaide and Perth were necessities.
Max knew the Diamond T dealer in Adelaide and had talked him into servicing the test trucks when they reached SA. After working on the trucks and recognising the engineering quality, he agreed to take on the franchise.
During this period, it was clear to Max that Volvo needed to be involved in Australia directly if the brand was really going to achieve its potential.
In 1968 he took a three-page handwritten proposal to those he calls “the Gods” in Sweden, suggesting they form Volvo Trucks Australia. They bought it, and the following year around 50 Swedish executives headed down-under to assist in the set-up.
One of the group directors, Per Eriksson was tasked with heading up the project and was appointed chairman and managing director.
“But he was seldom here, so I ran the company as general manager, which after two years morphed into managing director. I did that for two years and then told him that when I hit 50, I was out of there, which caused some consternation.”
Max made it clear he wanted to be free to sail the world before he was too old!
Ultimately Per Gyllenhammer offered Max a very attractive offer to purchase the Western Australian Volvo Business and sparked his competitive interest by hinting that Volvo wanted Max to work at developing the WA operation to become the focus of heavy-duty trucking on the global scene.
“The challenge to me was to get the Volvo brand worldwide recognition as the high GCM road train prime mover of choice. I think with Truck Centre WA I’ve achieved that, so now I’m handing it back to Volvo – job done.”
Early in the process Max figured he’d got hold of a gold mine. But a lot of the results in WA were leveraged by double depreciation and the investment allowance, both of which were about to terminate. In short, it was much harder than it looked from the outside.
But Max was a people person and headhunted a couple of key individuals who knew the local scene and most of the big customers. The business thrived and led to an operation that is now being taken over completely by the factory.
Outside of the truck industry Max has amused himself with sugar cane farms that had deep river frontages for his boats, other property investments and water skiing.
So how do you get the measure of a man like Max Winkless – teenage truck driver, owner operator, businessman, sailor, rally driver, and truck industry icon?
At the end of our interview, I asked him – “among all the many highlights of your career, is there one that stands out above all the rest?” I was thinking of the first Volvo deal, the biggest fleet sale, or the final sale of the business to the Volvo Group.
He laughed and shook his head at what must have seemed impossible, thought for a few moments as if running through a catalogue in his mind. Then he sparked up. “My honeymoon.”
And that’s another story – a honeymoon from Western Sydney to Adelaide, then Melbourne and back to Sydney in a KB6 International 4×2 with a load of flat steel on the trailer, plus two flat tyres and a bogging on outback dirt roads!
Seems clear to me the 62 years he spent with Jeanetta were the centrepiece of his life.
Everything else simply revolved around that.