Mail truck delivers again

Abigail Spink

After years stuck in a valley shed, the 1928 SF46 mail truck is being painstakingly rebuilt by local craftspeople, with hopes it will once again travel the historic Molesworth mail route.

A 1928 mail truck that once carried medicine, groceries and mail through the remote Awatere Valley is slowly being brought back to life.

An expert team of craftspeople from the Marlborough Vintage and Farm Machinery Society is restoring the SF46 truck, which was used to supply farms in the valley during the 1930s, taking over from horse-drawn carts. The restoration began in 2025, and the team hopes to have the truck back on the road in around six months.

Once finished, they plan to recreate the historic mail run (also known as the Molesworth run) alongside the modern mail truck currently operating on the route, which the team describes as a “lifeline” to the rural community.

Recovered from a shed in the Waihōpai Valley, where it had been stored by a society member, the truck was in poor condition when restoration began. Thanks to funding from the Lottery Environment and Heritage Fund (LEH), a dedicated team of woodworkers, engineers, and panel beaters has been able to reconstruct the vehicle, restoring it as closely as possible to its original condition.

Graham Wadsworth, a woodworker responsible for the reconstruction of the wooden cab, says their work so far has amounted to 160 hours, with more to go until completion. He explains the project has challenged the team, due to the dilapidated condition of the truck and a lack of specifications.

“When we started, we only had a door and a photograph to get all the right measurements” he explains.

His team from the Marlborough Guild of Woodworkers have crafted the cab predominantly from American Ash, which they believe to be the same type of wood used for the original. Work is still to be done to complete the dashboard, the seat, the flooring and the roof.

Gerard Logan, Secretary of the Marlborough Vintage and Farm Machinery Society, says great skill is required to carry out the restoration, as the team are working predominately off photographs to recreate their sections of the truck.

“The level of craftsmanship in here is exceptional. I don't even dream to get to this level at the end of my career. There are no specifications, there's no manual, there's no blueprint for any of this.”

Robbie Torrington, a panel beater with 60 years of experience who is restoring the truck’s body, has created a new bonnet by combining parts from three separate bonnets and using the salvaged original as a template.

He says finishing the truck will be “a big achievement… especially considering what condition it was in when we started.”

The original 6-cylinder Lycoming engine is currently being reconditioned, and engineers including John Griffin, Myles Emanuel and Gordon Taylor are working on restoring the axels and differentials, “mixing and matching some bits to get everything to fit… and making new pieces” says John.

John Simmons, a mail truck driver on the Molesworth run from 1958 to 1973, recalls the difficulties of back country driving across tricky terrain and through fords, and says the run would have been “very challenging” in the original truck in the 1930s. The run is now operated by Allan and Carrie Harper and carried out in a four-wheel-drive Ute.

John, who knew L. N. (Brum) Nation freight carriers, the owners of the original truck, says eventually seeing it back on the road will be “absolutely marvellous”, “if I’m still around” he jokes.

For Gerard, being able to demonstrate the impressive development of engineering over the decades is motivation for finishing the project.

“It’s about the story of innovation. It's the beginning of the story for trucking and the end of horses… and then of course we've got the innovation story right through to today” he says.

Bringing to life a historic part of the community’s story and New Zealand’s heritage is just as important, he explains:

“It's a link to our living heritage and something that's been part of the Molesworth Mail run for over 100 years. It's extremely important for us not only because it shows people how innovation has got to this point, but it also shows how people lived 100 years ago… and how important those services actually were.”