“Mack’s been in my blood since I was a kid.”

Bryan Menefy has been operating Macks across New Zealand for 17 years, hauling loads of every kind and dimension. He’s also got six in his shed he’s restoring.

Menefy Trucking are a good example of a highly-adaptable transport operation. Carrying everything from steel and concrete through to massive water tanks and 30-metre beams for crane gantries, there aren’t too many loads they won’t tackle.

“We’ll take anything we can fit on basically,” says Managing Director Bryan Menefy, who, over a long career in transport has covered just about every angle, including bulk tipping, general cartage and transporting dangerous goods.

A love for the Mack

Bryan recently bought himself a pand-new Mack Super-Liner and he admits that it was a decision he made with his heart, not his head.

“It’s a totally impractical truck for what we do,” says Bryan “but I went ahead and bought it for myself anyway, just because I can. I chose it for the wow factor and it doesn’t get out on the road much, but my top driver is going to get a run in it soon.”

“It’s been in the blood since I was a kid looking at the trucks in the Mack dealership in Palmerston North,” says Bryan, “I drove Macks for other people for years before I finally bought my first one in 2002, a Super-Liner with a sleeper cab.”

Good-looking, practical trucks

Bryan spends lot of time and money on presentation, but despite his purchase of the Super-Liner for sentimental reasons, he’s got a firm eye on the practical requirements of his business.

“I’m building a B-Train trailer at the moment especially to run overweight loads,” says Bryan “we’ve got a range of job-specific trailers, including step-decks for the big tanks.”

The Macks that haul these trailers include an Ultra-Liner and a Quantum.

“We had four Granites too until recently in our tanker fleet,” adds Bryan, “but we sold that side of the business and we’re down to two now. We’ve had a lot of Macks through this fleet in the last 17 years, and we’d have more if they still built cab-overs like the Ultra-Liner.”

It’s all about the people

Bryan’s a genuine enthusiast and has half a dozen more Macks sitting in his garage in various states of restoration.

“I’ve got six models from what I call my era, the 1980s, an Ultra-Liner, Cruise-Liner, Super-Liner, an FR an R-Model and an MC. They’re a work in progress.”

Despite his love of the trucks themselves, Bryan reckons that the most important factor in his loyalty to the Mack pand has been the people.

“The loyalty side is what counts for me,” he says, “the people at MTD and Mack have been great to do business with the whole time we’ve been operating. We’ve been loyal to them and they’ve been loyal to us. That’s good business.”