For the past five years, National Transport Insurance (NTI) has been restoring vintage trucks and raffling them off, to raise funds for Motor Neurone Disease (MND).
This year’s truck is a beautiful 1946 electric blue Ford Jailbar called ‘Jolene’, which will be on display at the upcoming Brisbane Truck Show before the winner is drawn live on Sunday, May 16 at the show.
MND is currently a terminal disease with no cure so when NTI’s former CEO Wayne Patterson was diagnosed with MND in 2015 everyone at NTI took on the mission to raise awareness and funds for the MND and Me Foundation. Patterson sadly passed in 2018 but his legacy lives on in NTI’s continued efforts to help MND patients and researchers.
What is Motor Neurone Disease?
MND attacks the nerves, called motor neurones, that connect the brain to the muscles. When they degenerate and die they cause the muscles to weaken and eventually fail altogether. These muscles impact movement, speech, swallowing and breathing but the mind and senses usually remain unaffected.
Unfortunately, the current average life expectancy after receiving an MND diagnosis is only two to three years. Currently, around 2,100 Australians are living with MND, with two more people diagnosed every day in Australia alone.
Why raffle a truck?
When Patterson passed away the team at NTI wanted to do something special to continue his legacy and raise funds for MND research, that would also engage the transport and insurance industries.
That’s when they decided to restore a 1946 International Model K5 and raffle it off in 2017, raising more than $55,000 in proceeds for MND and Me. That’s when the annual truck restoration was born and since then five truck restorations have followed, all equipped with modern engines, power steering, air conditioning, and anti-brake lock systems, making them suitable for day-to-day running.
About Jolene:
Jolene took 1,500 hours to restore to its current, electric blue, glory. It is powered by an Isuzu 4JJ1-TCS 4 cylinder turbo diesel engine, Isuzu MYY-6E 6 speed automatic transmission, complete with custom interior, custom rear tray, custom paintwork, and spring rear suspension. The hot rod body is based on a 2017 Isuzu NLR cab chassis with the Ford Jail Bar cabin and ancillaries being grafted onto a purpose-built engineered chassis. Jolene has been recently valued at $90,000, including registration and on-road costs.
SPEC PREVIEW
1946 Ford Jailbar | GVM: 4,500kg | Engine Power: 110 kw @ 2,800 | 6 Speed Isuzu Automated Manual Transmission (AMT) 2020 Isuzu NLR running gear | Anti-lock Braking System (ABS) | Bespoke interior design, fabrication & trimming.
Raffle tickets are available online at www.nti.com.au/about/community/win-jolene and will be on sale at the Brisbane Truck Show also.
