Mack 88 Superliner – part of Bourke's history

Kevin “Plugger” Bowden’s restored Mack 88 Superliner was a big attraction at the Casino Truck Show Photo Aitken Photography

Plugger Bowden setting the national record at Bourke in 1994 for the longest road train – pulling 29 stock crates with the mighty Mack 88 Superliner PHOTO supplied

An important piece of Bourke’s history was on show in Casino at the weekend, the star attraction of the Casino Truck Show.

The Mack 88 Superliner was once the most famous truck in Australia, when Plugger Bowden set a national record in 1994 for the longest road train - 29 stock crates attached to the mighty Mack, driving into the streets of Bourke.

Since its glory days, the truck has had a chequered history, clocking up more than five million kilometres across outback roads until it literally ran out of gas and ended up in a yard in Bourke.

The truck has now has been brought back to mint, showroom condition after a loving restoration in Toowoomba and is officially the best restoration of its kind in the country.

The story begins in 1994, when Plugger set the road train record, continuing the Bowden name as a legendary name in the trucking industry.

Read more in the printed edition of the Western Herald.