We looked, but Google Maps couldn’t find a direct route from Amsterdam to the US. Not ‘the wrong way’, someone very deliberately brought this old Scania V8 to America. Although the truck was given a license plate from Florida, the Dutch license plate is still on the nose. A Bruce Wilson is now the owner of a truck with a long history in the Netherlands and Belgium.
The YouTuber claims that the truck was purchased in 1997 by Belgian company Ronnie Sisters Transport. The truck came to the Netherlands at some point and in 2007 the truck took second place in the ‘Tractor over 300,000 kilometers’ category during the Truck Show Liesel. Finally, it appears to have been used by fairground operator Vermolen Amusements. Some of the stickers are still on the Scania.
MOT last expired in 2016. Somewhere between then and now, Dutch Scania was exported to America. Why? Probably because they think such a rare show truck is cool. Just as we think driving a Mustang is cool, some Americans think owning a European truck is cool. The current owner wanted to import the Scania to the US for a while, but it was simply for sale.
The Scania V8 is much lower than the American trucks
According to the self-proclaimed ‘idiot American’ filmmaker, Europe has ‘many small countries in one small area’. This explains why the trucks are so short compared to American trucks. He thinks we are afraid that trucks will not fit in our country otherwise. In fact it relates to the maximum length a compound can be; The truck is short, the trailer is long.
The years have not been too kind to Scania as the truck’s chassis has rusted away. The new owner plans to replace the back of the frame with an American frame. Would he consider bringing a better copy to America, but it would have to be a manual version.
