E’volvo’lution Chapter 12

The first truck was going to get the internal changes and the paintwork only so we could get it out on the road. The next two would be worked on together with Bjorn doing the interior and the LED lighting. The tractors would only have LED’s in the lightning from the hammer, meeting in the middle of the grill.

Now, with my new electronics knowledge, I had an idea of just what it would take to make our ideas work. We would have a computer in the cab to drive the light show, another in each of the trailers to handle their lights, and a fourth in the front trailer to manage the other three and the pyrotechnics when we fitted it.

Greger had a friend in the fireworks business who had designed a simple unit which carried four pairs of canisters on a rack driven by a stepping motor. One canister had the flash and the other did smoke. When it was set in motion it would move the rack forward after the show and bring the next pair into place. It had an electric ignition and I was looking forward to seeing it work.

We were now well into October and Anders decided that we had to start our official runs on the first of November, or as close to it as we could, so that we got our second payment before Christmas.

The new main building was coming along well, including the interior framework of the offices and all the other rooms. I asked Anders about the extra building to one side and was told that it would be a motel-like building for drivers to stay in rather than sending them to hotels.

He said he had a friend that ran nursing homes who would set it up so that it could be serviced by his staff as needed.

When Halina flew in I was there with Berget to greet her. I could have stayed home for all the good it was.

“Hi, Ant, here, take her,” was all the greeting I had as she thrust Agnis my way.

The lovers only had eyes for each other and it was down to me and Berget to organise the luggage. Before we knew it, they were off. Luckily, I put Agnis in the booster seat for them or else I may well have been left ‘holding the baby’.

Berget looked at me and we both cracked up laughing and then went home. Anders had organised a dinner for her arrival but when the couple arrived late we may as well be sitting at another table. Astrid had stayed at home looking after Agnis.

Anders took so much and then instructed Greger to pay attention to everyone else and I looked at Halina and gave her a wink. She decided that ‘us girls’ needed to powder our noses so we went to the toilets where she hugged me for the first time since she had arrived, hugged Berget and told her that I was difficult to get on with but was a push-over, really.

After that she was much more attentive and, by the end of the evening was on good terms with her future in-laws.

Greger became more focussed than before on his painting and the first ‘Maiden’ was ready to work by the end of the following week; which was good as we needed as many trucks as we could muster.

Late in that week the factory told us we had six to pick up so we needed to organise a trip back to Sweden. I got a call from Q next day to tell me that we had a pick-up from the Bofors factory in Karlskoga, just a bit of a detour between the factory and Stockholm and to send all of our Army drivers only. He sent through the paperwork for the pick-up and delivery.

I told Anders and Gustav who said, “I guess we’re officially starting next week then.” I was, by that time, wondering just how Q knew everything that was going on but, I suppose, that was his job.

I joined the eight drivers and we carried small two-way radios as well so we could talk on a separate channel even though we had CB.

We flew directly to Gothenburg and picked up the six tractors, driving to Karlskoga where we picked up three double and three single trailers, as well as a bunch of paperwork that would get it all through customs without being opened. We overnighted at an army base not far from there, wearing our Swedish army kit, and then drove to Stockholm and the ferry.

I was driving a double that was bound for the army base at Tartu. Helena had a single that was heading for the base on the border with Latvia.

There were two person teams with the other two doubles which were destined for bases in Germany and the other three girls had the remaining two singles that needed to get to two bases not far apart near Paris. They would drive in convoy, swapping the drive between the three of them.

All of the ones leaving Estonia were instructed not to stop if possible but overnight in motels on the way back, using the company card.

It taught us something very quickly and that was to expect anything. All of the girls were much more committed when they all came back.

Of course, by that time we were sending crews out with more deliveries, mainly from the stores we had warehoused. I had two days at home, getting fussed over by Berget, and then a week later I took another six drivers to Gothenburg again to pick up the last six trucks.

The factory had been pushed to look after us so the manufacture was prioritised. With an output of over a hundred trucks a day, a couple wouldn’t be a big thing except the need for a lot of non-standard components.

By the end of November we had our full set of big trucks, as well as three normal ones that had been resprayed and refitted. Greger and Bjorn had employed extra staff to work on the new trucks with Bjorn being the one to fit the military radios and upgraded CB’s after the others had gone home.

They all had beds and storage, as well as a chemical toilet behind a screen with a small wash basin, as well as a few other additions.

We had decided that we only needed six girls on the picture as six was a manageable number at the shows as well. We had also decided that they should all be Nordic blondes in stature and we had a number among our drivers.

From the army group we had Katrina, Marika and Karmen; while the civilian group gave us Eliise, Elizabeth, Joanna and Catlin. The other good thing which I thought may come in handy was that Elizabeth had grown up in the UK and spoke the language, while Kristina had good French.

The others spoke Estonian with a bit of Swedish while I also had basic German. At the various shows we would need to be able to connect with the organisers.

We had sent two lots of our mechanics to the factory for a one week course during the month and they were all very happy with the bigger engines. We also sent our civilian girls off to the place that Q had organised and they came back with their army kit and a whole new experience in living on a military base, including early morning PE.

Greger had organised his crew to work on the tractors using the stencils he had made and concentrated on the show trailers that had been delivered from a specialised trailer manufacturer with just undercoat on.

He painted the six blondes into the landscape walking in front of Thor. In early December I was given a private demonstration of the lights and pyrotechnics and it was awesome.

After I had taken one of the show rigs to the photo-shoot we put the doubles away in one of the sheds that was kept locked until our launch, which Anders had decided would take place in mid-January. Berget had spent a lot of time at the new yard and took me out there to show me where we now stood.

The buildings and concrete had been finished and it was only the drive-through and exit roads that were still curing. The main building was huge with big powered doors at both ends. The new warehouse was enormous.

Berget led me in through a side door of the main building and I stood, in awe, at the amount of space. She had been hard at work getting our part of the office space ready to be used.

We had a ‘show team’ office and a women only toilet and locker room area, plus a sort of a lounge which she called the ‘Ready Room’.

There was a store room for our stock and the two of us had our own, large offices, already equipped with the phones, computers and internet access. We only needed seats and kitchen appliances to complete the scene.

The rest of the business was being put into place and Berget said that Anders would be moving everything in over the Christmas break so I said that it looked as if we wouldn’t get much time off during that period.

Berget looked sheepish, “Yes, about periods. I’ve missed mine twice now and have seen a doctor while you were away in Sweden the last time. I think we are going to have a daughter.”

I kissed her and we stood together for some time while I cried in joy. I may only look like a girl but I must have more than my proper amount of the hormones.

“We’d better get married, then.”

She told me that it was quite a complicated process and that we should wait until I had been a householder for a year or more.

“How about we have a commitment ceremony with our parents and friends then? That should be easy enough to set up and we will have shown everyone we’re serious. We’ll have to decide on a name for the baby,”

She laughed, “The doctor worked out the likely date of conception and I think it may have been during that music weekend.” We thought about it and decided she would be called Melody.

We walked over to the other building which had been finished. Looking through the windows we saw that it was ten self-contained, two bedroom apartments which would be ideal for even long-term stays.

I asked what was left to be done outside and she said that the truck wash needed to be finalised and tested. Also a row of covers for parked cars needed to be put up on one side and a big covered area for truck parking next to the warehouse. She expected that it would only be a couple of weeks. Back inside we looked at the service side of the main shed which had two new truck-lifts and looking up I saw a big overhead crane that would reach every square metre of the building.

I turned to her, “It’s amazing, it’s impressive and it must have been expensive.” She told me that the cost would be a drop in the ocean if the work we had continued. She had done a projection and said that the whole site would be paid for inside five years.

Just before Christmas we had our commitment ceremony in front of our parents and friends and Berget announced her little surprise, after which we were inundated with hugs and kisses.

Bergets mother was hugging me and asked, “Who’s the father?”

Berget laughed, “You’re hugging him but keep that to yourself.”

It was a day of announcements as Anders announced that both Berget and I would be on the board of the new company, which was now to be called “Maidens Transport Services” an arm of Lundin Transport.

Greger had an announcement himself. He told us that he and Halina would be marrying in February. All in all it was a big day.

We moved the office structure into the new offices over the period between Christmas and New Year and, while there weren’t too many people around, moved all of our blue trucks and the two show rigs as well as three trailers Greger had painted as well.

We had quite a fleet in there once we had done that but Anders reminded me that ‘Answer’ needed a new home as well so we shifted that as well. We didn’t ease up with our travelling as we had about twenty five drivers now. We’d added another five from the army and the turn-over was increasing nicely.

Over the few weeks up to the grand opening we made sure that the building was spotless. With over twenty girls to help we washed and wiped every surface to remove the signs of the building dust and grime. The two trucks were parked with ‘Answer’ in front and the monster that was ‘Maidens’ behind. All the other trucks not on the road were in the covered area.

We had come up with a number of gimmicks that were designed to impress. The first was a set of thick plastic sheets that we put in front of each set of wheels and then the truck was driven slowly on to them. We had canvas sheets that were then laid between the plastic sections.

All had been painted to look like a rough ground and projected a metre or more away from the wheels so the whole rig then looked like it was parked outside. The piece of plastic under the middle bogey on the display side had a depression set in it which we put a huge fibre-glass Thor hammer.

The hammer had a steel strip in it that matched an electro-magnetic strip in the depression which was linked to our power supply through a hidden cable into the trailer.

When the power was on, the hammer was impossible to move but, with the power off it was quite easy for any of us to lift it. This would be used only twice as planned so far; here and the big reveal in Austria.

We had the switch linked to a simple garage lifter unit with two buttons, one turned it on and off and the other controlled the light show. The light show was out of this world.

It started with streaks of light in the lightning flashes emanating from the painted hammer, moving into swirls of light over the whole trailer unit and finally there was a line of lights that converged on the painted volcano. All the while we had sounds of thunder coming from hidden speakers. It all culminated in a burst of sparkling flame and smoke from the nozzles that made it look like the volcano had erupted. The first time I had seen it in action I had been impressed, and I knew what was going to happen.

The biggest difference between our original thoughts and this truck were that the second trailer was merely the painting and lights, without the pyrotechnics, and that we had just the six girls in the picture instead of the original twelve.

That made it easier to roster our ‘show girls,’ and to fly them in for shows, picking them up in the people mover that was carried in the rear trailer along with a set of sturdy ramps for it. The people mover was also light blue with just the hammer on both sides.

The second show rig was parked on the other side of the drive-through with the doors open and the steps down so that everyone could see how we had kitted the units out as a rest area and shop with storage for stock.

We had the ‘Answer’ posters now and, after the photo-shoot for the ‘Maidens,’ we had some posters for that as well. Both units carried a big battery bank in the rear trailer so we could be independent if there was no ready power supply on hand.

The rear trailer was completed with a chemical toilet for the ‘show girls’ and storage for tools, wheels and tyres.

The opening ceremony was a complete success. We had a number of civic dignitaries on hand as well as the local press and the trucking magazines. All of the press were instructed to keep the ‘Maidens’ light show under wraps until after the first public outing.

Felix and Q attended in civvies, as did our friendly Swedish CO and chief instructor. It was good to catch up with them and they were very interested on what we had done with a very plain truck.

There were also a couple of representatives from Volvo who I hoped to impress enough to let us appear on their stands at more serious shows. We also had a couple of guys who were in the local film industry who were here to see if we had come up with enough to attract the Aussies.

All of the Lundin Transport staff not out on the road attended and Halina was resplendent in a designer truckers dress with dangling mag wheel earrings.

My drivers were all in a version of the dress I had modelled, in a darker blue with the Volvo badge on the back with ‘Maidens’ above it and a name tag on one side and ‘Lundin Transport – Thors’ Maidens’ on the other. It ended up as a long tunic which could double as a short dress and they all had matching leggings and boots. We would be using this for all of the non-showgirl drivers, especially at the serious shows if we were invited.

My mother had been flown in (for about her third visit) and my father was already in town with his latest load. They were staying with us in the apartment.

Erik, Astrid and the Minister were there along with his aides so there was also a security group. Anders had arranged a couple of food trucks to come in and it was a very old-fashioned standing feast before they were ushered out and the doors closed.

We had a small stage between the two trucks and the opening was not a very long affair. Anders gave a speech about a new era in commercial transport and mentioned ‘the lovely Antonia, without whom none of this would have happened’.

I was standing next to ‘Answer’ in my red dress and I wondered if my face was as red as the dress. ‘Answer’ now had its container on the flat bed with the ‘E-Volvo-lution’ painting on the side. The final figure did look a lot more like Halina than me but nothing that the general public would pick out.

He then said, “My friends, a speech will often start with the line, ‘it gives me great pleasure,’ and this one in no exception. I’ve never had so much pleasure than the last six months seeing my company grow into a big operation. Everyone has seen the ‘Maidens’ trucks getting about with their girl crews and it’s attracted a lot of discussion.”

“Today, you see before you the show trailers that will be attending a number of shows this year, along with last years ‘Truck of the Show’. Here today are the two ‘Thors’ Maidens’ show trucks along with their crews.”

At this the six ‘show girls’ came out from behind the trailers and walked to their places under the painting. There was a lot of applause and some whistles from the men as the girls had their show costume on with the light blue background, hi-vis bands, lightning flashes; the lot on not very much material. The light blue sparkly tights and boots finished the outfit and after sessions with Astrid they all looked gorgeous.

He introduced the Minister who gave a short speech about being happy to attend this illustrious affair. He then declared the new headquarters of Lundin Transport open and unveiled a plaque that would be put on the office wall. Everyone applauded and cheered.

During the course of the event, just about every man in the crowd had tried to move the hammer without success so when Anders left the stage and walked to it there were a few titters.

I pressed the button on my door opener that was in a pocket of my dress and he bent down, took a strong stance and there was a gasp from the crowd as he picked it up. He held it high with one hand as I pressed the second button to start the light show. There were ooohs and aaarhs as the lights progressed and cheers when the volcano went off.

At the end, Anders was laughing so much he could hardly hold the hammer up. He put it back in the depression and I switched the magnet back on as well as stopping the light show from cycling again.

Now the party really began, and the drinks flowed. Anders was almost in tears of happiness and the brothers were warmly congratulated on their work.

My parents were all over me and Berget, who was now showing a baby bump hidden under a flowing dress. All of the army types gathered together and discussed the changes we had made to what was a military vehicle.

I took them to a truck that was parked outside and showed them the hidden radio unit and another little extra that Bjorn had added; the hidden gun compartment which would hold two short rifles and two pistols, if they were ever needed.

They all gave me hugs and left from there to their cars. I went back inside to warm up again. The photographer from the Truck World wanted pictures of the ‘Show Maidens’ as we didn’t have them at the photo-shoot for the rig. He also needed ones of the company principals for the article that would be added to the pictures taken today of the light show. I was already thinking of some changes I wanted to make and made a note to discuss them with Bjorn.

That day marked a turning point for a lot of people. Berget and I were directors of this arm of the business, effectively running the ‘Maidens’ business with Gustav organising the logistics, now with three helpers.

To see him in action was very educational. He had oversized computer screens running spreadsheets and maps of Europe with our trucks marked with moving red dots, each with the names of the crew and the time they had been on the road.

If they got near seventy-two hours we organised a swap at the nearest airport. It all ran very slickly, Anders was in a new office in the building with a secretary and was working to build the rest of the business.

He had ordered another four standard Globetrotters as the work was building. These came as light blue as well and just had the company name in the hammer head as they had male crews.

Ludvig had been put in charge of the original yard and we had upgraded his office as well, with similar screens as Gustav, linked by the internet.

The two guys became adept in using the closest truck when requests came in and sometimes the army got its non-military products delivered by guys who were only in the camps long enough to unload or load up empty containers.

It was the light blue trucks that stood out so no-one took any notice of them by the time we had been running three months, the plan was working.

Marianne Gregory © 2022