Special Swede

Motward’s 40th anniversary truck was always to be a tribute to the Tolhurst family who founded and ran the company, but tragic circumstances have conspired to make the FH even more special.

- Dan Parton

Early last year, when Motward boss Jason Tolhurst commissioned a new Volvo FH16.750 Globetrotter XL to celebrate his company’s upcoming 40th anniversary, it was always going to be a special truck. He planned it as a tribute to his late father, Ken, who started the company back in 1977, and grandfather Charlie, who also worked for the business.

But the truck, now on the road, has become so much more than that, due to the saddest of circumstances. In April 2017, soon after commissioning the truck, Jason was diagnosed with cancer. This was a huge shock for everyone, but worse was to follow: just five months later, on 27 September, Jason died, aged just 47.

Three generations

Andrew Armiger, the Alconbury firm’s transport and general manager – who had worked with Jason at Motward Ltd for 15 years and known him for 26 in all – says the truck, which was completed to Jason’s specifications, now stands as a tribute to all three generations of the Tolhurst family.

The truck had high standards to live up to: when Motward hit its 25th birthday in 2002, a customised truck was ordered. Likewise, another truck, with more customising, came for the 30th. After that, every truck ordered had slightly more customisation than the last. “Jason and I always discussed putting lesson but it never turned out that way,” laughs Andrew.

Let us spray

“Even our little Volvo FM has light bars and alloy wheels. We bought that second-hand and came white. We ran it for a while and then Jason said ‘let’s get it sprayed’, so we did. Then he said ‘we’ll put some bars on it’ and then ‘we’ll get some alloy wheels for it’.

“It’s a lovely little truck. So when it came to this truck, it was like, ‘where do we go for our 40th?’.”