Alex Richards explains the various types of “Lori Hantu”
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Hi guys,
Just noticed this video posted earlier today on the page and I have a few comments on it which you may (or may not) find interesting.
I grew up in Malaysia and understood a bit of what the guys were saying so I can tell you that the footage was taken in the Pahang region of Malaysia which roughly occupies the middle third of peninsular Malaysia.
The vehicle seen here is one of possibly three versions of the famous Malaysian "Lori Hantu" which literally translates to "Phantom Lorries" or "Ghost Trucks" The reason for the nickname is because they are site trucks and are not road registered.
I'm not an expert on them, but there are three "generations" of sorts which have evolved over the years. The earliest version simply being military surplus Blitz/CMP trucks that were auctioned off to logging and haulage companies after the war.
Some of these genuine veteran trucks were later upgraded to modern running gear with all sorts of bush engineering used to mate up various engines and drivetrains but retained the Blitz/CMP cabin like the one in the video. Many would have been heavily re-engineered with a motor or transmission swap-out, so it would have only been a Blitz cab and chassis hiding a custom job.
Later on, the "Blitz" type cabin was re-fashioned in a latter-day remake to sit on top of a current day chassis and mechanicals. These would have been made relatively recently as a generic version, using the Blitz/CMP cabin as a styling reference, but its all modern stuff underneath.
There's a facebook page called Lori Hantu and the one in the video appears to be an original cab with who-knows-what powering it.
There's also fleets of original Series I, II and III Landies still in operation in Malaysia, but that's another story :-)
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