Truckinā Life is Australiaās premiere trucking magazine for owner-operators: in certain ways, it shares with its American counterpart in Overdrive a defining mission, clear from the tagline that adorns its cover, āThe voice of the Australian trucker.ā Truckinā Lifeās founder, Malcolm B. Johnson (pictured, courtesy Truckinā Life), suffered a heart attack July 31 and passed away in early August.
According to former Truckinā Life managing editor Jim Gibson, writing Johnsonās obituary in Truckinā Life recently, the first edition of that magazine appeared in May 1976, spearheaded by Johnsonās efforts.
His inspiration? āMalcolm got the idea for the magazine while enjoying several large drams of amber fluid at a Brisbane Truck Show,ā Gibson wrote. āHe was leaning on the bar at the show listening to driversā beefs. A few days later he got his hands on some copies of an American truck magazine called Overdive, courtesy of one of those drivers. He studied its editorial policy and found the conditions Australian drivers worked under were similar to those of their U.S. counterparts. Its tagline was, and still is today ā the voice of the American trucker.ā
