I’m trying something a little different here for this article Normally once I have attended a truck show away from home I will wait until I am sitting at the airport on the return leg where I’ll nibble on a $14 ham and cheese sandwich sip away on an $8 bottle of water and then start putting my thoughts down on paper metaphorically speaking — the truth is it all gets typed into a laptop as its grammar software is much better than mine this article is a little different because I just can’t wait for the airport I am already back at my accommodation and extremely keen to get all my opinions and evaluations down Not just on my first ever jaw-dropping Truck Show Ciney experience but also on the experiences leading up to the truck show I came to Belgium for a truck show and am leaving with more than just several thousand photos and a maxed-out duty-free alcohol allocation I need to place a shout-out to my extremely helpful and tolerant Uber driver/ Air BnB host/ Tour guide/ photoshoot pimp/translator William is another truck nut and fellow photographer He’s also the host of The ShowTruck Channel and for the second time has played host to my European adventures This year he arranged several interesting stories that will soon be flowing through these pages and he also made sure I used my time in Belgium to experience a bit more than just the glory of gorgeous trucks Whilst in trucking circles Belgium is most known for the Truck Show Ciney and for the instant 15-day loss of licence if they catch you on your phone a second time — Belgium is also steeped in military history I took some time out from chasing trucks to visit and appreciate a couple of historic battle sites on our way to Ciney The first site was one very well known to Australians The fighting that occurred there throughout WWI was extremely intense and significant In 1917 The 1st Australian Tunnelling Company played a vital role in tunnelling under all the ground that I visited and detonating around 450-ton of explosives destroying the German positions and demolishing the hills and it was an honour to just soak in the history of a site like that The second location I added to my must-see list was the small town called Mesen This memorial was erected to honour the New Zealand soldiers who played a significant role in the successful Battle of Messines whilst on my way to view one of the leading truck shows in Europe was an extremely humbling experience It was an honour to stand where bravewarriors had fought and appreciate their service Now I realise this is not how a typical truck show article starts This is the first time I have attended a truck show with so much weighty history just down the road It brought another dimension to the experience so I am as keen as possible to get that feeling across Feeling full of pride in the Australian and Kiwi flag I rolled in to Ciney with a smile a mile wide Then I saw some of the trucks lined up waiting outside the truck show venue and my smile broke several muscles as it extended off my face bonnets were barely represented and the stainless was somewhat scarce but the Europeans know how to decorate a truck Let us crack into the truck show breakdown In case you hadn’t picked up on it beforehand the Truck Show Ciney is known as the Temple of Show Trucks The best of the best gets invited along to this small country town show and in that sense the show did not disappoint The quality of the trucks on display really does have to be seen to be believed The difference in the styling from country to country is extremely evident as well there is more diversity than a Taylor Swift concert a huge indoor arena with a massive car park This means the show is spread between both indoor and outdoor trucks Trucks from all over Europe apply each year The organisers of the show go through hundreds of applications and narrow it down to around 300 lucky entrants putting around two-thirds outside and a third inside Most of the trailer units get placed out the back there were a couple that got the privilege of staying safe and dry in the inner sanctum The show officially opens to the public on the Saturday morning The trucks themselves don’t start rolling into the Expo ground until around 7am Most of the entrants arrived on the Friday and after a bit of washing and polishing they proceeded to spend the Friday night conducting their own truck show/drinking festival The Expo centre is aligned with the Ciney cattle yards and aside from providing plenty of room to park up all of the entrants before the show it also offers the advantage of allowing access to some wash facilities the cattle yards hired out the wash bays to all the trucks that had driven in through a shocking day of rain brief outbursts of rain followed by occasional drizzle and a scattering of showers It was quite the sight to see a line of dirty lorries queued up like a bunch of bargain hunters at the Aldi midweek specials sales – three or four trucks deep just waiting on someone to finish so they could swarm in for a bath horns were playing the sounds of many local tribes and especially the Scottish and Irish — I’m looking at you Ian Mckellan and Chris Bradfield are pretty much professionals at this party lifestyle and come Saturday morning the sore heads were ignored and everyone was lined up to get in There was a constant parade of people throughout the day and those that had popped home to rest their weary feet were back at night for the lights and fireworks show The big point of difference between Australia and Belgium is that when we do a lights and fireworks show You’ve even got time to watch the footy if you are so inclined the fireworks show could not start until 11pm That’s how long you have to wait for it to be dark Day two of the show is very much the same as day one There is a prize giving held within the hall and I swear they had every trophy there to award By ‘every trophy’ I am meaning every one ever made considering over in the EU there really are only two major truck show players — ‘Scania’ and ‘Trucks that aren’t Scania’ most truck shows are dominated by the KW Bug in a similar way I guess it is time for me to express my views on the show as a whole We could learn a lot about truck show prep from some of the truck nuts over there I know I am not meant to need constant entertainment and I may have been spoilt by last year’s Truck Star festival but I did feel the show was missing a little something extra in the entertainment folder Amongst the truck show fraternity over in Europe The overall consensus there is that Ciney doesn’t have the politics of many other shows and is a great place for a lot of these guys to catch up as a tourist who had travelled some 16,000+km to get there politics really don’t factor in to my enjoyment of a show I must admit there was some awesome food vans out the front of the expo centre with the amount of people visiting the show there was quite the lineup to grab your lunch After a long wait for an amazing fresh pasta dish I was shocked to learn that none of the food vans sold drinks but if you wanted fluids to go with your lunch you needed to head back inside and line up again The difficulty in getting access to fluids did have one advantage though It meant you weren’t continually queuing up for the one lot of toilet facilities on offer If there were extra restrooms hidden somewhere they were very well hidden because I walked that area more times than my old legs could bear just trying to find a toilet or vacant bush For me the highlight of the show was actually the end and the emersion of the truck spotting fraternity as the lorries rolled out You will notice the photo taken from the centre roundabout on the exit from the show This was taken at the start of the departure convoy The sheer numbers of truck spotters already endangering themselves in order to get photos as the trucks sooted it up at launch but I was told the numbers swelled a couple of hours later I think I if you happened to be floating around Belgium and the show was on then definitely put down your Saucijzenbroodje and go check it out made plenty of jokes about riding kangaroos to work drank a fair bit of Belgium Beer and took more than enough photos I got to see some unbelievable trucks and learnt that the Europeans have as much passion and pride in their trucks as anyone over this side of the world I can also attest that they get more smoke out of their V8s than I’ve seen out of any Series 60 or E9 The Temple of Show Trucks has some amazing trucks and the Europeans would give anyone a run for their money when it comes to passion and pride Subscribe to the weekly Owner//Driver newsletter here. OwnerDriver was established in 1992 as a national newspaper “Dedicated to the Success of the Person Behind the Wheel” and it continues to pursue this mission today The opportunity to see beautiful vintage objects art nouveau or art deco!15.04.2019 by Elisa AccardoRecommended posts for youArt & CultureArt Austria 2025: An Exhibition not to be MissedArt Austria is more than just an exhibition; it is a true celebration of high art which annually occupies a place of honour in Austria's cultural calendar The future is now: The new L'Officiel Hommes Austria Spring/Summer 2025 Future Issue is out now and movements defining the future of fashion Old Money and New Money styles differ not just in aesthetics—but in the message their accessories convey Champagne is so last season—2025 is all about mocktails booze-free sips are taking over social media FENDI unveils a complete collection of perfumes As the centenary of the Roman Maison draws near personify its values and immerse us in a unique family culture This editorial presents a refined exploration of feminine elegance through the lens of Tobias Meier Featuring the diamond creations of Douglas Elliott exclusively available at Marisa Perry Atelier in New York City the photographs highlight the precision and artistry of Art Deco-inspired jewellery design the imagery draws attention to the craftsmanship and brilliance of each piece capturing the way fine jewellery enhances natural beauty with understated sophistication Vienna has always been at the forefront of cultural and gastronomic events our capital city offers even more opportunities to satisfy the most demanding travellers and adventurers you can take a trip around the world from the very centre of Vienna he met everyone with a smile and looked for the best in each person and situation growing up in the Mississippi River town of Lansing He graduated from Lansing High School in 1946 He began his career with the Northwestern University Traffic Institute in Evanston followed by work at the Michigan State University Highway and Traffic Safety Center In 1964 he became director of the Michigan State Insurance Institute They returned to Michigan in 2019 to be closer to family He will be dearly missed by Betty; his sister Gail (Stan) Hicks and Jan (Ciney) Rich; his stepdaughter Liz (Mark) Thompson; a crew of loving grandchildren and great-grandchildren and others who were blessed to know him Jump back to navigation Copyright 2012 | The Standard Newspaper | All Rights Reserved One never knows what treasures are to be found at a flea market and that’s all part of the beauty of such events The thrill of stumbling upon that perfect complement to a new home or all the gear for a hitherto undiscovered sport or game can make a long-ish drive entirely worth its while Here are some places to track down that one last thing almost guaranteed to make life complete located in Wallonia in the French-speaking region of southern Belgium plays host to one of the country’s largest flea market and antiques fairs its grounds are the site of editions of Ciney Puces & Antiquités a vast event attracting buyers and sellers from all over Europe trucks parked in the fair’s lot begin unloading their treasures straight onto the pavement all to the delight of the tens of thousands gathered in search of that perfect yet elusive find crystal and more await new ownership inside the halls in the days to follow An expert is on hand to advise about the pieces on show This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page