The Holland Style Truck Meet is a fairly new event for truck enthusiasts, the 2026 edition was held at a perfect location nearby the city of Arnhem. Many locals and out-of-towners showcased one or more of their tractors, trucks, and combination vehicles. Now let’s diesel.
2011 Scania R500 V8 6×2 tractor with a tri-axle dry van trailer.
Another JSJ big rig, a 2013 Scania R450 6×2*4 truck and a Fruehauf center-axle trailer from the same year, forming a curtainside couple.
2021 MAN TGX 18.470 4×2 tractor.
Long time no see, a DAF 95-series with the F249 tilt cab, originally introduced in 1987. Present at the show was this striking 1990 FA 95.330 ATi 4×2 flatbed truck with a day cab.
Throughout the years decades, the F249 cab evolved constantly. Here’s a 2020 DAF XF 480 FT Super Space Cab 4×2 tractor with the final and biggest variant of the tried-and-true F249 cab.
2019 Scania S650 V8 6×2 tractor.
2018 Scania R450 6×2 curtainsider for transporting voluminous (rather than heavy) goods.
2017 Volvo FH 8×2*6 flatbed truck with an Effer 955 knuckle boom crane, stretching out.
I roll, I carry, and I lift.
2024 Scania R530 V8 6×2/4 tractor with a 2026 Krone tri-axle curtainsider. The Weeda hauling company is known for their stunning fleet of semis.
If you go all the way, you must customize the interior too. No truck maker offers such an old-school steering wheel, let alone those heavy-duty fuzzy dice.
2024 Iveco S-Way 490 4×2 tractor.
1991 Volvo F12 Globetrotter 4×2 tractor…
…standing next to a 2022 Volvo FH 4×2 tractor with a low roof.
1996 Scania T113M (medium-duty chassis) 4×2 tractor with a day cab…
…accompanied by a 2020 Scania S650 V8 4×2 tractor with the truck maker’s largest standard tilt cab.
1994 Scania R143M 500 (420 DIN-hp according to its registration) V8 Streamline 4×2 tractor.
A Scania 3-series with the 14.2 liter V8 -the R143 cabover or the T143 conventional- is a highly popular classic, often seen at truck shows and events. Many call it the best European heavy-duty truck and tractor of its era.
1996 Scania R143H 500 (450 DIN-hp according to its registration) V8 Streamline 6×2 tractor.
2025 Volvo FH Aero 6×2/4 tractor with the Globetrotter XXL cab.
2024 Volvo FMX 6×2*4 container carrier with a VDL portal arm system.
Noteworthy is the truck’s planetary drive axle, something you don’t see often on a chassis with a single drive axle. But then again, the Volvo FMX is essentially a Super-Duty FM-series.
A low-riding 2023 Volvo FH 4×2 truck with a Tijhof body for transporting cars and light commercial vehicles.
2021 Scania R450 XT 6×2*4 truck with a Hyva hooklift hoist. The open top container seems to be brand new.
Now we’re talking, a 2019 Mercedes-Benz Arocs 4945 10×4 truck with a Hyva dump body. The number on the doors says it all: 49 tonnes (108,000 lbs) GVWR on-road, 450 DIN-hp maximum power output.
The take-no-prisoners chassis follows the traditional 10×4 recipe, that is three steering axles with super singles and then two planetary drive axles with dual wheels. The conversion from the factory 8×4 underpinnings to the 10×4 configuration must have been done by the Veldhuizen company.
2023 Scania S460 4×2 tractor in a very classy color scheme, simply wonderful.
2022 Scania S530 V8 6×2 tractor in the easily recognizable Patrick van den Hoeven livery.
The last one, a 3.5 tonnes (7,700 lbs) MAN TGE 3.180 panel van, sending out strong ‘keep on trucking’ vibes.
The MAN TGE is merely a rebadged Volkswagen Crafter, available at your local MAN store. Which means the truck maker can offer a complete range of commercial vehicles, from the TGE full-size panel van to a 640 DIN-hp TGX heavy haulage tractor. Only Mercedes-Benz offers a somewhat wider assortment.
Related article (previous show report):
2026 Holland Style Truck Meet – Sprechen Sie Deutsch?
This is completely unrelated but I wanted you to know that my wife and I joined 20,000 Dutchmen (and would be Dutchmen) at Rice University for the Oranje Fanwalk to the FIFA match with Sweden here in Houston. Great fun! Incredibly pumped up crowd!
If you know anything about maybe you could do a post on the double decker fan bus that they actually shipped from Holland for good luck.
It’s a 1980 English double decker, Leyland or Bristol, most likely. Back in 2004 (European Championship), 14 Dutch soccer (voetbal/football) fans bougth it as a ‘party bus’ and it has been the ‘parade/pilot bus’ for all Orange soccer fans since. That’s what a quick search learned.
It’s great to see so many trucks showing such an immense pride of ownership (and power).
Obviously you’ve shown us a big look at trucking culture (and equipment) in The Netherlands. Do you have a sense of how that culture compares to other European countries? Is your culture exceptional or are others similar?
Danish and Dutch big rigs have a lot of similarities, though the Danish opt for ‘softer’ colors and the Dutch go for brighter color tones (see Baars, Melis, Ter Horst, and Van Dalen, for example). For the rest, they’re very much alike. The two JSJ combination vehicles at the top could have been Danish, to get the picture.
The Swedes and Finnish are known for their pretty wild, Viking-ish graphics.
French rigs often have elaborate air brush paintings of sceneries/landscapes and such on the whole rig.
The UK is known for their old-school/classic/19th century pinstriping and lettering all over the cab.
…and that’s a very short summary.
Paul’s queries are exactly the ones I was about to make!
I’m curious if the Dutch culture of trucking is stronger or proportionately bigger than other Euro countries you mention? There seems to be a lot of gatherings and truly immaculate rigs for such a relatively small population.
The trucking culture is indeed a strong, intense and widespread phenomenom here. The country is littered with local and regional truckers clubs. From April to September/October I could visit a show or truck-related event (like an open house of a hauling company) pretty much every weekend, if I wanted to.
Apart from the static shows, there are the parades/convoys/tours. Just for the sake of it or on the occasion of a marriage, anniversary, retirement, or -sadly- the death of a driver or owner of a hauling company (the coffin isn’t slid into a hearse, it’s secured on the back of a tractor/truck, preferably on the one the deceased used to drive).
Speaking of parades/convoys, we also have the Sunday fun trips throughout the country with elderly persons or folks with some form of disability, sitting in the passenger seat. Everybody has a great day, the drivers included!
It speaks for itself that there are numerous companies that customize exteriors and interiors, the results can be seen in this article and other show reports.
How this all relates to surrounding countries? I can’t tell.
A magnificent gathering! With its bull bar, Weeda’s red Scania looks well equipped for operations on the night-time roads of the far north.
Are the silver-painted, three-armed devices in the center of the rims tensioning mechanisms for snow chains?
No, they’re called ‘spinners’ in NL. Just decoration.
Do these have some kind of air suspension that lifts the tractor a bit once they are moving? The lack of ground clearance and long wheelbase looks like the smallest bit of a hump or a dip would result in the same sort of hilarity one sees with very long motorhomes.
They sure must look mean at speed on a motorway.
I don’t comment much on your posts Johannes but I always enjoy these looks at European trucks and appreciate you posting them.
Thanks Jograd! On dedicated on-highway trucks and tractors, air suspension on all axles has become common. More ground clearance when driving, lowered almost to ground level when parked (especially at shows).
For decades, front axles came (and still come) with long parabolic leaf springs, only the rear axle(s) had air suspension. Trailers and semi-trailers, also air suspension, for a long time too.
Please let me point out: The Ter Horst waste container carrier does not appear to be lowered. Its height above the ground seems roughly comparable to what is standard for Euro-trucks during normal driving—just to give some idea.
Certainly, but I wouldn’t call that a ‘dedicated on-highway truck or tractor’, which clearly also applies to the 10×4 Benz. Both the Volvo FMX and the MB Arocs are operating in the same ‘hardcore league’ of trucking (Scania XT models: ditto). Such trucks usually come with one or more straight front axles for more ground clearance.
Now that Weeda rig or the Vreman truck, on the other hand…
Remarkable selection.
“Knuckleboom.” It’s such a great word. I immediately conjure some New York or Chicago-accented working guy berating an underling: “what de hell’s wrong wid ya, ya some sorta knuckleboom?”
Those M.A.N. panel vans are significantly more expensive than their spartan VW counterparts, offering more luxury and higher quality-appearing interior materials, similar to how AUDI and VW versions of essentially the same passenger cars differ.
These were favored motorhome conversion vehicles sold by a local motorhome dealer, last year. For whatever reason, this year’s selection has been reduced to only offering a Stilantis line-up there, raising suspicions of across-the-board customer “Falschsparen” in the motorhome sales branch
MAN TGE – Westfalia camper van, straight form the truck maker’s website.