Red Horse

I like the video-except maybe a few more "heavy" Mack footage instead of wimpy highway tractors? Like a big Granite-with spokes for us old Northeast guys-hooked to a lowboy that has a Cat 345 on it-okay make that a Volvo. As for the logo? Agree-is the dog taking a dump or is it a birth defect?

KS-You hit the nail on the head- I just posted this on the Ford "loyalist site: IMO, very disappointing. They stole a page from Henry's book-"Any color as long as its black". The press release says it all...."F-750 tractor for heavy towing"..Huh-who writes this stuff? Its a TRACTOR- it pulls trailers! But guess what, It won't be pulling any 27' pups that say..ABF, or Old Dominion or UPS or Coca Cola etc. etc. Rather it will pull Reginald's polo ponies, or tow Harry's camper trailer etc. Bottom line those who said this was nothing but a gift to the UAW for the last contract are probably correct. Are they bringing class 6 and 7 back to the US? Yes-contract paid in full. Will this half assed approach increase sales? Certainly not to the degree that it would have had they given buyers a reasonable choice-like a real truck diesel, a real choice of transmissions etc. Notice no mention of .."up to class 8? I guess that means the 37,000 lb option is dead- can't imagine a Power Stroke/Torqueshift combination at 37,000lbs getting out of warranty before it grenades all over the road. I'm sure a 6.7 Power Stroke/Torqueshift will satisfy some classes of trade. But I'm sure the marketers at Paccar, Navistar F'liner and even Hino are resting easy tonite SOS from Ford. Have to admit, the headlights are gorgeous! Headed to the barn to sit in my B-61X!

KS-Word is big announcement today, 5PM at the National Work Truck Show in Indiannapolis. Looking at the show website, of the truck mfgs., Ford's area looks like largest. I thought announcement would be today at ConExpo in Vegas-they have a good amount of floor space there too- we shall see at 5PM. some of my fellow Ford "followers" have suggested they in essence will just continue with the Navistar components but in their own plant -part of the UAW contract deal- while others say-no way-like Firestone, Navistar is on the "never again" list. Any opinion? By the way, Mack too has space at the Indy show-must be pushing the Cummins powered Granite.

After surfing Boston channels tonite, looks like Conn, RI, Mass so. shore/Cape Islands up to 5". Of Course they still hedge by saying 50 mile shift North could have big impact.

Well KSC, you usually have all the news. Todays Detroit News has piece saying Ford will announce on Friday details of return of class 6 and 7 production to US from Mexico (Bluediamond) Any bets on what that will be?

EJ This will bring a tear to your eye: -N. J. Dondi -L. G. DeFelice -D.V. Frione -Edgewood Construction

Sounds good-and I agree with others who say give the guy a chance. I still say, it will be a matter of time and the minute the economy REALLY tanks and things get tough, the bean counters in Sweden will ask the same old question....namely..." why do we have all this duplicated overhead?" Remember guys-all of us "old Mack guys" are just that-and getting older. The older the customer base gets, the easier it is to make the case to have one truck brand. Hope I'm wrong

Provan long gone- black and yellow.

Right on the R-700's I think they were quad boxes. I also think they had some Mack V-8's

Two more NYS bulk carriers, Frontier Delivery- Buffalo, and Provan Transport- Newburgh

Are we to assume this is the first consolidation since losing the Ford Power Stroke business?? If so, no wonder they have financial issues

Adley Express, New Haven All Mack B's for road tractors and Fords for P & D Holmes Transportation, Framingham Mass-

Matt- Shame on you......Cumberland Farms- B's, U's, R's

I also wonder about the test route. Granted if the same route was used for the base truck, a legitimate comparison. But my bet is the route is flatter than a pancake. How about doing a test say from Portland Maine to Burlington VT. Shortest route, and at 80,000 lbs. That is a real test.

Hmnn. Not surprising. Isn't Roger somehow involved in the Hino distributiuon process with some sort of ownership stake?

Agree-truck specing 101-but at those very high GCW's I find it hard to believe that these engines have any kind of life?? they have to be constantly at max RPM. Would the emissions stds in these countries make these engines more durable than what we expect? I can't imagine specing a tractor in this country with 9-11 liters and pulling a set of turnpike doubles from Buffalo to Boston-for any length of time. Perhaps the 9L Ford Duratorque has a future in Ford's future US plans.

KSC As you are an old Mack guy and speaking of big loads and Australia, I have saved all my Mack Corp calendars over the years and I seem to remember a Mobil Oil road train (R model) in one of the years-any memory? Can't seem to find it.

I hear you-that is what surprises me-No CUBIC INCHES!! Their life cycle must b e very short! By the way-does the VW side profile look an awful lot like a Cargo or is it my imagination? Maybe there is a Budd/Shellar Globe Co. in SA??

8.9L? 9.5L? 139,000lb GCW??? What do they do in SA or China that is different than US-Operate only when tailwinds prevail???

Excellent advice!

Well I just had my DOT physical a couple of weeks ago as my current card had a March 7 anniversary date and under State of Mass law, if you don't self certify with DMV by your anniversary your license gets downgraded to a class D! -assume that is same now in other states? In any case my Doc -who is my PCP-told me about the new certification for examining physicians. Bottom line he is giving it up. As he put it, say he has a patient he has been treating for years and guy comes in for a DOT-and he has to flunk him. As he put it, does not want to deal with denying a long term patient his livelihood. And given number of lawsuits today, can you blame the guy?

For sure the one in Vlad's picture is a Federal- when I looked at the picture I did not click on photo-if you do "federal" logo is clear.

Vlad- you the man! thx for pix. Truck onn left is Sterling -see verticle hood panels? truck on right is Biederman-see horizontal panels? Or possibly Federal as article I saw said both company=ies built this wrecker for US army.

JD-you are correct- I did a search on Biedermans and found a piece that said Federal and Biederman built the same wrecker for US Army air force in WWII. Not sure iof it mentioned White. I'll try to post article if I can figure out how to do it. Reason I originally said it was a Biederman is because of the horizontal slats on the hood panels

No comments please about favoritism being shown to a Kenyan aircraft builder!