Red Horse

Again-my very unsophisticated prediction-in about two years we will see a Cat press release that says....." in an effort to focus on its core business and maximize returns to shareholders, Caterpillar will no longer be producing Cat brand on highway vehicles so it can focus on the product lines that have made Caterpillar a leader throughtout the world as the premier builder of construction and mining equipment."

Agree 100%. this is a great site-because of some people who have inside knowledge most of us don't have. 41-good thought but if this was the option, often times we see posts that refer to items that were in fact previoiusly posted months ago. Seems like that is a good feature to retain. Is it a cost factor to expand the "memory cap"? My first thought, if the "cap" is based on the potential for ALL members to utilize that cap, I would have to think that posters (such as myself) would never come close to hitting that number.

Isn't this a matter of deleting old attachments? Is this something that is unique to all websites or just BMT?

Any word yet on the cause. Miracle that there was only one fatal.

My thought was...."What did this halftime show cost?" A big pile of money for sure that these "stars" gladly took. Hmnn-what if the half time show was put on by schools? Be they high school, college-whatever-musical performances, marching bands whatever. And the NFL could make sizeable donations with the savings toward scholarship funds at the participating schools. Think of the benefit to kids who could use it. Bottom line, an outrage IMO. Roger I would think had to put the final stamp of approval on the entire thing. Then again, look what he makes per year.

You see the one Joseph Eq. (Brian T) has ? That was owned by same guy I bought my B-61 from. This will be third owner since then.

Well I did not mean to start an "ethanol" thread- I was just using it as an example of what is going on with the candidates. And while I'm not for Cruz-one way or another, it was a bold position for him to take. Trump on the other hand took the politically expedient way out- as did Romney, McCain etc before him. Not many have the conviction to take an "anti ethanol" position in a key "ethanol" state. Now as an aside, I guess what bothers me is they are trying to increase the annual blend requirement. In my opinion, that is pure BS-in particular when we are now almost a net exporter of crude. When the Clean Air act was passed in 90, and the you needed an oxygenate to meet the regs, you are correct -MTBE was the answer and it was soon discovered the stuff was deadly once it got into groundwater. Ethanol was the replacement. I think a big question today, is do todays gasoline engines with their state of the art fuel injection systems and electronic controls even need 10% ethanol to be compliant? While you may disagree, there is a theory that says not only does ethanol have a harmful effect on mpg-and ultimately energy consumption, the amount of water used in its production as well as the carbon dioxide used in the production cycle releases large amounts of CO-2. I won't argue your point that the food issue is BS but it does seem logical that a lot of corn has been diverted from animal feed production-as well as "corn flake" production. Last point, ever think about the logistics cost of ethanol? Ethanol is injected at the last point in the distribution chain- the terminal at which tank trucks load prior to delivery to the gas station. And while the bulk of those terminal in the US receive their gasoline via pipeline-the most cost effective transportation mode, you can't ship ethanol in a pipeline because of its corrosive nature. So how does it get to the terminals? By the most expensive bulk transporttion mode- rail. (unless of course the production facility is on a waterway that supports barge traffic and conversely the distribution terminal is on a waterway.) Just some points to think about. I don't lose any sleep over the 10% rule- but increasing the standard beyond that is nonsense IMO and is a purely political football. Oh and talk about politics, the Gov of Iowa's son? He works for one of the big ethanol lobbies.

You are welcome- and the reason for this is in this country we have all kinds of clean air laws. These covers are supposed to keep dust and dirt from blowing off of the load while the truck is moving

I think one good example that is very current and stands out IMO--Ethanol. It is a joke at this point in time. When the mandate was passed, we were in a completely different situation with respect to oil imports. So the10 % mandate was passed. All of the downsides of ethanol were known but it was I think considered the lesser of two evils. Well a lot has changed- like it or not, fracking, tar sands production, recovery from old "played out" wells etc has changed things. To say nothing of the fact that the diversion of corn from a food stock to a petroleum stock has driven the cost of food up. In any case, they are in Iowa, "corn/ethanol" capital and what does Trump do? Sticks his finger in the air, tests the wind, and he is all for ethanol. Cruz to his credit, takes the very unpopular position and stands his ground that he is against it- and wins! Now some would say-"well he is from Texas-what do you expect?". I guess I would say, the true politician would at the very least, take a very low profile on the subject- much like Rubio who said..."i'm in favor of a phaseout by 2022. Bottom line, if you look at Trump and say..well he has done his job and raised some very real issues but his temperment and character is lacking, who is left? More importantly, who has run anything? built anything? hired? fired? met a payroll? had to worry about profitability as a means of survival? had to deal with a real crisis? Is prepared to pull the trigger? Always maintained the high moral ground? And handled all those things well. Answer those questions and that IMO is our candidate. One gifted public speaker in our lifetime is enough!

Bryan Nice-what kind of box is that?? don't see too many short WB ten wheelers these days.

For sure a doctored image----where is the beanie with the propeller on top???

Again I say.....WHY?? They sold under 2000 trucks in the previous 3 years? Looking at the interior in the "driving impressions" thread of the CT 680 its got the new International instrument panel. KSC-is this a Cat 3406 block or is it a MAN? This truck is still built by International for Cat at Escobedo? But Cat in the future will build it in a former excavstor plant in Texas? Can't see how the economics of this are going to work. The only thing Cat has going for them in the short term is they will strong arm any haulers who move machines for them to "buy Cat". Once you've beat up everyone on the playground, there is no one left to play with.

Pix only available to journalists-and they are not on Navistsrs website at this point. write up sounds good-

Excellent door hardware. They did not pop open. However there must be a more cost effective way to test!

Ok EJ-get Matt out with the camera

Wow! Perfect! Is that shot at that big operation down on 495 around Milford? Can't believe the amount of material they have on ground already.

for sure-too hi tech for the dealers! If you've got good old mechanical iron, take care of it

Aluminum CABS- chassis will be steel as always. And if you look at the 150's and their sales rate looks like that is working. I do believe the 2017's (Super Duty) will be using same cab structure as 150 as in old days-no more separate cabs for 150 and another cab for 250 on up. As interior dimensions are virtually the same, this makes sense. Now the other interesting news is they announced this week 350-550 chassis cab production is moving from Louisville to Avon Lake Ohio where the new 650/750's and last of the E series cut- aways are built. this leads some to believe that in the not to distant future there will be a complete new cab for 350-750. Keep in mind the new 650/750's at this point still use the steel Super Duty Cab structure. In any case, that 550 is a beauty. Will look good in a fleet pix beside your Macks!

good news for Ford. If Fontaine did not think Avon Lake volumes would be going up they would not be making this investment.

Very good- and Governor Cuomo could honor his friend by granting all sorts of tax incentives and reopening Cortland! Holy shit-just don't hope they build a MRS Barrack Way!

First order of business is to pay off the EPA, then bring back 237, DM's and once again Mack will own vocational market. Yeah probably would not hurt to bring back R and U Actually a better thought. Paying off EPA just MIGHT get someone in trouble. Better plan would be same strategy as when you get caught violating an environmental rule-like filling a wet land. You have to replicate or make an improvement someplace else. SOOO- you donate to the Obama Library fund-done deal.

Relax-just make sure you bring your long wig!

Great- and we all enjoy your well done pictures!

Well actually we were down from prior year in terms of vehicles. And show years ago was not in middle of summer. We had a lot of guys (contractors) who were just too out straight and needed a "day off"- not to say that can't happen in October as well- and while a lot of people bitched about the heat- they might be bitching about the "cold" in October! No- Mackfest is Sept. and Gerharts is early Oct. Plus our feeling is we are a regional show and don't compete. How many of the trucks that you see at our show do you see traveling to PA? Thx-we shall see.

Thx- like I said, has to be a typo -unless a sq. meter is something other than 10.76 sq. ft!