BillyT

First "big truck" I ever rode in was a361 Brockway day cab with a load of steel sheets going to Chicago From Homestead Works in Pittsburgh, My buddy was driving B P (Baltimore/Pittsburgh) owned the rig.I started driving the next year for an Allied Van lines contractor in a "crackerbox Jimmy" never realized how uncomfortable those old horses were til I drove a new Airride Freightliner!

Could it be a stack mirror on the Westchester fire truck? Anyone remember the grille mounted stack mirror on the raggedy Pete in Duel? Overdrive did a scathing denunciation of that movie because it cast truckers in a negative light!.Love the Orange Autocar with the factory sleeper!

Hope y'all had a great Christmas! Was that black snubnose with the new Dixie decal on the door the w-71?never seen that model and I've pretty much seen em all!lol! Saw something in a James Patterson novel that I keep seeing and it makes me crazy! I'm a welder by trade and the last time I saw a"blowtorch" was in my dad's collection of archaic tools from the forties and earlier,yet many modern novelists refer to cutting torches as blowtorches.for our younger members the blowtorch was a small (1 qt?) Hand held heating device with a handle that plumbers used to "sweat" copper pipe joints. It was fueled by kerosene.Must have gotten heavy by the end of a workday! Sometime in the early 50s the "bernz o matic" propane torch replaced it.I actually have a little mapp gas cylinder with a hose and small torch that you can braze with.Preheat is a little slow but it works in a pinch.What I'm getting at is most of us are truckers,welders,mechanics,bodymen or all of the above but the novelists who write about our exploits invariably get the terms wrong! The worst example was when that drunken asshole in the Toyota pickup that caused the accident that burnt to death dozens of children in the school bus in Kentucky was referred to as a "trucker" in the memorial plaque! Well the teamsters and other trucker groups protested so loudly that they changed the plaque to read "pickup" instead of trucker! One last item on a lighter note...My daughter reads those Nora Roberts "chick" novels and she wrote one about a ranch out west and the cowboys went out to "castrate" the heifers! Sure would like to see someone "castrate" a heifer happy New year folks!

Any old timers from the west coast remember an outfit running team in 950 Ford's with 534 gas burners (said to be triple digit trucks) changed engines every 100k could do it in a couple hrs?

"Corn Flake" closed their doors on a holiday wknd,without a word to their drivers, who arrived to find their terminals closed!

Anybody know if that T shirt with the quad box shift pattern is still available? Where,how much? Also OD is there still a TS in Roaring Spring,used to stop their.

Ever hear the old Irish folk tale "Why Paddys not at work today" was recited on public radio by author Frank McCourt (Angelas ashes) funniest thing I ever heard! Needs to be recited with an Irish brogue! Is on U tube.

OD what show is everyone referring to?

Good local hotshot!

Spent a half hr. Diggin' the Scalia wrecker model! Bet it's worth more than his LJ! I have a Miller Ironson "toy" wrecker I got as a kid about the same scale needs doors, but they're available as nos.For those unfamiliar with Miller Ironson toys they are diecast top quality, someone bought their leftover nos trucks have a couple models, the heavy hauler with trailer is in the 1200.00 range have LJ Mack and B Model cabs.My wrecker resembles an Autocar.Check them out online, if you aren't familiar with them they'll blow your mind!

Thanks for the flowers KSB and others! Since we last spoke my wife passed away and I broke my hip.Her from COPD, related to smoking and me from being a dumbass and falling out of bed! My tablet is wearing out and I can't post a question only answer them, gonna get a new one! Anyone like that new "cornbinder" that looks like it's from mad max? I do!

I'm still kicking been off the site thanx for asking!

Knew a guy hauled steel with a.Diamond T Cabover very.rare!

Looked like a bargain! Lots of possibilities with the winch, fifth wheel wrecker?

Lot more truck than a new diesel dually for similar bucks,plus should hold its value or possibly appreciate! Too bad about the single stick tranny,how about a "fake"second stick to operate the range selector like that three stick one on u tube! You ain't gonna.believe this I knew a dude had a f350 dually with a 5.9 Cummins with a 10 speed road ranger! Had to use 4 by 4 cab mounts to clear the tranny. Freightrain, Bob says hello!

Best looking new truck I've seen!

Just what the " professional driver"needs the same incompetence mitigation devices that are forced on the non professional driver! The insurance industry has to have a major part in this nonsense!

Nice " binder" I remembered something on those trucks there is a bundle of wire connections above the right steering tire, I was driving one of those 80s 9670s and it quit dead pulling into the Petro in Bordentown NJ. Turned out the slush and salt had corroded the wire connections in the cab above the tire! There is a panel.you can remove to get at them. Would be better to check it out first and correct any impending corrosion before it shuts you down. Maybe seal it up good with tar or something.

That looks like a Manley boom on the packard, my 39 diamond T had one that was similar! Each one was a little different looked homemade but was a factory unit they used around 4" by 3/8 angle iron for the main boom and smaller stuff for the supports and forged pulley block,and snatch block on the end.

Did Waylon have a tractor named"Amanda" or would Jesse have been jealous?

That B is gorgeous! A friend of mine used to haul steel with a legendary "two story Falcon!" They caught a lot of abuse, but they couldn't have been half as bad as the Ford 9000 " Crackerbox" day cab I drove! I was given a choice between it and a7400 White "Japanese Freightliner!" Not much of a choice! Ahh the good old days!

I used to pick up new straight trucks from the body manufacturers for Ryder Truck Rental in Pittsburgh, and deliver them to the terminal.As most of us know the Midliner was the product of an incestuous relationship between Mack and Renault,LOL! So I picked up a mid liner and it had a 5 speed tranny with a pattern I've never seen, what an abortion!

On the subject of the MH Mack Cabover,I used to drive for a Ryder lease customer AC Delco batteries, and Ryder at the same time hauled those little Coleman pop up campers with an MH single axle and a double deck trailer.There was a single lane restriction in one of the tunnels on the Pa turnpike Allegheny Mountain I think. A KW Cabover with a load of 55 gallon drums of some product drifted into the MH drivers lane and they hit head on at about 35mph! The KW driver died at the scene, but the MH driver while seriously injured to the point of having to retire from driving recovered! I actually had a conversation with him at Ryders Pittsburgh terminal. The Mack engineers were so impressed that they traveled from Allentown to view the wreckage of the MH! They towed away the wrecked MH before I ever got to see it, but obviously the composite aluminum/ fiberglass construction of the MH must have been very strong! A couple years later I drove a single axle MH with an aluminum drop deck, It was the best riding Cabover I ever drove and it even was spring ride!