BillyT

41,Steven Covey would agree!

I missed the original topic(fortunately perhaps) but the animosity is dripping off the page! Old true story.."Where you stand depends on where you sit!" I worked for a college educated man "who got interested in trucking by driving a "Michigan train" not for the faint of heart! He owned five single axle Cabovers he bought at auction (cash) for less than the average person pays for a junk used Honda on time mostly! He pulled hotshot flatbed. His trucks ,a mixed fleet were professionally maintained and seldom broke down! The big fleets trade their equipment while it is under warranty with a buyback agreement,that's why many truck dealerships resemble jbh and Schneider terminals! My business partner and I owned two new "big shot" rigs which were absolute lemons which we maintained religiously to no avail! He didn't start making money until he bought a used Volvo single axle big truck and used big truck drop deck, and I didn't start making money til I went to work for the guy with the five trucks! We both could tell you our cpm (he was an accountant for US Steel) and I actually did sleep thru math class, but somehow managed to be debt free and have an 830 credit score.I didn't however sleep thru welding school! What I'm saying is there is no one good way to get where you're going! Casper, I use Lucas additive in my pickups,five speed tranny,50/50 with Rotella T, and 8 ounces every fill up in my truck and wife's car(gas). In the diesel big trucks I used Howes additive as anti gel in the winter and fuel system cleaner and lubricant all season! A lot of drivers use Lucas they seem to both be good!

Just to add to the controversy, one of the best jobs I had was as a union car hauler, and one of the worst jobs I had was also as a union car hauler eight years later!

I missed the original topic(fortunately perhaps) but the animosity is dripping off the page! Old true story.."Where you stand depends on where you sit!" I worked for a college educated man "who got interested in trucking by driving a "Michigan train" not for the faint of heart! He owned five single axle Cabovers he bought at auction (cash) for less than the average person pays for a junk used Honda on time mostly! He pulled hotshot flatbed. His trucks ,a mixed fleet were professionally maintained and seldom broke down! The big fleets trade their equipment while it is under warranty with a buyback agreement,that's why many truck dealerships resemble jbh and Schneider terminals! My business partner and I owned two new "big shot" rigs which were absolute lemons which we maintained religiously to no avail! He didn't start making money until he bought a used Volvo single axle big truck and used big truck drop deck, and I didn't start making money til I went to work for the guy with the five trucks! We both could tell you our cpm (he was an accountant for US Steel) and I actually did sleep thru math class, but somehow managed to be debt free and have an 830 credit score.I didn't however sleep thru welding school! What I'm saying is there is no one good way to get where you're going!

Very embarrassing for the "cornbinders😁" That wrecker back end was built by a craftsman!

That's beautiful work! Most of that style lettering is found in New England and the east coast all of the refuse and construction fleets in New England,Jersey and New York seemed to have the gothic style gold leaf lettering at one time! Very classy!

Bulldogboy, I used to work with a crew that picked up new medium duty trucks at various body plants in 1983 for Ryder truck rental! One was a Renault built Midliner ! They were very unusual trucks after driving American built medium size trucks! It had an exhaust brake actuated by stepping on a large button on the floor, and it had a backa$$wards shift pattern that took awhile to get used to! They seemed to disappear off the road after a fairly short while!

The "K Whopper" with the period sleeper.is a very rare piece! What company built those sleepers? I've forgotten but used to see a few,mostly owner operators!

Looks worth restoring!

Any members ever see the huge coal stripping shovel that was visable on I 80 either in eastern oh or western PA? Was right on the line! May have been the one that they parked a tandem dump in its bucket! I think it was a Bucyrus Erie!

How about "lonesome dove" possibly my favorite western! Also "Apache" but Burt Lancaster was a little taller than most Apaches! The Oxbow Incident was good, one of few movies of that era with a racial theme!

Alex,Living in Pittsburgh Pa my wife had never seen a tumbleweed so I brought her one home from west Texas!

Hobert,not many of them left!

Not good! Lucky you weren't on the interstate! I don't know how Montana is about "toxic spills",one of my bosses lost a nearly empty rs fuel tank on a Navistar Cabover,it rolled onto the shoulder and spilled less than a gallon! Connecticut fined him 4000.00! His trucks were well maintained, but s..t happens!😁

Great story KSB, Mr Rudolfos concerns about the aluminum framed "Pete" illustrate how almost every situation is a compromise! Aluminum frame =more payload, more payload creates metal fatigue and cracks aluminum frame! I used to "detail" trucks for Pittsburgh Peterbilt when laid off from my car hauling job. A 60s era double bunk big motor 15speed r.r every amenity shiny KW Cabover came in! What could be wrong with this truck? It had a magnesium frame in the "salt belt" the truck was about ten yrs old and the corrosion was unbelievable,presumably traded in on a new steel framed Peterbilt! But boy was it fun to "bobtail" it back to the dealer! It had a 318 Detroit turned up to 3000rpm! And there was an overpass right next to my shop! Sadly I didn't have a tape recorder!😁

Also, let's not forget our friends in the insurance lobby for the growing list of federally mandated features all new cars are required to have! DRL s (you can't turn on your own headlights?) I believe That automatic braking and lane drift technology are on the new list! I do believe in rear cameras however, even the most defensive driver can't see a three foot tall toddler that got loose from mom and dad and ran behind the vehicle! I recall a tragic incident a couple years ago where a congressman backed over his grandchild!

Teamster Grrrl, good point! The first car I drove legally was a 51 merc coupe,no seatbelts ! My dad and I installed a pair of aftermarket belts! In the front! We have had people "protecting us from ourselves" for decades! Claybrook was the flaming idiot who suggested they put a reflective ring around big truck concave mirrors "so we would know they weren't flat"! So much for her respect for truckers on general! I forgot all about her,supposedly learned to drive trucks on a farm in the Dakotas proving that the common sense that most Midwestern farmers possess doesn't necessarily rub off! Wouldn't be surprised if she had something to do with the " incompetence mitigation" devices that we are all paying for in the price of new cars and even big trucks! Unbelievably, or maybe not, every week at least two people in the Tampa bay area are killed or seriously injured when they are ejected from a vehicle in a relatively minor crash because they didn't "buckle up!", usually teenagers, suffering from "immortality syndrome" but sometimes people old enough to know better!

Freightrain, I just read your post tnx for the info,gonna google it! I googled the tornado pictures from zenia oh in May of 74 wow! I went within 15 mi of there on I 71 earlier they day with a northbound load of firebrick!

"Built like a Mack truck"

Biggest sleeper I've ever seen on a B model!😁 Funny how one picture reminds you of something! Pulled a couple loads thru and out of California's central valley in the late 80s and I was impressed by the hay hauler rigs! Usually a flatbed pulling a set of flatbed pups or a single axle Cabover pulling a set of pups! They were all cabovers 60s thru late 70s mostly KWs Petes and Freightliners an occasional CO 4000 or 9670 " binder ""custom paint,polished Budds and tanks always shiny,mostly older Hispanic owners! I referred to them as "class 8 street rods!" This was before deregulation so that explains the Cabovers to meet length restrictions! I wonder what they're running now? Any of you western members know?

We paid for his funeral too I'm sure! On the subject of John McCain, yes, he probably should have retired a long time ago. But his political views aside, anyone who spent five and a half years in the Hanoi Hilton when his "family influence" could have brought him home early has my respect!

Mack Tech, it took me a minute to remember who Bud Dwyer was! Then it hit me! You're right the dude was a "contradiction in terms"got caught with his hand in the cookie jar and not being " fully convicted" his wife got his pension when he "ate his gun" my thought at the time was he saved the taxpayers the cost of his prosecution and subsequent incarceration! I was wrong!

I by nature am apolitical!, my voter registration says np I , that's no political affiliation! I try to avoid all this anger and chaos, but I have to weigh in on this! As several members mentioned a seven year old child (who hasn't reached puberty) doesn't really know his/her sexual identity! And I certainly don't hate a child! Anyone who does regardless of his/her clothing is a sick p.o.s.! I'm not a psychologist, but I too suspect there may be some "projection" from mom! I do have an opinion! If mom sends this hapless child to church dressed as a girl,she also sends him to school that way and takes him out in public that way! In retrospect he is probably home schooled, but if not she leaves the child open to the worst kind of bullying and psychological abuse! His life will be a horror! In a church with true Christian values the child will be accepted/ sorta! Our society has arguably become more enlightened/unenlightened depending on your opinion! One of the many problems with this situation is little kids tend to " shoot from the hip" in their interactions with other little kids! Depending largely on their upbringing! When I take my grand kids 10 and 12 to the playground they automatically begin playing with the other kids regardless of color ethnicity size shape etc,and it's wonderful to watch, but all of the kids are dressed according to their sex at birth! I've never seen a situation like this but I suspect it won't be good for the child! Ok nuff said back to trucks! Whew!