BillyT

Hard times for sure when a car hauler in business as long as Cooper "takes the pipe" they haul the highest paying mainstream freight on the road! However times have changed since deregulation! When I hauled cars they wouldn't let a non union rack on the lot! I suspect there are as many non union companies and owner operators as union,maybe more!

Was that superliner a special order from mack or done at an outside shop? It looks great!

I noticed many years ago that the food in the Nevada t.s . Was quite a bit cheaper than t.s in other states, they all had various gambling opportunities from blackjack to one armed bandits, I guess the profits from the gambling enabled them to sell food cheaper!

Happy birthday Mike!

Every situation is different the closeness of the dealer and the price reduction made the Deere your choice!I troll Craigslist regularly for fun under hvy equip and I see a lot of small Kubota,Deere etc tractors in the 2500. Up price range but I suspect much of it is scrap! Farmers and contractors are hard on equipment!

Just thought of another Amish anecdote! I delivered a load of insulation to an Amish business in the Lancaster pa area. The terrain leading to the dock was dirt and very uneven,after I hit the dock a young Amishman came out to greet me. I said to him "that dock is kind of obtuse" He grinned and said " everything here is kind of obtuse"😁

Teamster Grrrl I agree with your reasoning,you have to look at the whole picture! The first thing and often the only thing the average person looks at is fuel mileage! So a Dodge Cummins dually is north of 70grand but gets the best fuel economy of any truck that size! So what? That engine is good for 500000 properly maintained, so look for one that an elderly couple bought new and pulled a lightweight camper with and buy it used for thousands less! So you bought a lighter and less expensive tractor which your Golf will tow around probably at 30 mpg! Admittedly it will take twice as long to do what a heavy more expensive tractor would take but you have that time and you don't need that big truck to tow it! This topic reminds me of an anecdote from my hotshot career! We had a reformed Amish couple who leased a big shot rig to our company they had a five stop load of insulation that went to upper New England paid close to 2.00 a mile to the truck in1989 (8000)# my friend who was our agent asked the husband how the load went..."well it took all day,...but we had all day!" We could all learn from the Amish!

Vlad, my tablet was low on power so I charged it and now I'm back! I noticed your mh has a different grille than the one I drove, do you know where it was built? Being a welder, I like the fancy "moose guard" on its front end! I guess in Russia it would be a "stag guard" what large deer/elk like creatures do you have in Russia? I have always liked the Russian military trucks style! Are you aware that the Cuban people have been retro fitting Russian diesels into their old 50s era American cars!? The trade embargo that our president Kennedy placed on Cuba prevented them from importing American auto parts! There was a tv series "Cuban chrome" which highlighted how the Cuban mechanics kept their old American cars running! They showed an old Buick I believe it was with a Russian engine! You showed an old power plant, well ironically yesterday there was an accident at a coal fired power plant near St Petersburg Florida that tragically killed two workers, and seriously injured four. Details are scarce as the owners of the TECO power plant are busy covering their a...s! By the way the Coptic church was beautiful they kept the gold leaf on the dome shining!

Vlad,ive been trying for a week to get your pictures,finally did they are awesome! The Volvo is an old Roadway horse, and the Navistar looks like a Schneider Cabover! Could be rural America! Thought all the old Cabover went to central America I was wrong😁Looks like a small American t.s, someday you should try to get us a picture of the inside of one of your truck stops and also some drivers great job!

Thanks for the reply KSB! Of course I agree as my vehicles last forever it's so simple! The average person goes in a parts store and buys oil and tranny fluid by price not quality! They think they are saving money😁 I'm talking about the ones that actually maintain their vehicles! Ever notice that you almost never see a car burning oil which was common in the 50s and 60s! Quality alloys and oil technology! Even if you don't change your oil! The mindset of the average person especially pertaining to cars is laughable! The dealers push leases with short mileage limits and when they turn in the car after three years it's barely broken in! The dealer of course gives free oil changes so the car is in good shape for the resell! When they go to the dealer for the"free oil change" they talk them into a fuel injection system cleaning for a hundred bucks or more when they could put Lucas additive in the tank every other fill up for a fraction of the cost! And on and on, like sheep to slaughter!

KSB, where did you see the 12 year figure? Just curious today's body on frame pickups with proper maintenance (rotella t or castrol ) or similar oil changed at proper intervals can last so long the owner will get tired of looking at them! How are the manufacturers going to get the owners to trade or sell their vehicles?

Gray hair I won 25.00 on the Illinois lottery once😁

Vlad I noticed the big truck models at the hobby shop diidn't seem to be the same quality as when I was a kid! If you Google edmund fitzgerald you can hear her captain talking on the captain of the arthur alexander on the radio right before she went under! The arthur alexander was an iron ore boat whose captain was trying to help the fitzgerald captain navigate when her radar screens were blown off! I believe the arthur alexander is still in use,they last a long time on the great lakes!

The bottom.line I think as several of you have mentioned is this is America and we can buy any vehicle we can ( or possibly can't) afford! When the Dodge Cummins came out a couple of my buddies pulling a full load of insulation on a heavy steel 48 ft flatbed were documenting 20mpg! In the early days they had problems with the Getrag 5speed tranny ( ironically the same company that builds race car trannys) It turned out to be a lubrication problem. The thing was rated around 180hp but ran like a big block Chevy due to the torque! Imagine putting that pre emissions Cummins in a late model p.u! My friend had an early F350 dually with an early Cummins and a 10 speed r.r! Used a little electric compressor to work the range selector! I haven't quite figured out why all these people in Florida (who obviously don't off road from the spotless condition of their trucks) buy 4 wheel drive trucks! Maybe they enjoy the lower fuel economy and all those extra parts to wear out!

KSB, is the flex considered a carcinogen in California....like everything else 😁

The old Chevy camper is cool! Anybody read "Travels with Charlie" by John Steinbeck? Ford motor company built him a camper based on a 1964 Ford 3/4 ton chassis had all the usual stuff campers have today! He and Charlie (a French poodle) travelled all over America and his interactions with different people he met are what the book is about ! Another book about American workers is "Working" by Studs Terkel. The author interviews different people and asks them about their jobs my favorite of course was "Frank Decker Steel hauler" The book was written in the 70s and Mr Decker tells how much better the 70s trucks were compared to The ones he drove in the 40s and 50s! If he's still around I'll bet he's amazed by the modern road tractors!

Yeah of course it is ,don't know what I was thinking!

Vlad, it has been years since we could get the best acetone based model glue! The idiot teenagers in the sixties were squirting it in a paper bag and sniffing it! It got you high, but it also destroyed your brain cells! The govt made it illegal to sell! My grandson and I are slowly building a model of the Titanic has over 1000 pieces! He is really into maritime disasters! I don't know if you ever heard of the Edmund Fitzgerald in Moscow. It was an iron ore boat that travelled our great lakes, went down with all hands in November of 1975! Is on the bottom of lake Superior on the Canadian side.was 728 ft long about 100 ft shorter than the Titanic! There doesent seem to be a model of it available,unfortunately! Models are a fun way to relax!

The cast aluminum grille and b model fenders blend well with the LJ cab! Like the dodge s/a alongside too!

OD I just noticed, they used horseshoes for handles on the smoker, very clever! But green hamburger? Don't know bout' that!

The average "chump" which in reality is most of us,will never be deliberately given the whole truth by the hierarchy that runs the free world! I have no inside knowledge and never will ! But common sense says that China has the most people available to sacrifice in a a military confrontation, and we keep feeding them the profits from our former manufacturing jobs! They are only our ally because they need our manufacturing, what if they cut a deal with Iran or N.Korea or one of the many rogue states that hates us money tends to "trump" most religious and ideological differences, no pun intended! We need to watch our a..! Of course if I know that our security agencies know it too and a thousand times more!

That looks like a drag racing tractor!What engine is it running?

OD,I've been told by half a dozen drivers about being sent in the woods to " get a switch" of course the first time the kid thinks he'll be slick and gets a little switch! So the old man sends him for a big one, and gives him an extra "lick" for bringing him the little one! It's a lose lose situation for the kid!😁

I missed the original topic(fortunately perhaps) but the animosity is dripping off the page!