CaptainCrutch

It’s all back in one piece, minus the hood, and we had it out and running around today. It seemed to be down on power and come to find out the fuel pump needs to be rebuilt. I’ll try to see if I can get some better pictures later.

It’s coming back together! Latest update says starting it Thursday morning and having it roaring down the streets of Maryland later that day. What funny is one of the big delays was the fact that her replacement, Independent’s new Engine 12, was also in the shop and obviously the wagon still in service took priority. I’ll send pictures when I can, but I will say that her chrome shines brightly, or atleast what you can see if it behind the rust.

I’d like to see how he deals with a split rim. Imagine the levels of bike racks he’d need for that.

I firmly believe that the free market’s natural innovation is the solution to 99% of our problems. Assuming that global warming is true (even through the average temperature of the earth has only risen 1.8° F since the mid 1800s) then at the very minimum companies such as Tesla will innovate new ways to do what we already do because eventually we will run out of resources. Coal and Oil will cease to exist one day, so at some point companies will have to innovate ways to travel and create power that don’t need these materials. For the past 20-30 years we’ve had 8 years before we can’t go back because we’ll have messed up our earth so much. I was talking to a guy who used to live in PA and he told me when he was a kid the rivers would be orange. It’s certainly not like that now. I’m quite certain it’s not because the EPA stepped up and cleaned it. I remember reading that Germany was banning the sale of gas powered cars in 10 years which is definitely the wrong way to go, gas power will phase itself out as time goes on as I’ve already proven. Overall we should just let the market innovate like it always has instead of forcing it to change. We all know how well that worked out for the U.S.S.R. And does anyone really believe that a planet that survived 2 major extinction events, an ice age, and the impact that created the moon, would even blink at something as insignificant as a race of organisms who burn some nasty stuff? This earth will continue to host life until it gets incinerated by the sun.

This is the only picture of it on the ad. Glad I saved it. It’s quite the rig.

I wouldn’t say this will hurt anyone’s profit margins, Chevy isn’t exactly known for their reliability these days and newer Chevys seem to hold their value like a colander holds water. I know people who bought a Chevy and when to trade it in 5 years later for the new model and the trade in barely covered the down payment. I will say though, I am biased towards Dodge RAM and Toyota because of my limited experience with all of them. Chevy has just not impressed me in a long time.

Australia also had Superliners for a while longer. It’s a shame that Mack’s home has it’s toys stolen from it before everyone else. I will say I see a ton of Rs and Superliners still on the road in actual service, and quite a few CFs running fires as first due. Atleast the classics are keeping up to make up for the newer models.

Tonight I got another one of these insurance scam calls. The fun part tonight was the guy trying to tell me he’s never heard of ‘the Mack’. He hung up after a while of trying to inform him that Mack does in fact exist. Definitely a new one.

If it had a sleeper I’d probably be road tripping it all the way back to the east coast. I’m still thinking about it.

I don’t see much innovation in trucking anymore. Almost every new truck looks the same as every other new truck, where as you used to be able to instantly tell the difference between them from miles away. I would love to see thing like the B, the R, the Superliner, the E, the Bulldog, all of which were so far advanced and greatly different than anything else. The best thing Mack has now is the E9 and that’s been around for decades. Another reason I’m excited to see an all electric Mack, it’s something different, I just with they built a new body for it.

Sad considering just a few years ago it seemed like every truck driver out there had driven a Mack R, and Volvo is making it so everyone merely remembers Mack. But what a good memory it is.

Here’s a video one one of my favorite recodings of this sort of thing. This guy is a voice actor and has a few different default characters he likes to use.

Something that really sets them off is if you say something close to ‘Ben chord’ or ‘behnchod’ (which a hard ch) which roughly translates to ‘one that has sexual relations with one’s sister’. It’s pretty great stuff heading them trying to translate their swears into English. It’s even funnier when they try to tell you you’re going to be arrested for wasting their time, to which I always respond with “Ok, I’ll be waiting, do you know my address or do I need to give it to you?” Usually they say a few more obscenities or threaten you some more before you finally get the *click* that marks the end to your fun.

I toured the Hagerstown facility 3 years ago, everyone seemed pretty indecisive about the new robots, it made their jobs easier but also made it so they didn’t need so many people. Other than that everyone seemed satisfied with their jobs and I know people who still work there who are pretty happy. From what I’ve heard the engines even today are still pretty decent competitors, but that the electronics are the real problem. Even more reason to own an old Mack. I’ve also heard good things about the new Anthem, and have even SEEN it rise in popularity because I see them often, and usually not the same one. But I don’t think anything will ever be able to beat the older Macks, thanks to government regulations.

Yes, the L cab was only available on the B7 series, the front of the hood was wider which did something to allow a slightly modified L cab to be installed, most likely made the hood straighter which made something line up. The advantage being the L cabs have much more room.

Another question in this same theme, does anybody know how many Bs were built with the CA-31 cab?

Well I wouldn’t give them any vital information or any actual access to anything important, just waste their time. There’s actually a way to set up a virtual machine on your computer so that they can’t hack your actual computer, but they think they are. Too many people fall for these scams and just a few minutes could prevent it from being someone who will actually fall for it. Another story was when we got a call about us winning a cruise after our application was approved but we answered the phone with “Hi caller, you’re on the air.” We never applied for a free cruise. Wasted almost half an hour with this Indian group wasting their time thinking they’d accidentally won a free trip to Disney, and we’re on a radio show, trying to play it off as if they were really on a radio show. Weird thing was, when we asked for an address they gave us ours. I know how, there are websites that allow you to pay $15 or something like that and if you know a person’s name, address, or phone number, you can get the rest. But it does make the scam more convincing, pretty smart on their part. Any time you get a pop up on your computer saying you have a virus, it’s fake, unless it’s your actual anti virus software. And if you do have a virus, take it to a computer shop, only call companies like geek squad about it. When you know how some of these scams work, you tend to be able to have even more fun with them.

I’m sure everyone gets one of these calls at some point, a call from the IRS stating you owe them or you’ll be arrested, a call saying you’ve won a grant just for being a good citizen, or even informing you that your extended warranty on your vehicle has expired. Now even though this is a normal activity I seem to have gotten more than normal as of late. So I’ve done what any sane person would do, and I began actually answering the phone, might as well give them the benefit of the doubt. Well lately it’s always been about my car insurance expiring or my last chance for an extended warranty going away if I don’t answer the phone. So when I answer and get asked to confirm the year of my vehicle, I of course say “1953”. *click* Well darn, I really wanted to get that extended warranty. The next day the same call but this time telling me I have one last chance to pay for my insurances or it goes away, this time they ask for my zip code, I list the Frederick code, seeing as that’s where it’s from and right after I get again another nice *click*. Well not sure what that was about but alright. Now last night was the best one so far. I answer the phone and get a prerecorded message telling me that I haven’t responded to their mail telling me my chance to apply for extended warranty is about to go away, and to press 3 if my phone has less than 150,000 miles or to press 4 to be added to the do not call list. Now last time I checked the odometer it had much less than 150,000 miles, so naturally I press 3. “Your call is very important to us, please stay on the line.” Subtle jazz began playing for just a few seconds before a man with a very slight Indian accent responded. “Hello, can you confirm that you are interested in an extended warranty on your vehicle?” “Yes” “Ok sir, can you please provide the year, make and model of your vehicle to confirm the warranty.” “Well yeah, it’s a 1953 Mack LS85.” “Ok sir...” “Wait I’m sorry, it’s and LS95.” (I had been trying to find a good picture of the sister to my L and had 85 in my mind) “So do have this correct that it is a 1953 Mack LS95?” “Yes.” “Now is that the only vehicle you own?” “Well yes.” (I could’ve provided details about our CF too but it slipped my mind in the moment) “Ok sir, I’m afraid we are unable to extend the warranty on this vehicle.” “Oh, really? It’s got less then 150,000 miles.” “Yes sir, I’m very sorry.” *click* Now what have I gotten out of this experience? The satisfaction that if even for those few moments I was able to stop these people from using those moments to scam someone else who may own a newer Toyota RAV4 or a Ford Focus. I know for a fact had I given them such a thing they would’ve asked for a $500 iTunes gift card or something of the sort, and a surprising amount of people will do it, thinking they’re going to be able to continue their warranty for many more miles. Next time you get a phone call from a number you don’t recognize, and you have the time, make sure to answer it, and waste as much time as possible. It’s more fun than it seems.

I’m guilty of seeing a Superliner and having to get a picture. It’s more of a wow factor because it’s such a beautiful thing and it’s not as common as say a KW W900 or something of the sort. Besides how can someone not love the look of a Superliner, even Pixar chose a Superliner over any other truck to be a certain character. So please, do post pictures of what I can imagine is a beautiful rig.

What also doesn’t help is when schools have begun replacing classes like wood shop with classes like requiring a 4th year of math by which point everyone is now learning how to graph 3 dimensionally, something that will never be used in and career any of them will ever pick other than being a public school teacher. At a local public school they’ve even replaced gym with dance class (mostly because it’s an art school where they don’t have enough money to have a building with a gym and instead have to use the floor designated for the dancers to fulfill their physical education) and have to rent out space in 4 other buildings within 2 blocks just to have space for normal classes and even so they can have a cafeteria for students to eat. Everyone makes it work but it’s still unfortunate that these talented kids who had to earn their place at this school must walk outside in the snow so they can get to their lunch while at school. But I will say at this school students must try out and prove themselves to get in and all their grades must be C or above, with all honors or AP classes, otherwise they’re removed. Atleast there’s some hope there.

I know that many school systems have begun using symbols like check marks and plus signs instead of actual letter grades, but so far it’s most been only in Elementary schools. It’s still ridiculous either way.

I’d just give whatever you feel is right. They run off donations so if you’re going to use their services and can you should. Think about all the time spent looking through 100+ years of information on every truck ever built. They go so in depth that they found sales record from 1984 when my L was up for sale. If they have a record of what you have they will find it, and it’s all volunteer work. But i will say, if you’re really scrapping money together to get your project done, or the money could be better spent, it is not required, wed just like to see this reasource which benefits so many people stay around for as long as possible, and the only way to do that is for them to receive donations. It really is up to you how much and even if you donate.