My B

[Terry T]

My B model was built for the E.W. Bohren Company of Woodburn, IN in September of 1964. I was born into the trucking business in September of 1965. In 1970 my dad's friends helped us move from Ft Wayne, IN to Findlay, OH. The thing I remember most about that move was the B Model Mack that Don Parrish Jr. provided (as well as his muscle!) and the single axle trailer. Dad was being transfered by CW Transport to become TM of a new terminal that wasn't even built yet and the Ft Wayne TM, Rex Heare, and a dispatcher, Jim Bearman (who is now my father-in-law), also helped with the move. The B used in the move was not the one that I currently own, but Don's father, Senior or "The Old Man" as we all affectionately called him bought the truck in 1972 and numbered it 203. We moved back to Ft Wayne and eventually my dad went to work for Parrish Leasing. My dad and my father-in-law both drove 203 thru the years and in my early teen years 203 was relegated to yard work and taking trailers to the truck wash (because the seals didn't leak and you could stay dry inside as opposed to the much newer IHC 4070's and 4070B's!).I went to work for Parrish when I was 13 and I lot drove it alot as a 14 and 15 year old, using it to bring trailers into the shop and re-arranging the yard. By the time I turned 16 203 along with 200, and 201 both B's (one of which was the one that moved us in '70) had been parked. 202 was an R model that lil bro Gary Parrish crashed & totaled while returning from Ft. Madison, IA with a brand new Fruehauf trailer. eventually all the old B's, R's and IHC's were scraped (very unfortunate, but this was still in the late 1980's, who knew!), except for 203. It just kept setting around, every once in a very great while it got started, but by about 1990 it was "permanently" parked. I kept seeing it set there and set there and finally in March of 2004 I stopped and talked to Don, made him an offer and hooked it up the next day. Unfortunately money has been tight since I first started on it and it is in "pause" mode right now, but I hope to get back to it this fall or winter. It will retain the red, black, and white that Don Sr. believed all real trucks were painted as well as the #203, and I believe that it will get the name 'The Old Man" in memory of Senior. I am going to add a Holmes wrecker bed to it though instead of keeping it as a tractor.

[Barry]

Hey Terry, havent heard from ya in awhile! Great story behind your truck! Can't wait to see her finished!