Tell Us The Strory Of How You Got Your Mack

[JHodges]

When I was 14 I went with my dad to pickup a 1966 Mustang for my uncle. It was up on a cattle farm. When we got there I looked around at all of the usual stuff on a farm tractors, dump trucks , speader trucks and then I saw it. I was pretty sure it was an old B-61 Mack. It was a a green B-61 Mack with tandem rearends, 10 speed tranny, and a turbo diesel engine. It is a rough truck which means it needs front fenders definately because the were trying to start it and they were somehow trying to jump it off with a tractor and somehow on 10th gear it reved up and pushed the big tractor backwards through the field. I asked my uncle about it and he said it wasn't his. I was told that it belonged to a guy that they worked with. My uncle asked him about the truck. I was told to make an offer. I offered $300. I didn't here anything for probaly 45 days so I figured that he didn't accept his offer. One evening I was sitting at home and my uncle told me that he had accepted my offer. I came up with the money and bought it. I bought it after I just go out of 8th grade and I was in 9th grade before I got it moved. It was $175 to get it moved 12 miles. Ain't that high. Well that is the story of my old B-61 Mack.

[Barry]

Great Story! I'd love to see some photos of that old dog!

[chris88]

My father was doin a job out in the pines of newjersey and saw the Bmodel sittin there everyday when he went to lunch for a year or so, then one day i said that i would like to buy a bmodel so we went out there and talked to the guy who owned it and he wasnt sure if he wanted to get rid of it, so he told us to come back in a couple weeks. We went back there and he said that he would sell it for 1200. So i went and picked it up soonafter and now i own a 1964 B 61. The first vehicle i ever bought at 16 is a mack.

[Q-TRANS]

My CH 613 was sitting in the USED MACK POUND along with 51 of its brothers and sisters ( had AUTOMATICS ) .. Went through every one of them , found the 1 with the lowest mileage and in great shape.

[Firemack]

When I was a boy, I was always looking at the B Model Fire truck -named Wayne 2 at the Radnor Firehouse- they had 4 Macks then- 3 L models and 1 B model- I always liked the L models but just loved the B model- it was an open cab, and had no muffler-you could hear her start up and you knew where the fire was just by listening to Wayne 2.

Well the Macks got sold one by one and then one day in 1973 the old B Model was gone- it got sold- to another fire company in Rockingham Vermont.

I joined the fire company in 1980 and always loved riding on the back step- and then moved up to driving- back then we had Hahn 8v71-Detroits with Fuller roadrangers (without the top) so they were limited to 5 speeds, man could they roll! But I always wanted to track down old Wayne 2, but we had no place to keep it, so it was just another idea that maybe we could find it someday.

In 1997 we finally built a new firehouse- and it had an extra long bay for an extra truck- and then-we have another local fire company in Malvern PA that has a B model and they loaned it to us for our celebration parade for the new firehouse. By chance I was the lucky engineer that was selected to drive the B model in the parade- and that was it- we were HOOKED- we just had to find our old B Model!

I worked for a company that had office in New Hampshire- so I tracked down the chief of the Rockingham Fire Company in Vermont to see what had happened to our old B Model- and guess what? It was still in service as the first out pumper in 1997- at 43 years old! The only problem was they were still using it and did not want to sell her! I convinced them to let me see the old B model-so I drove from New Hampshire to visit old number 2- he took me for a ride at 15 degress in the open cab with no heater in Janaury and I took pictures- ow-wow-they had painted her school bus yellow!!

I checked back with them every year or so- and finally in 2002 they got 2 new pumpers and would be willing to sell the old B Model- for the right price- well turns out that we offered $5000 less $750 for pump repairs and got her for $4250.

I went to pick her up with a team of 4 drivers- 2 of the original engineers that drove her back in the day- my counterpart in the project Rick was one and was in the company when she first arrived! We started on the trip to drive her back to Pennsylvania on July 20, 2002, and she ran terrible- they had not drained any of the old fuel- the brakes were on the floor, but we got her onto Route 93 and started south- she was doing better 61-62-63-64 MPH but then she refused to go over 30 mph, we stopped to check it out and thought maybe we had a fuel problem- but never was able to get her over 30 mph the rest of the trip, and got back to Wayne around midnight- but had an adventure!

Took me a few days to diagnose the problem - the governor was stuck shut! then she ran pretty good- we took her to Lititz that year- and met up with Watts Mack and with Barry for the first time- and started to figure out how we could restore her back to they way she should be - painted RED!

It took us about 18 months with lots of help from the community to tear her down in the fire house and rebuild the engine,brakes and all other mechanicals and get her body repaired, painted and we reassembled her and then took Wayne 2 to the first parade on Memorial Day-May 31, 2005.

Since then Wayne 2 is the signature truck for the company, the B model gets invited to lots of events and parades- and was judged Best Appearing and Equipped Fire Company owned Antique in the 2006 Pennsylvania State Fire Convention- over 400 trucks were in the parade- and about 40 were antiques- so the B model was selected as the best of the best!

Now she sits proudly in the the Radnor Firehouse- and just like when I was a boy- I still love Wayne 2, the old B model- and she still has an open pipe-and she sounds great when we take her out!

[77rmack]

I saw the '77 R-600 at a truck show, with a for sale sign on it, but nobody was around. I took down the number and called it when I got home. Ended up leaving a message because nobody answered. After a couple of weeks I tried again, and again left a message. After a couple of more tries I gave up, never any return call.

Two years later, one day at work, I got a phone call. I am the shop manager at a local school bus garage, it was one of those days, it was right about lunch time, and the phone rang,"This is -------- " right away my thought was "ugh, another salesman," and right at lunch break, I almost hung up!

Well, the "salesman" went on to say that he had a Mack that was for sale and that I was one of 4 people who had left messages two years ago and he had made up his mind that he was really going to sell and that I was the first one that he called. Talk about fate!

It had sat for the two years, outside not run. I went to look at it. It still looked pretty good but the batterries were stone dead. I made an offer but he really didn't like what I offered. He promised to put new batteries in it if I would listen to it run and make another offer. Meanwhile I called a friend who knows Macks real well, told him about it, seems as though he knew the truck from the day it was bought. "If you don't buy it I will" was his reaction. Well, I went back, we got it running, and I fell in love. Well even though I bought it for $2000.00 more than I originally offered, I have been offered more than $3000.00 more than I paid for it. I think I'll keep it around for awhile.......I wouldn't sell my old family dog either. He's priceless, too

[Guest other dog]

I've been a truck driver for 28 years now and just a few years ago became interested in antique trucks and shows.I have a huge picture collection,but decided I wanted an old truck of my own,even though I really didn't have money to spare for one.My wife had cancer at the time and money was tight,to say the least.I had seen A B-model sitting on rt.29 near Amherst,Va.for some time and one day I just stopped to ask about it.No one was around when I looked at it the first time,but I went back again and talked to the owner.It was a single axle B-61 with a duplex,just what I was looking for.It had A piece of canvas over the cab because it didn't have any glass in it,it had A bad starter but could be push started,and some rust around the back of the cab at the bottom.The man was asking $1200 for it.There was another one just like in in Montvale,Va. same color and everything else,so I went to look at that one too.Sure enough,it had the name of the same construction co.on the door.This one had all the glass and better tires,but no hood,and no rust.The owner of this one was asking $1000,and I felt like the man in Amherst would probably take the same,and I could buy both and make one.A friend who was with me said to go to the used truck parts lot{junk yard] about a half mile up the road.I'd never seen any trucks there,except wrecks,but rode up there anyway,pulled in the driveway up to the gate[locked,it was Sunday],looked to the right,and there it was-A 1965 B-53 concrete mixer.It had A 673 thermodyne,quadruplex trans,new red paint on the cab.My friend and I agreed it was the best looking B-model we'd seen,and when I called the owner on Monday we also agreed I'd spend as much on the other two fixing them up as he was asking for the mixer,which was $6500.I offered him $5000,he said no,so I asked him if he would take $6000 and he agreed,so I bought it I also think if it had been parked where it could have been seen from rt.460 it would have been sold long before I came along,so maybe it was meant for me.I've since done only some minor work,like new belts and hoses,floor mats [from Watts Mack of course]and a lot of paint on the mixer drum,new steer tires,etc,and drive it in all the local parades and the only show close by,at Stonewall,Va.every May-the Stonewall Antique Power Show.

Edited March 3, 2007 by other dog

[Guest other dog]

Iwould send pictures of the mixer if I knew how-help!