Rob Posted April 1, 2012 Share Posted April 1, 2012 This is a scan I located of my third, "MidLiner" Mack. I ran these trucks from new until almost 500,000 miles on the clock without a single major malfunction. Each went through a clutch but that was the only time besides routine maintenance tasks they needed any work. I sold it to another car hauler who wrecked it about four months later yet the bed lived on.This photo was taken in 1998 and the truck was nine years old then.Rob Quote Plodding along with no job nor practical application for my existence, but still trying to fix what's broke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
umodelnut Posted April 1, 2012 Share Posted April 1, 2012 nice Mack uncle Rob!!your nephew Vinny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Green Dash Posted April 1, 2012 Share Posted April 1, 2012 This is a scan I located of my third, "MidLiner" Mack. I ran these trucks from new until almost 500,000 miles on the clock without a single major malfunction. Each went through a clutch but that was the only time besides routine maintenance tasks they needed any work. I sold it to another car hauler who wrecked it about four months later yet the bed lived on.This photo was taken in 1998 and the truck was nine years old then.RobIt does look sharp. I've only driven the cabover version and didn't much care for it, I remember something about the turn signal lever placement and the heater or radio controls were backwards or something. Minor stuff, but I was already pissed off about having to drive it instead of my R.Shuster's had the tractor version of yours that had some issues, and understandably so. It was used to pull doubles from Pittsburgh to Buffalo twice a week and then peddle stops in western NY while it was up there. The driver said he received a threat over the cb by another driver who was going to call the ASPCA and report him for abuse of a bulldog. I'm sure that when used in the way they were intended, they would be good trucks. Quote Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mack4ever Posted April 1, 2012 Share Posted April 1, 2012 nice looking truck.we never had them here in europe but they where built in france. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Posted April 1, 2012 Author Share Posted April 1, 2012 The cab on those trucks was kind of universal with several manufacturers using it. Magirus was another big one in this country. I purchased one of those but never built the truck and sold it shortly after repairing it. This truck in the photo was the shortest of the three, and did not have or need a tag axle. The others had 28', and 30' beds with the 30'r having a "high rack" for carrying a car up over the cab. That truck was on my "Chicago to St. Louis" run and only carried the high end wrecked cars. The 28' bed did a good job with two on the deck, and one on the stinger. The truck in the photo had a 22' deck with a 2' extension to the headrack, and a "forklift" package so I didn't warp the deck. I mostly ran that truck myself and kept it somewhat local. Thanks for the compliments. I know the photo is lousy but I'm just starting to "unstick" several hundred photos that were in the basement when it flooded. Rob Quote Plodding along with no job nor practical application for my existence, but still trying to fix what's broke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olivetroad Posted April 1, 2012 Share Posted April 1, 2012 Rob - What changed to where you no longer ran the trucks? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Posted April 1, 2012 Author Share Posted April 1, 2012 Rob - What changed to where you no longer ran the trucks?The conglomerate called "CoPart" came into being. They started as an investment group purchasing up the salvage pools around the country. These cut throat bastards tried to negotiate the contracts with the independent haulers, (I was one) to haul for much less money per ton mile making the venture unprofitable, (percentage wise). I had already exited the local towing and recovery business being spread too thin and flat refusing to charge $35.00 to tow a car with a $60,000 piece of equipment. When they couldn't get the independents to go along, they, (CoPart) purchased their own fleets of trucks and hired mostly incompetent personel to operate them. This although it sounds mean spirited, it really is the truth.I seen the writing on the wall towards the beginning of 2005, and the new CoPart started operations at the expiration/completion of the contracts then in force. Several contract haulers with all thier respective "eggs in one basket" were left hurting citing upside down in equipment. My equipment was always paid for and I was able to market the four trucks before the end of the contract. They were all too happy to let me out early so that is what I did. Fortunately, I didn't have to lay a single employee off; I either made work for them in one of the body shops, or made a couple of phone calls to get them into a job. All my guys were good workers and dependable, so it was easy to place them.Rob Quote Plodding along with no job nor practical application for my existence, but still trying to fix what's broke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hatcity Posted April 1, 2012 Share Posted April 1, 2012 The conglomerate called "CoPart" came into being. They started as an investment group purchasing up the salvage pools around the country. These cut throat bastards tried to negotiate the contracts with the independent haulers, (I was one) to haul for much less money per ton mile making the venture unprofitable, (percentage wise). I had already exited the local towing and recovery business being spread too thin and flat refusing to charge $35.00 to tow a car with a $60,000 piece of equipment. When they couldn't get the independents to go along, they, (CoPart) purchased their own fleets of trucks and hired mostly incompetent personel to operate them. This although it sounds mean spirited, it really is the truth.I seen the writing on the wall towards the beginning of 2005, and the new CoPart started operations at the expiration/completion of the contracts then in force. Several contract haulers with all thier respective "eggs in one basket" were left hurting citing upside down in equipment. My equipment was always paid for and I was able to market the four trucks before the end of the contract. They were all too happy to let me out early so that is what I did. Fortunately, I didn't have to lay a single employee off; I either made work for them in one of the body shops, or made a couple of phone calls to get them into a job. All my guys were good workers and dependable, so it was easy to place them.RobExcept Jaime Quote Success is only a stones throw away.................................................................for a Palestinian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Posted April 1, 2012 Author Share Posted April 1, 2012 Except JaimeAfterward. I wouldn't have even dreamed of putting him in a truck.Rob Quote Plodding along with no job nor practical application for my existence, but still trying to fix what's broke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timothy Maikshilo Posted April 1, 2012 Share Posted April 1, 2012 Great truck sad story Rob. I'm sure you had a lot of good times over the years before big business took the fun out of it. I was lucky enough to help out in this line of work and really enjoyed it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Posted April 1, 2012 Author Share Posted April 1, 2012 I always liked the work myself but couldn't justify being away from the office to make it all come together very long. Never lost money in any venture with automobiles and their service. but it was time to do something else as times was a changin. I was fluid enough to roll with them.Rob Quote Plodding along with no job nor practical application for my existence, but still trying to fix what's broke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slpwlker Posted April 1, 2012 Share Posted April 1, 2012 Copart bought out Sadisco in Davie quite a few years ago before I got out of towing. Seen the yard sits empty 99 percent of the time. Idk if they went under or not Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timothy Maikshilo Posted April 2, 2012 Share Posted April 2, 2012 I always liked the work myself but couldn't justify being away from the office to make it all come together very long. Never lost money in any venture with automobiles and their service. but it was time to do something else as times was a changin. I was fluid enough to roll with them.RobHard to clone yourself I've found. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Superdog Posted April 2, 2012 Share Posted April 2, 2012 Wish we would have thought to take pics when we used that truck to load the old AC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Posted April 2, 2012 Author Share Posted April 2, 2012 Wish we would have thought to take pics when we used that truck to load the old AC. I agree. That one got around with the personal stuff. Plenty of cable and a good stiff winch made the job easy.Rob Quote Plodding along with no job nor practical application for my existence, but still trying to fix what's broke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.