Here You Go Uncle Rob:

[umodelnut]

Here are the reasons my U model has the original cab:

1: The cab mounts are rusted so bad, so how could it be a NEW cab?

2: From the records of my truck Flexi Van Truck Rental orderd the truck green, which you can still see. They ordered it with a Bostrom west Coaster seat, which it still has and their name in the horn button, which is surprisingly still there. They also ordered it with a tandem rear end, which was there before we put the single rear in.

3. A good friend of mine Joe Plaska who worked for Flexi Van when my truck was there(he never drove it) told me that the U's eaither went to Shaefer Brewing or Kimberly Clark Bakeries. Kimberly Clark Bakeries painted the U models a two tone blue, which is obivious mine was.

4. The serial number door tag matches what the truck was ordered with and everything. The door tag also matches the number on the frame rail.

Ha Ha. Your Nephew Vinny

[Rob]

Here are the reasons my U model has the original cab:

1: The cab mounts are rusted so bad, so how could it be a NEW cab?

2: From the records of my truck Flexi Van Truck Rental orderd the truck green, which you can still see. They ordered it with a Bostrom west Coaster seat, which it still has and their name in the horn button, which is surprisingly still there. They also ordered it with a tandem rear end, which was there before we put the single rear in.

3. A good friend of mine Joe Plaska who worked for Flexi Van when my truck was there(he never drove it) told me that the U's eaither went to Shaefer Brewing or Kimberly Clark Bakeries. Kimberly Clark Bakeries painted the U models a two tone blue, which is obivious mine was.

4. The serial number door tag matches what the truck was ordered with and everything. The door tag also matches the number on the frame rail.

Ha Ha. Your Nephew Vinny

Good research but however as you age and gain more experience into these trucks you will discover just how little any of that research pertains. This is truth unfortunately.

Now to answer your posts in the order presented:

1: Your are from the northeast part of the country where salt is the predominant deicer used upon roadways. We all know how badly salt acts upon sheet metal.

2. When a truck is recabbed it seldom retains it's orginal paint scheme. Unless the truck were very new when recabbed, it is doubtful a factory replacement cab was utilized to repair the rollover damage incurred. The Bostrom seat was a favored option and is readily transfered from one cab to it's replacement. The horn button is a 1/4 turn either direction and all of these trucks used basically the same steering wheel and column. This part readily transfers to another steering wheel, or the original column was utilized in the replacement cab. Many trucks were built with tandem rear axles and this has nothing to do with either the cab damage the truck has endured throughout it's lifetime, or it's present state of repairs.

3: It would make perfect sense that after a truck is sold to another company they would repaint it in their own colors. This second owner maybe didn't exercise the "layover" option most of the owner's of "U" models did, and maybe they never operated it to ensure it stayed on it's wheels. I don't know for sure but if it doesn't look like it's had the "layover" option exercised to you, it's probably not been operated much since the latest cab was installed.

4: And finally the door tag. Now how many doors have I put on Mack trucks where I have relocated a tag, or decal to a donor panel replacing an original destroyed one? I lost track of that close to 40 years ago or so.

It's probably safe to say "FlexiVan" got tired or recabbing the truck so they pawned it off on some unsuspecting bakery thinking it would haul lighter loads but after the bakery put several cabs on the chassis, they "offed" it also as a prudent business decision.

But, that's just a guess as you could be right.

Uncle Rob

[umodelnut]

Whatever you want to think uncle Rob. I know that it wasnt recabbed.

[Rob]

It's your story, and you own it. If you're happy, I'm happy.

Uncle Rob

[umodelnut]

It's your story, and you own it. If you're happy, I'm happy.

Uncle Rob

Deal.

[Vladislav]

Nice to read discussions of this kind on BMT.

Especially Uncle Rob's last post.