Cool Old School Custom LJ

[57 bcr]

I first seen this truck as a kid,in the early '70's. The owner/operator that hauled produce with it, was located just south of Green Bay,Wis. on RT 41 in Lawrence,Wis. He had advertised the truck in the Wheels of Time for sale in the early '90's. Kind of an interesting look with the B-model fenders on it. This was long before "Trick My Truck",for sure! The house/shop is still there along with a couple of old storage trailers. Don't know what ever happened to the old LJ. Maybe its still in the shop there?

[RFCDrum]

Cool with a tag axle.

[GreenGiant2]

very nice

[yarnall]

Time to knock on the door.

[BAD DOG]

Looks good. You never know where it may be. I t may very well still be there in the shop. A lot of stuff gets left away in buildings over time and people forget about them. Might be worth stopping and asking sometime.

[Superdog]

That is cool as hell. Maybe Gene would know where it went?

[57 bcr]

....I was thinking the same thing,Mike. I'll have to call down to the bikini state and ask him! Al

[Joe Ditchkus]

Nice picture Al.I remember most factory sleeper trucks from 1950'S were single axle with tag. This is how it was in the East as I remember.It was not until the 1960'S that weight laws were changing and live tandems got popular.The West Coast was a different ball game.Thanks Joe D.

[vision386]

Very neat Al ! thanks for posting,if you didn't know better,it almost looks factory! that's a sharp old school truck!.......................................Mark

[57 bcr]

Thanks,Mark & Joe D.. It definitely was the way they ran 'em like that, with the tag axle. I remember seeing a fleet from out east (I think) that also had a daycab LJ with same grille,hood,fender arrangement as this on it. It said "Mr. Mack" across the push plate on the front. It might have been in "Wheels of Time" or "Double Clutch" where I seen it. I use to get ready to look for the truck every time we went by his place,south of Green Bay. We would normally be headed south on the way back from our vacation in the U.P. of Mich. on a Sunday. The truck/trailer was always washed up,hooked up,and ready to leave as we drove by! Al

[j hancock]

I think that was a steel hauler that had some modified Macks similar to this sleeper. Memory says there were some pictures of his trucks in Bridgeport or Stamford CT with rolls of steel.

[Superdog]

were you thinking of this one,Al?It's at Gerhart's now.

[j hancock]

Here is Mr. Mack which was a LJ modified with B fenders.

[Superdog]

I remember see pics of those trucks in Double Clutch long ago.

[57 bcr]

That's the one,Jim! Talked to Gene Olson today and he didn't remember the truck off hand. I will have to send him the pics. I bet he'll know who the guy was when he sees the truck!

[j hancock]

The company was M & J Trucking based in Bridgeport, CT. It was founded by Marie and Joseph Cavalleri and at one point were running 40 Macks and 76 trailers all company owned.

The article said that they had terminals in Wheatland and New Castle, PA as well as Bridgeport and their operating territory was New England to Illinois to Virginia.

[57 bcr]

Thanks for the info,Jim. I remember some of their older Macks being in TnT magazine a few years later as they were selling them off. Maybe after they closed their doors.

[j hancock]

I saw a couple of ads for their equipment. It would be nice if some of their trucks made it to collectors vs exporters.

[High Binder]

Beautiful truck. I noticed the mixture of hubs on the tandems which makes me wonder if it had a pusher rather than a tag. I have a truck with a pusher which has the Bud's on the drive and Dayton's on the pusher. Just wondering.

[Superdog]

its a tag,the front is definitely a Mack drive axle on spokes

[mowerman]

nice it looks like a B73 or 75...would look good in my yard...bob

[Green Dash]

Someone did a very nice job of fabricating those fenders to make the truck look oem.

[b61mack]

It looks like a pusher, you can see the drive shaft on the back rear.

[blackdog2]

Back in the early 50s my father seen a LJ sleeper in Florida a week later he went back to Florida to find the dealer ship closed after a week of searching he found it and drove it home to the chicken farm in Water town Conn. He like it so much he bought 2 day cabs and1 more with a sleeper .Well the fist one is still working to this day retiring in the late 80s after pulling dump trailer and low bed now it carry's 550 gal tank around for dust control it has Cummings with rotary fuel pump duplex and 3 different rear ends 45 65 112 mph. Tietz trucking bought from dad in 60s he from Woodbury Conn. Then he bought the b- model that i am sitting in the picture.

[vision386]

I wish I had thought to take a picture of it back then,but I used to see a factory sleeper LJ come into the Vineland,NJ produce market in the middle/late seventies. What made the truck stick in my mind,was it had a "shark nose" painted on the hood like a P-40 Warhawk,I do remember it was Cummins powered,pulled an older Brown bellymount reefer,if memory serves,the owner-operator was from Florida,Starke (I think).................................Mark