Some old Yardo Family trucking pictures

[1958 F.W.D.]

Came across some old pics.

Many of you know of, or have even met my Dad at Macungie or the Mack Museum. Back in the beginning of time, he was an Owner-Operator leased onto Charles E. Danbury, a trailer broker and the bulk of his work was hauling brand new trailers out of the Trailmobile factory in Lansdale, Pa. His second tractor was a 1971 Mercedes Benz LPK1319 OM360 engine. 6 cyl., 210 HP. ZF 5 speed manual trans. fully synchronized. 2 speed rear. Trans was not short 4th, so 4th high and 5th low were pretty much identical gears. It was a demonstrator, and when he bought it, it only had 10,000 miles on the clock. He traded it in with just shy of half a million for his first F-Model (The Hayward F-Model....)

Dad says about this picture:

I remember taking that picture. It was at the Trailmobile factory branch in Birmingham, Ala. where I was delivering them. Triple decks were a pretty common load for us. This was what we called a transfer, where after completing delivery of a new trailer from the factory, we'd pick trade-ins or something used and go somewhere else. I can't for the life of me remember where I got these but I think it was Pittsburgh or Cleveland. I didn't do that tie down job, either!

"this one was at the Bobber Truck Stop in Effingham, Ill. This was the first set of doubles I ever pulled. It was long before doubles were legal in all states. The normal route from Longview, Tex., where this trip orginated to, Dayton, O, where they were going would have been via Little Rock, Memphis, Nashville, Louisville, Cincinnati to Dayton. That would have been all interstate after Texarkana. But since doubles were also illegal in Tennessee, I had to go US 67 from Little Rock to Poplar Bluff, Mo. I-57 wasn't done yet so I had to run US 60 from Poplar Bluff through Wyatt, Mo. to Cairo. and get on 57 above town. That was also my first trip across the old, narrow, two lane Cairo bridge. Quite an adventure."

[1958 F.W.D.]

So Dad ran that Mercedes until he decided having a bunk was a good thing, and traded it into the Dallas, Tx Mack branch on a used 1974 Hayward F-Model with a 300/5-speed and a single drive (more than plenty for empty trailers.) Not many pictures exist of this tractor- I know there are one or two but have not come across them in years- I'm pretty sure they are at my parents house somewheres. But I do have the bulldog, the M-A-C-K and the door "half-bulldogs" off the Hayward tractor out in my garage.

So Dad ran the Hayward until it started rotting. About that time, he met Harry Muschlegel, who was an O/O himself and leased onto Southwest Freight Lines in Kansas City (Mo?) Harry lived close by and got Dad to help him out once in a while when he had a lot of freight. Then eventually Dad figured out that freight paid a lot more than trailer work so he went with Harry. Then in the early 1980's when the ICC deregulated the operating authorities, Dad obtained his own authorities in most of the lower 48.

Harry started putting together a group of truckers under his own company- in the beginning there were 12 O/O's (Dad was one of them....) They called themselves the "Dirty Dozen." Things took off, and then Dad bought a used Hertz/Penske Allentown F-Model with a 300 plus/10-speed an twin screws. Much better for freight. No pictures exist of this truck that I know of. Things REALLY started taking off and Harry brought Dad into the office to help him obtain his operating authorities under a little company called JEVIC TRANSPORTATION. Dad would be in the office for a week, then out on the road for a week. Off and on, off and on. Then the office periods started lasting a lot longer until Harry offered to put a driver in the F-Model so that Dad could keep making the payments. Then finally Harry just bought it outright. I still remember the day Dad came home, and announced that he sold Harry the truck and was coming off the road and into the office full time. Mom was as happy as a pig in shit but I was one pissed off 12 year old kid!!! But he calmed me down by promising to get a truck once in a while and taking me out on trips, and then of course I could ride with Uncle Dennis. One memorable trip was a Texas run in this cabover freightliner....had a 3406 and a 13 speed....Was Louie Miller's truck and was tuned up real good.....We had a load of tastykakes....couple of stops in Nashville, Knoxville, then DFW and I think we emptied out in Dallas, Then over to Huntsville (arrived on Saturday with an appt to load on Monday Morning) where we got a hotel room, then he took me to the Alabama Space and Rocket Center. I got to see some cool shit growing up, riding with Dad and Uncle Dennis- went to the west coast 3x with Unky. Learned to drive on I80 west of Des Moines when I was 15- aint nothing out there cept blacktop and corn.....In one of the first generation Aardvark KW's with a 3406B and a 13 speed.

These pics were from when Jevic trucks had the stripes painted on instead of the hideous light blue decals later on...This was a 48 foot trailer, never would have made this with a 53.

[masterwelder]

Keep going- I'm fascinated. I love stuff like this.

[Outbehindthebarn]

How'd he come by the Benz.???? pretty unusual to see one then (as it is now).

[mrsmackpaul]

I would have thought the Benz would have been a bit thin on the ground in the States had plenty in this wide brown land and they had a really good name easily do 1000000 miles without major problems not sure if they are that good today though

great yarn keep it coming

Paul

[Green Dash]

Sounds like he did some serious running with that little Mercedes.

Like you, I have very detailed memories of the trips with my dad. None of my other childhood memories are as vivid as those spent in the truck. Many photos were taken, but sadly few have survived. Thanks for sharing yours.

[1958 F.W.D.]

Harry Muschlegal remained CEO of JEVIC until about 2003, maybe 2004 when as part of a deal to go public on the stock market, he had to sell all interests in the company and step out. Not long after that the new bosses (who could have retained the old JEVIC leadership under Harry and say to them "keep doing what you do") started changing things all around (some of you may know this was Saia and YRC....) and Dad saw the writing on the wall. He retired in 2005 and took all of his retirement money and got it into a private IRA. As we all know, in 2007 JEVIC went into the shitter and thousands of employees were not as lucky as my old man.

Here's a pic of him and "LARGE" on his very last day. I took large over to Delanco because I wanted Grandpa to give him his very first ride in a tractor, so we got the keys to this Vulva, backed it under a load and took it out to 295, up one exit and back. It meant a lot to my old man to give LARGE his first truck ride.

[Vladislav]

Cool stories Randy

You got a lot of fun with truck driving together with seeing the country.

I remember you told me some of that.

Like Mercedes. Don't remember seeing any of them on the net about the States.

[Freightrain]

Very cool stories Randy. I miss the fact I don't have lots of pics from the things I did growing up, say mid teens til now. Lots of race car pics, but those are taken by someone else anyhow.

I had a love for trucks growing up and always wanted to drive for a living. After watching shows like Movin On and BJ I thought it was the coolest job ever. Little did I know then LOL! I was told by my parents that I will get a REAL job.

I'll hijack a little and show the only shot of me and a big truck. 1976 (red arrow points to me, I was 10)

Mr Schott brought his truck to church one Sunday and was giving kids rides(he was retiring). I got more then one ride! I remember those twin pearl handles, the low air wig wag. I was in HEAVEN that day. Knowing how tiny those cabs really are, I realize how small I was back then. I'm barely as tall as the fender. I still love that style truck.