1959 Chevrolet Spartan 100 Tractor

[j hancock]

Sharing the road with B model Macks.

[70mackMB]

Jim, Was that down at the Yankee Candle show this year?   .....Hippy

[gxbxc]

I like that big beast

[12V71]

Chevy did build a few heavies over the years and most weren't bad looking rigs. I wonder if that one has 348 or 409 power? 

[Red Horse]

Then in 1960 GM came out with the brilliant IFS front end for heavy trucks.  Long torsion bars that went back to frame I believe under cab.  Local sand and gravel outfit had one- single axle with like a 6-8 yd body.  Unforunately while a decent ride, I believe they had a bad habit of twisting frame rails.  I think by 62, it was gone.

In any case that 59 i a beauty.

[j hancock]

13 hours ago, 70mackMB said:

Jim, Was that down at the Yankee Candle show this year?   .....Hippy

It was displayed at Yankee in 2016.

[j hancock]

10 hours ago, 12V71 said:

Chevy did build a few heavies over the years and most weren't bad looking rigs. I wonder if that one has 348 or 409 power? 

I don't recall this being a 409.   This morning, my memory chip needs some WD-40 though.

[HarryS]

2 hours ago, j hancock said:

I don't recall this being a 409.   This morning, my memory chip needs some WD-40 though.

They are going to have to rewrite the book "100 Uses For WD-40" to "101". (lol)

[RoadwayR]

Should have a 348.  409's and diesels were still a few years away.

[gxbxc]

I was  wondering about a GMC diesel. The 860 had diesel engines from the same time period

[RoadwayR]

The first Chevy diesels came out in 1962.  At first, only the 4-53 and 6V-53 were offered (3-53 in Step-Van chassis).  The Toroflow's came in 1964, and I think the Detroit 71's and Cummins N's came later around 1969. 

[12V71]

21 hours ago, Red Horse said:

Then in 1960 GM came out with the brilliant IFS front end for heavy trucks.  Long torsion bars that went back to frame I believe under cab.  Local sand and gravel outfit had one- single axle with like a 6-8 yd body.  Unforunately while a decent ride, I believe they had a bad habit of twisting frame rails.  I think by 62, it was gone.

In any case that 59 i a beauty.

I drove an early 60's GMC 6500 with the IFS off and on in '79 and '80 fueling equipment. I remember it having a bad case of "Ball joint Boogaloo" and replacement parts were already obsolete at that time. Did ride good though. 

[Red Horse]

2 hours ago, 12V71 said:

I drove an early 60's GMC 6500 with the IFS off and on in '79 and '80 fueling equipment. I remember it having a bad case of "Ball joint Boogaloo" and replacement parts were already obsolete at that time. Did ride good though. 

Well then you can relate to what I'm talking about.  I have memories of meeting this truck on a pit road and the minute the driver was on the brakes you would see that nose drop down to the degree you would never see a conventional I-beam/leaf spring front drop like that unless something was broken.  

Interesting that here we are  58 years later after GM tried that out and the conventional I beam/leaf spring set up still rules although air bags are starting to make some inroads.  But unless its on a custom fire truck chassis, still no true IFS designs to speak of...or so it seams to me.

[41chevy]

6 minutes ago, Red Horse said:

Well then you can relate to what I'm talking about.  I have memories of meeting this truck on a pit road and the minute the driver was on the brakes you would see that nose drop down to the degree you would never see a conventional I-beam/leaf spring front drop like that unless something was broken.  

Interesting that here we are  58 years later after GM tried that out and the conventional I beam/leaf spring set up still rules although air bags are starting to make some inroads.  But unless its on a custom fire truck chassis, still no true IFS designs to speak of...or so it seams to me.

Early Cracker Boxes and IFS and trailing arm rear suspension with full air bags and self leveling. The real early Cracker Boxes had the air ride air tanks in the rear trailing arms and Aluminum drums with iron braking area. GM never used to be afraid to fling new ideas into production

Here is a few shots of the torsion bar in a c-80 farm truck  in Riverhead were we left it. 327, 4speed and 2 speed rear. 

 

 

.

[Red Horse]

10 hours ago, 41chevy said:

Early Cracker Boxes and IFS and trailing arm rear suspension with full air bags and self leveling. The real early Cracker Boxes had the air ride air tanks in the rear trailing arms and Aluminum drums with iron braking area. GM never used to be afraid to fling new ideas into production

 Here is a few shots of the torsion bar in a c-80 farm truck  in Riverhead were we left it. 327, 4speed and 2 speed rear. 

 

 

.

Paul-great pix-assuming this was in your archives of "rarities" .   As for your comment...GM never used to be afraid to fling new ideas into production..I was going to comment along those lines when this IFS issue was a topic.  I've always thought if Ford, Mopar, Mack, IH etc spent the money to develop new products, and then bailed out on them as quick as GM did, they would have been done-or in worse financial shape then they all occasionally were.

I'm thinking like the IFS heavy truck, the Pontiac transaxle, the Toro-Flow,  8,2 etc..   

Then again Ford probably dropped more on the Edsel than GM did on all of its short lived ventures combined!  Bottom line, GM for sure had the financial resources in the old days.  

The old phrase.."paralysis through analysis" was probably practiced less at GM than it was at the other companies.

[other dog]

I knew I had a picture of one somewhere that I took at a truck show, but I couldn't find it on the computer. Then I found it in a photo album that i'd almost forgotten. Taken in 2005 or 2006 I think, at Troutman, N.C. before I had a digital camera.

[41chevy]

13 hours ago, Red Horse said:

Paul-great pix-assuming this was in your archives of "rarities" .   As for your comment...GM never used to be afraid to fling new ideas into production..I was going to comment along those lines when this IFS issue was a topic.  I've always thought if Ford, Mopar, Mack, IH etc spent the money to develop new products, and then bailed out on them as quick as GM did, they would have been done-or in worse financial shape then they all occasionally were.

I'm thinking like the IFS heavy truck, the Pontiac transaxle, the Toro-Flow,  8,2 etc..   

Then again Ford probably dropped more on the Edsel than GM did on all of its short lived ventures combined!  Bottom line, GM for sure had the financial resources in the old days.  

The old phrase.."paralysis through analysis" was probably practiced less at GM than it was at the other companies.

That truck was for sale down the road from us at a sod farm, they also had an 1980 R685 for sale. That followed me home.  The C80 had the typical GM natural iron ore rockers, fender bottoms and floor pan. All I thought of was having a torsion bar break and growing old trying to find one.

GM's issue was they flung an idea  into production,  get it 90%  perfected and drop it. That goes back to the very beginning the Model D car with a 288 OHV 8. powerful and well received but never bothered perfected the clutch assembly. Copper cooled four was an other poorly thought out idea that they ended up buying back or converting to water cooled.  The 4,6,8 Caddies, the Fiero. the Tempest rope drive with the Hyper kit was capable of taking some big horse power.just piss poor promotion.

VOLVO introduced an Advanced Design fully independent front suspension with air bags for 2012 and on class 6 to 8 heavy trucks

 

Edited August 4, 2018 by 41chevy

[Phase 1]

It is certainly correct about GM putting new ideas into production in that era - from about 1960 to 1966. All had been done before, but they were different for a major American auto manufacturer at that time. Some of the things they came out with in addition to the transaxle were the aluminum engine, the overhead cam, front wheel drive,  rear engine, V6 engine, turbocharging, pancake engine.

[terry]

On ‎8‎/‎2‎/‎2018 at 6:36 AM, j hancock said:

I don't recall this being a 409.   This morning, my memory chip needs some WD-40 though.

was 58 the first year of the 348 engine?    terry

[41chevy]

8 hours ago, Phase 1 said:

It is certainly correct about GM putting new ideas into production in that era - from about 1960 to 1966. All had been done before, but they were different for a major American auto manufacturer at that time. Some of the things they came out with in addition to the transaxle were the aluminum engine, the overhead cam, front wheel drive,  rear engine, V6 engine, turbocharging, pancake engine.

And a workable factory fuel injection.

[terry]

38 minutes ago, 41chevy said:

And a workable factory fuel injection.

weren't there 57 chevys with a factory fuel injection? and early corvettes.

[tjc transport]

yup, 57 was the first year for rochester fuel injection on the corvette. 

very hard to set up, but once set properly it ran like nothing else. 

a friend had a 62 vette with 327 Fuel injection. never ran rite, but he tinkered with it for years. one day around 74-75, he ran into a retired GM mechanic who suggested he set it to 57 specs instead of 62 specs. 

that was the the trick to making it from a ho hum runner to a race car. !!

[j hancock]

10 hours ago, terry said:

was 58 the first year of the 348 engine?    terry

Yes, 58 was the first year.

[Joe Ditchkus]

On 8/2/2018 at 7:36 AM, j hancock said:

I don't recall this being a 409.   This morning, my memory chip needs some WD-40 though.

Jim I do not think the   409 Chevy was produced in 1959. I would think 348. Double hump heads on both.

 

[41chevy]

10 hours ago, tjc transport said:

yup, 57 was the first year for rochester fuel injection on the corvette. 

very hard to set up, but once set properly it ran like nothing else. 

a friend had a 62 vette with 327 Fuel injection. never ran rite, but he tinkered with it for years. one day around 74-75, he ran into a retired GM mechanic who suggested he set it to 57 specs instead of 62 specs. 

that was the the trick to making it from a ho hum runner to a race car. !!

Brookville Police on Long Island ran '59 Chevy Biscayne 4 doors with  283 Fuelies, Factory 4 speeds with Metallic brakes. They patrolled a section of Northern Blvd that was dead straight for close to 5 miles. they traded in 56 Olds 88's with the J-2 option for them.