Went to Georgia, fuelled at Gulf station, saw a Mack truck

[other dog]

Wow, that's just neat stuff, I love seeing these pictures, thanks Vlad!

[Mark T]

You have very good ability to know what makes a good picture Vlad,  interesting things most of us guys would never see any other way than your pictures. Certainly would  be looking at those things if I were there .   Thanks

[Vladislav]

17 hours ago, Mark T said:

You have very good ability to know what makes a good picture Vlad,  interesting things most of us guys would never see any other way than your pictures. Certainly would  be looking at those things if I were there .   Thanks

Glad to be of service, Mark. I'm not a photographer sure but in very beginning my dad gave me a book of "Practicle photograpy". Aside of general thigs it detailingly explained how b/w film and paper got in reaction with chemicals and how you can correct underexposed film by working with printing. I even made those things personally in bath room with red light. But only once😀

[Vladislav]

Also my grand dad was a photographer for living. He made his pics with German captured Leica (first 35 mm film camera I belive) and I used it either in my early days. 

[Vladislav]

22 hours ago, other dog said:

Wow, that's just neat stuff, I love seeing these pictures, thanks Vlad!

Tom, I tried my best a couple more times to film how steep and curvey East Turkish roads are. Telling my impression by words they're excellent. Yes, I saw many road signs marking incline frkm 6 to 8%. But that's in a mountain area all over which is much hilly than Appalaches. And 90% of highways between small towns (I don't mean willages) are of 4 lanes. Also I payed more attention and noted modern semi trucks go uphill 60-70km/h what seems way off any trouble. Worth to note though that many portions of the road marked with signs having (using?) chains. Pretty sure winter times are a lot of "fun" for local truckers since snow and hard wind are common thing in winter months. 

[Vladislav]

If you zoom the last pic you can see a steep portion of the road along the mountain side with two trucks going up and down. The hill might be seen not really steep but impresses of how long it is. The first two shots were made standing on that stretch and the 3rd one is the next portion on the way down (from where the 4th pic was taken). 

[Vladislav]

Ocassionally I also saw a beautiful waterfall not far away from the highway. Turned out it was a local recreation area with big park and restaurant (You seat by a table and see the fall in 50 metes). What impressed me was all that located "in the middle of nowhere". All in all I got a feeling Turkish people improved their level of life sufficiently during the last decade. 

[1958 F.W.D.]

On 5/10/2023 at 6:34 PM, other dog said:

Wow Vlad, thanks for sharing these pictures.

Yes but he didn't send us any "Girls in Cars" photos! 

[Vladislav]

1 hour ago, 1958 F.W.D. said:

Yes but he didn't send us any "Girls in Cars" photos! 

Ohell !!!... But I see no way getting a girl in a car since I ride a bike! 

[other dog]

21 hours ago, Vladislav said:

If you zoom the last pic you can see a steep portion of the road along the mountain side with two trucks going up and down. The hill might be seen not really steep but impresses of how long it is. The first two shots were made standing on that stretch and the 3rd one is the next portion on the way down (from where the 4th pic was taken). 

It's absolutely amazing how much this looks like the highway going west from Moorefield, WV over to Mt. Storm. Next time I get on the computer I'll post some pictures.

[mowerman]

Yeah, Joey ditto thanks for all the cool photos bud .. I hate to brag, but this area looks a lot like that wide open Spaces mountains nothing but prairies mainly… Bob

[mowerman]

Oh, and by the way, Vlad, everything is more fun on the motorcycle. I rode for years. I have a ball bud.

[Vladislav]

Ok, you must count me a lucky guy. I catched up with one more Bulldog the other day. Also in Turkey, not far from Iranian border. It was parked near a big building and there was a guy nearby fixing his car. I had short conversation with him in Farsi but even didn't figure out was that truck his or not. The guy has busy time laying under the car on the ground removing a fuel tank. So I didn't take much of his attention, just made a few pics and general investigation of the rig. Overall it looked like made in the US F-model of mid 70's with 6-cyl gold engine with that "coolpower thingy" telling the way MrsMackPaul would do. The tranny was T100 with two air cylinders on the top cover so I guessed 10 or 12 speed. Double frame with Camelback at the rear. It was interesting to note the crossmembers were riveted to the rails, no bolts. Wonder up to which year Mack offered riveted chassis? I thought they discontinued that much earlier. Also a huge local aftetmarked fuel tank could be seen. And a tank for air start at the right. But actually there was electric starter on the engine. Overall the truck looked quite good for the age. Ok, forgot to mention the main fact - it was registered in Iran. 

[mrsmackpaul]

That airfoil kit matches in pretty well

And the smarter Mack blokes will know for certain but the taper on tje chassis rail towards the back axles to me is unusual 

 

Paul

[Vladislav]

49 minutes ago, mrsmackpaul said:

That airfoil kit matches in pretty well

And the smarter Mack blokes will know for certain but the taper on tje chassis rail towards the back axles to me is unusual 

 

Paul

That's because it's a standart US F-700 chassis. With fish belly at the center, same way as DM models have. The tail end section is the same as you have on your R-model. 9 inch high and 1/4 inch (6.35mm) thick. With the same width between the rails (over them). There was earlier years F-600 chassis though that duplicated R-model style. Or correctly to say it originates it. But those early F's seem scarce. 

[harrybarbon]

On 5/13/2023 at 4:26 AM, Vladislav said:

Tom, I tried my best a couple more times to film how steep and curvey East Turkish roads are. Telling my impression by words they're excellent. Yes, I saw many road signs marking incline frkm 6 to 8%. But that's in a mountain area all over which is much hilly than Appalaches. And 90% of highways between small towns (I don't mean willages) are of 4 lanes. Also I payed more attention and noted modern semi trucks go uphill 60-70km/h what seems way off any trouble. Worth to note though that many portions of the road marked with signs having (using?) chains. Pretty sure winter times are a lot of "fun" for local truckers since snow and hard wind are common thing in winter months. 

Interesting Vlad that you have mentioned the 4 lane highways. I have been listening to the BBC news tonight about the Turkish elections. Comment was that current President of 20 years has invested in building infrastructure. These roads seem to reflect that investment, they are major contributors to progress and commerce for the country for many years to come. And as you note trucks that can keep up good road speeds and safety as well.

During WW2 the US army had a major civil contractor, Dillingham, build air fields and associated buildings in northern Australia for the Pacific war against the Japanese. After the war, Dillingham saw what the then US President had the government invest in the highways. Dillingham continued to operate in Australia after the war and during the mid 1950's, following the USA government new highways build, it submitted a proposal to the then PM Menzies government in Australia to build a tollways linking Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide. Menzies rejected the offer. Well by 2009 we finally had a freeway between Melbourne and Sydney, nearly 60 years later. The freeway between Sydney and Brisbane is nearly completed, bar 3 major regional cities (one section has been delayed because of political dancing) and north of Sydney. And sections of the divided highway between Melbourne and Adelaide are completed, and long way to complete. Sadly, the Victorian sections of the highways are in very poor condition due to significant under investment in critical state government road funding. 

On reflection, it was a mistake by our government to reject the 1950's proposal by Dillingham to build the tollways. All the benefits, economic, road safety for the road users, tourism etc would have paid for the tollroads many years ago.

And certainly Australia could have allowed the introduction of the bigger US built trucks as those tollways were being commissioned, which would have also produced many multiple benefits for our country.     

[harrybarbon]

The Iranian F model looks similar to the late 60's F models we had in Australia. That F model and many other Macks were exported to Iran prior to 1982 when it was called Persia, a period that US had close ties. I wonder how and where they obtain parts for their Macks in Iran given the US sanctions.  

[other dog]

well, naturally I couldn't find the pictures I was looking for but then I thought of google earth. This is the spot your pictures reminded me of Vlad, the terrain looks very similar, except it's summer there in West Virginia.

[Vladislav]

3 hours ago, harrybarbon said:

Interesting Vlad that you have mentioned the 4 lane highways. I have been listening to the BBC news tonight about the Turkish elections. Comment was that current President of 20 years has invested in building infrastructure. These roads seem to reflect that investment, they are major contributors to progress and commerce for the country for many years to come. And as you note trucks that can keep up good road speeds and safety as well.

During WW2 the US army had a major civil contractor, Dillingham, build air fields and associated buildings in northern Australia for the Pacific war against the Japanese. After the war, Dillingham saw what the then US President had the government invest in the highways. Dillingham continued to operate in Australia after the war and during the mid 1950's, following the USA government new highways build, it submitted a proposal to the then PM Menzies government in Australia to build a tollways linking Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide. Menzies rejected the offer. Well by 2009 we finally had a freeway between Melbourne and Sydney, nearly 60 years later. The freeway between Sydney and Brisbane is nearly completed, bar 3 major regional cities (one section has been delayed because of political dancing) and north of Sydney. And sections of the divided highway between Melbourne and Adelaide are completed, and long way to complete. Sadly, the Victorian sections of the highways are in very poor condition due to significant under investment in critical state government road funding. 

On reflection, it was a mistake by our government to reject the 1950's proposal by Dillingham to build the tollways. All the benefits, economic, road safety for the road users, tourism etc would have paid for the tollroads many years ago.

And certainly Australia could have allowed the introduction of the bigger US built trucks as those tollways were being commissioned, which would have also produced many multiple benefits for our country.     

Very interesting observation and Australin reflection of the subject. 

I had been to Turkey with (that same) motorbike in 2010. More West portion of the country that time but also cruised alot including local roads and small cities. This trip I got really surprized of how the level of life changed in the country since than. Plenty of modern 6-7 storey buildings in every town with massive concrete substructure (that's a seysmic critical region), perfect and mostly empty roads (definitely built for perspective of a few decades), many new or modern cars, about no old trucks, people dressed well and have well furbished recreational areas. I used to know Turkey had luxury resorts for foreign tourists with mostly poor local people and this time I saw almost another state of things. What you said spoken in BBC news explained alot. At the same time I spoke with a few locals and those were about sure Erdoghan will not continue being a president. Answering my mentioning of how Turkey got changed better the reply was "we need more democracy". Worth to point out the region I cruised over was Kurdish for the most and another common answer was "Erdoghan didn't like Kurdish people". My next point though was my observations of his political actions during the last decade. On my mind he steered over many sharp corners roaming his politics between interests of Russia, United States, Europe, Iran etc. And always took benefits for his own country. Aside of figuring he's strategically more a friend or an enemy to Russia my hat is definitely off to his professional skills. 

[Vladislav]

3 hours ago, harrybarbon said:

Interesting Vlad that you have mentioned the 4 lane highways. I have been listening to the BBC news tonight about the Turkish elections. Comment was that current President of 20 years has invested in building infrastructure. These roads seem to reflect that investment, they are major contributors to progress and commerce for the country for many years to come. And as you note trucks that can keep up good road speeds and safety as well.

During WW2 the US army had a major civil contractor, Dillingham, build air fields and associated buildings in northern Australia for the Pacific war against the Japanese. After the war, Dillingham saw what the then US President had the government invest in the highways. Dillingham continued to operate in Australia after the war and during the mid 1950's, following the USA government new highways build, it submitted a proposal to the then PM Menzies government in Australia to build a tollways linking Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide. Menzies rejected the offer. Well by 2009 we finally had a freeway between Melbourne and Sydney, nearly 60 years later. The freeway between Sydney and Brisbane is nearly completed, bar 3 major regional cities (one section has been delayed because of political dancing) and north of Sydney. And sections of the divided highway between Melbourne and Adelaide are completed, and long way to complete. Sadly, the Victorian sections of the highways are in very poor condition due to significant under investment in critical state government road funding. 

On reflection, it was a mistake by our government to reject the 1950's proposal by Dillingham to build the tollways. All the benefits, economic, road safety for the road users, tourism etc would have paid for the tollroads many years ago.

And certainly Australia could have allowed the introduction of the bigger US built trucks as those tollways were being commissioned, which would have also produced many multiple benefits for our country.     

And that's a real shame that offer to build large toll highways in Australia was declined. Now we know the result but also we know the cost of unachieved benefits for those 50 years. 

Almost the same situation was in Russia nearly 15-20 years ago. In early 2000's oil costs got very high and government took very impressive incoms. There even was an appearance of upcoming financial problem having too much money in the economy. Sure alot of money is very good but in a case you convert them into goods. What requres some labour. But as long as the powers didn't want complicated ways they were worrying of high inflation (many money in the country with that same amount of produced goods). So the solution was... To buy official US stock (Threasury papers or so). With guaranteed fee of 0.5% per year (!). At the same time if you wanted to get a loan in Russia to invests into business or anything it would worth 25-35% those days!! Seeing from aside a man would conclude how clever was Russian government having no need in money and how stupid was the US to take those money for 0.5% a year! What a BS! 

My thoughts at thouse times were it was a perfect moment for road construction. What you need for that the most is local labour (which was and is in nearly unlimited amount since you have to donate poor folks anyway) and construction materials, which are either for 90% could be found locally (sand, gravel, cement, heavy oil fractions) The rest is equipment and modern tecnology which could be purchased paying those spoken excessive money. 

Now it's not difficult to figure which way was choosen. And currently everybody in the world can easily observe the subject Russian government prefere to spend state incoms... 

[Vladislav]

3 hours ago, harrybarbon said:

The Iranian F model looks similar to the late 60's F models we had in Australia. That F model and many other Macks were exported to Iran prior to 1982 when it was called Persia, a period that US had close ties. I wonder how and where they obtain parts for their Macks in Iran given the US sanctions.  

That F-model (to my understanding) was produced in the US and imported to Iran as a complete truck. That air start tank seems uncommon for the US. I may be wrong on that though. Of what I learned Iran got sanctions by the US first but they were able to import from Canada for a few years more. Than they bought off about all Macks (and parts?) from The Netherlands. Also seems they scratched all Mack from Turkey (we discussed about relatively sufficient amoung there in the past and now they're all gone). But also I see they find ways to import new parts some way. For example big SS mirrors on red R-model look like brand new PAI parts. The same for a few other small parts. Also they (my guess) produce certain parts for Macks locally. For example oil and fuel filters on the engine have scripts in Persian (Farci) with Mack emblem put nearby. That's definitely not OEM parts. One more interesting point is wheel hubs on the R. As you can see the wheels are of disc style, not spokes. But those wheels (rims) are European. Different stud circle size. These hubs are made in Iran. They suit Mack axle and allow to fit modern European wheel. Looks like people don't want to deal with spokes anymore but American Budd style was not common there. European trucks represent majority there now so local industry found especial solution. Not bad idea on my mind. 

[Vladislav]

2 hours ago, other dog said:

well, naturally I couldn't find the pictures I was looking for but then I thought of google earth. This is the spot your pictures reminded me of Vlad, the terrain looks very similar, except it's summer there in West Virginia.

Tom, very interesting relation. These stratches look almost similar indeed!