Big Mack Attack
(first posted 2/5 2014) In the summer of 1968 I was driving past McCormick Place on the Outer Drive in Chicago and noticed that the parking lot was chock full of one of my loves, big-ass trucks. Naturally I dropped all plans, whipped out my Miranda D, and began recording the event for posterity.Good thing I did, from an esthetic standpoint. Lettering and markings were still applied by craftsmen; no die-cut, pre-spaced, self-adhesive vinyl markings here. This Mack was a good example. Lots of pinstriping, and…
Pigeon Shit and Gold Leaf
…engine-turned gold leaf treatment, just like you would find on Indy cars of the period.
Greco is still in business
Given that this particular member of the Greco Contractors fleet was number 215, the guy that did the lettering on the Greco fleet must have made a good living.
Dump This
This Mack dumper was fairly compelling with its liquid yellow paint job. Mack had introduced turbocharging to its Diesel engines in 1966 which were named Maxidynes. Known generically as “variable displacement, variable torque” engines, it allowed trucks outfitted with Maxidyne engines to operate with the company’s 5-speed Maxitorque transmission, in lieu of 10-speed or greater transmissions.
Truck Porn
I must admit that I was more into the eye candy aspects of the trucks at the expo than the trucks themselves. The details were more important to me than overall pics of the units, not that that needs articulating. This shot articulates my lust for the Ruebenesque details of the Mack.
Wonderful orifice
I’m not sure what kind of truck this is but I liked the paint, striping and lettering.
Cartage is a genteel name for garbage
Hendrickson was still manufacturing trucks in ‘68. The company, started by Magnus Hendrickson in 1913 in Chicago, introduced the first tandem truck suspension in 1926. This “walking beam” arrangement distributed loads evenly to both rear axles. Today the company designs and manufactures truck suspension components in facilities worldwide.
Forget about “righty tighty, lefty loosey”
A bit more eye candy. Great baby moons. I felt drawn to this detail since it clearly illustrates that these lug nuts were left-hand threaded on the left-hand side of the truck, just as they were on my trusty ‘60 Plymouth which I was driving that day. Chrysler gave up on left-hand threads (too many overtorqued lugs on the left side) but I think that Rolls Royce still equips cars this way.
White 4000
I have no idea what purpose this White served, but it was yellow and that was enough for me.
I’m a fan
OK you Diesel jocks out there, tell me what make of engine this is. Cummins?
Zippy paint
As they say, truckers never get too old for sex, they just get a new Peterbuilt.
Conventional Long Nose
Class 8 long nose conventionals were restricted at that time as to where they could operate. Many states limited overall vehicle length so cab-over-engine (COEs) flat faces were the rule, but as vehicle length restrictions were relaxed, long-distance truckers in the US and Canada overwhelmingly opted for the long nose arrangement due to its superior riding characteristics and quieter operation inside the cab. As a frequent hitch hiker in the ‘60s and ‘70s, I can attest to the painful cab environments of the COEs of that time. Conventionals were better but not by a whole lot in the noise department. I also once rented a 24-foot International COE in San Francisco and had to drive it across the Bay Bridge. Scary as hell.
Diamond Rio is the band, you tool
Diamond Reo, owned by White, was still a player, albeit a minor one, in the late ‘60s. I like the nose on this one.
Zowie, 4-wheel drive?
Coleman Motors designed and built innovative trucks in Littleton, CO from the early 1920s and operated until 1987. As this unit boasts, Coleman was touting 4-wheel steer and 4-wheel drive.
Pigeon Shit (see photo #2)
We had a term for the white gouache paint that we used to highlight spectral reflections on the renderings of cars, snowmobiles, and tractors that we created for presentations–“pigeon shit.” The pigeon that crapped on this lovely Kenworth missed the target highlight by “this much” (thank you Agent 86).
Cummins big cam?
Great post. Especially liked the humorous photo captions.
Diamond Reo still exists. actually. They are located in Swatara Township, PA, between Harrisburg and Hershey. Apparently they make a small number of specialty vehicles, though I have never seen one.
193rd! EC-130’s! Spec Ops guy here too! Was a 130 guy with the 58th SOW in ABQ NM. Was from the Harrisburg area originally. Still get back about 2x a year. Where in God’s green earth do they do those trucks in Swatara? Is it off 322 in that industrial area?
Thanks for the info. I never knew that. Also thanks for your service.
These are great pics; they look better than new.
Cool pics, Conventional American tractor units have NVH levels far above European COEs these days and the ride is much worse, Ask any trucker whos driven both once upon a time the swap from American horsepower and torque for European comfort wasnt a popular one not now Euro trucks have caught up in the horsepower stakes and overtaken US truck makers pretty well in every department in side the cab. A Volvo or Scania is silent inside not Brougham quiet, SILENT.
I’m pretty sure your “wonderful orifice” photo’s a Cornbinder, just from looking at other photos in today’s CC posts. I like your detail photos.
OK, let’s go over this once again. What the hell is a “Cornbinder”?
“Cornbinder” is the nickname for vehicles manufactured by International Harvester.
I also heard the derogatory term “Thirteen letter shit-spreaders” too!
I think the “wonderful orifice” is actually an other view of the Hendrickson in the next photo, but Hendrickson bought their cabs from IH so from most angles it would look like a cornbinder.
For the record Hendrickson’s main business was rear suspension systems which they sold to numerous other truck builders.
A red fender on the right and a black on the left side ? Plus two different company names on the doors.
I think the unknown truck (red with black fender) is another Hendrickson, given its air intake and the shape of the fender.
I like the orange Mack R model tipper, I shouldnt as Ive spent lots of wheel time in one and it wasnt great to drive with a 12 speed extended shift transmission it was a rough well worn old dunger just doin its job, I had 2 trucks on that job one sat under a belt collecting apple pommice while the other waited its turn the load was the taken and tipped on a local dairying property as cattle feed, The other tipper was a twinturbo V8 Mitsubishi which was on far worse mechanical condition than the much older Mack it burned nearly as much engine oil as diesel, anyhow good to see one preserved.
How many years have you been trucking now Bryce ? How many years of first-hand experience with Asian, American and European heavy metal ? I mean the real thing, not a “heavy-duty” pickup.
You could fill this whole big rig week.
A Mitsubishi V8 twinturbo truck, never heard of them, let alone ever seeing one. There you go.
There was once a rock band named Diamond Reo…this song received extensive airplay on Top 40 and Rock radio here in their home base of Pittsburgh…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEwXcDViJTE
And the Country band who had a good run between 1991-2004, Diamond Rio…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWKpCmPdGmM
Can’t get over how sharp the pix are for being 45 years old…great stuff!
I had no idea there were two bands with such similar names, I was only acquainted with Diamond Rio. I listened to the link that you provided and was amazed at how good another American classic sounded-the Fender Telecaster. What a versatile instrument, equally at home playing soulful country in the hands of Waylon Jennings, rockin with Eric Clapton, or everything with Danny Gatton. The Fender Precision Bass didn’t sound too shabby either.
Dig that photo titled “truck porn”; it reminds me of the photographs Edward Weston shots of close-ups of peppers, some of which had a decidedly erotic quality.
In Photo 101 we studied Weston. I thought it was kind of weird that a green pepper could be a turn-on. But in the ’60s, everyone was tuning out, tuning in, and turning on, or something like that.
Very cool shots from a long-ago show. I always enjoy your photography.
That conventional long nose Peterbillt looks like something that’s still in production today.
Greco Contractors….we are too a legitimate business!
That’s a pre 1973 “small window” model 359, and it is the iconic Peterbilt. In it’s day it was a big time status symbol in the trucking world, at least here in the west. Some small fleets ran them but it was the dressed up owner op rigs that everyone associates these with. Peterbilt knew they had a classic and every conventional they’ve styled since (with one modern aerodynamic exception) has taken it’s styling cues from this truck.
These days Peterbilts are a common sight coast to coast, but when this truck was new it would have been a head turner at the truck stop for sure.
Very interesting. Does that Mack dump truck have a 2/3 width cab just to make room for that air cleaner?
More interesting is the Coleman. I initially thought it was a ‘normal’ 8×4 rigid truck as I had seen a couple of restored 1950s British 8×4 trucks last year, but it is quite different – a 4×4 tractor unit that connects directly to the trailer without a fifth wheel. I imagine there are advantages and disadvantages over a normal truck, but of course the truck being fundamentally incompatible with all of the existing gear would have been impossible to overcome.
http://books.google.com.au/books?id=O5dj6xUV3KEC&pg=PA8&lpg=PA8&dq=coleman+trucks&source=bl&ots=bLtokeHfZP&sig=SzxvNUAZwnUGnGjHfi8Y4Cw4yb8&hl=en&sa=X&ei=N8PyUofUKsTUkwWYvYGAAQ&sqi=2&ved=0CFwQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=coleman%20trucks&f=false
Interesting Coleman article in the book on trucks that you cite. Looks like I shot the same truck that’s in the article. I’ll have to remember to search Google Books when I’m doing research.
That’s probably a “U” or “D” model Mack, they had a regular Mack cab offset to the left.
I seem to recall it was for better visibility in the tight confines of a construction site. They were popular mixer and dump chassis in their day.
Aha! I hadn’t noticed the extra on the drivers’ side – probably explains the “Wonderful orifice” on the other photo too.
I can see how that would help visibility when looking out the window, today there is no advantage in a less than full width cab as 99% of trucks have a full-width body.
The offset cab had nothing to do with visibility. The R model had a center mounted cab with a long hood. The U Model and the D model had short hoods and offset cabs. The U and the D were designed to be more compact jobsite trucks so by shrinking the hood and offsetting the cab it allowed the transmission to occupy space that was once passenger space in the R model. Look at the picture head on and you can see how it all lines up.
Great pics! Thanks!
In high school our shop teacher had the class restore his 66 Mack dumper for extra credit. Maybe a few bucks too…
Anyways he got a raw deal on the labor.
It was even funnier when some kid that didn’t know how to use a car lift and crushed his Suburban into the ceiling. It was scrap metal and parts after that.
One more thing, Im going to submit this page to a trucking forum image gallery.
They will love it!!
http://oversize-freight-quote.com/
I miss Kevin’s contributions here. Cant believe how long it’s been already 😔
+1.
And I love the way they pop up here very so often, a fitting tribute, and always worth another read.
I sold trucks and love them. Thanks for the expose.
In my job I am around trucks all day, ( loading and unloading em ) I really enjoy this work and especially like the big American type trucks.
We get a fairly even mix of European and American trucks, some of them are works of art, like the one I have pictured here.
I prefer a more stripped down basic look but you have to admire the work thats gone into this one, and just imagine keeping it this clean.
This big Kenworth will go from Melbourne (Victoria) up to Brisbane (Queensland) about 1660 Km (1031 miles)
I’m just glad its not me who has to clean all the bugs off when it gets there.