CC reader Teddy posted quite a find at the Cohort. It’s a very rare model Mack truck, downsized substantially from their usual fare. Anybody recognize its cab?
Surely you do now.
Cohort Outtake: Compact Mack
– Posted on March 9, 2016
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Curbside Classics Archives
Jeep Pickup from the late 40s or 50s. There is a custom build mini Peterbuilt locally based on a 1 ton chassis such as this.
Well, if nothing else it beats the ’56 F100 in the front overhang department.
Sweet looking truck. I’ve never seen a Mack truck of this size. This looks like something anyone with a standard driver’s license can drive.
Car Nut Seattle,
Sounds like you are unaware of the idea (fact?), that you are allowed to operate a large tractor-trailer type vehicle on a “regular”/ car operator’s license as long as you are NOT operating it for commercial uses.
I would imagine that for most people learning to double clutch for upshifts and match revs for double clutch downshifts is the biggest part of truck driving.
Professional drivers don’t double clutch. They just feather the throttle and stick it into the next gear.
This is how I was taught to drive my first big truck, with an 18 spd Eaton Roadranger behind a Cummins 855. Upshifting was very easy, and the lack of synchos did not matter. Release the throttle as you pull the shifter out of gear. Don’t touch the clutch. Linger in neutral for a second or two as the engine revs drop. At some piont the revs match the output shaft speed and the shifter slides into the next gear sweetly and easily. The clutch stays engaged the whole time.
Now, downshifting is a whole other story,
Eaton autoshift trans does it that way too, but clutchless shifting is not recommended by eaton Fuller mostly because most drivers can’t do it consistently, I’m currently driving a UD Mikado 380hp Nissan diesel 15speed RR it drives beautifully without the clutch shifting up and down,15s nearly always do.
The first truck I shifted was granpa’s 3-speed on the column, 62 or so, Ford pickup in the cow pasture. I was quickly coaching gramps on what he was doing wrong. Later I drove a very old MACK concrete mixer with what was called a 4-6 tranny. Some of you may know that one; 2 long stick shifters for 24 speeds, although I would only use em all to show off my shifting to other drivers who couldn’t quite get it. After using the 1st 6 speeds you had to shift both sticks ( quickly ) to move to the 7th and then again after another 6 speeds.Complete overkill but, whatcha gonna do. The later electronics made it so simple but it did take a “knack” to not waste time with that silly ole clutch.
The photo is close to the truck I speak of…
rushrocks
I never used a clutch on my 64 Chevy II except to take off and stop.. sincro up and down..
I wish this were the same in S.C. For example, we have 2 types of 26′ box truck – non-CDL and CDL version (both with air brakes). The CDL truck can be completely empty yet a CDL license is still required due to the truck being capable of the gross vehicle rating of 26,001+lbs.
That’s not as sad as having beautiful Kenworth and Volvo tractors that I can’t drive on the road. Even though a day cab truck weights a little less than 20k lbs., I can’t drive it “bobtail” to another location with a normal license because of the high gross combination rating that the tractor is capable of with a trailer. I don’t need a CDL for my position but I’m planning on getting one just so I can drive these beautiful machines down the road…and while many still have a manual transmission!
Looks like they used a full size Mack bumper. 😉
I’d name this rig Willy Mack if it were mine.
…or Mack’s Willy
I like it, hopefully it has a proper truck drivetrain in it with non syncro multi range box and large turbo diesel six for motivation.
Looks pretty cool to me ! .
I remember old Thermodyne Mack’s from the 1940’s (?) being used as pickups with home made beds on them in the 1960’s and 1970’s , this looks much better .
-Nate
Biggest thing I ever drove was an International S1900 straight truck with a reefer body on it…DT466, as I recall, with a 5 speed manual with 2 speed Spicer axle. I never have driven a tractor.
Observations about this truck…that’s a LONG wheelbase, and the cab/hood are sitting way too low on the frame to look right. I assume there’s just a 1-ton crew cab/long bed frame hiding under there. I’d rather have a more modern (wider) cab…
Western Star offered two cabs for a long time…the old-school Heritage cab, that I think was the old White conventional cab, and the wider Constellation cab…I could never figure out why anyone would choose the older-style cab unless it was just a “look” that an owner-operator was going for.
The Western Star ‘Heritage’ cab started out as the Autocar ‘Driver’ cab in the late 40’s. When White bought Autocar in the 50’s they started using that Autocar cab on many of their own trucks (it was a lot bigger than the 30’s vintage White cab they were still using). Eventually the Autocar cab showed up on Reo’s and Diamond T’s with White acquired those firms. When White started Western Star in 1967, the Autocar cab was on those trucks as well. Western Star was sold off when White got swallowed up by Volvo (trucks), and the Autocar cab went with Western Star.
Mad Max & The Feral Kid drove it ……… 25 years ago ……