Pessimism has had it made over the past six months, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that good times are in the doghouse. For example, I’ve had an excellent car week, one that culminated this past Thursday with the less-organized-than-normal “Old 27 Tour” stop in Clare, MI. I have never participated in the tour, but I almost always attend one of their overnight stops. This year’s tour offered no police escort and no closed streets in Clare, but a surprising number of old car owners did their own thing anyway. Parallel parked, looking for all the world like it was just a normal day in a small town, was this International Transtar, short-wheelbase edition. Call me crazy, but I instantly imagined myself daily-driving a Detroit Diesel powered cabover.
I mentioned that I had already had a wonderful week with cars. First, my lovely bride and I drove our ’53 Special on a 200-mile tour of the “Sunrise Side” of Michigan.
Almost nothing makes me happier than driving my old Buick, and it was made for two-lane highways and warm summer days. All day, people were extremely happy to see it, perhaps because there seem to be far fewer old cars on the road this year than there normally are, understandably.
A few days later, we drove down to the R.E. Olds Museum in Lansing, one of the handful of Michigan car museums that I try to visit every year. That’s another 200 miles in a different old Buick, but this expressway trip was less relaxing than our seaside jaunt. The Skylark, however, handles freeways as effortlessly as the ’53 eats up two-lane roads.
Finally, we got to drive our Firebird to Clare, adding another 100 miles to my weekly odometer, and that’s where I saw our featured truck.
Admittedly, I’m a dilettante when it comes to big old trucks – I enjoy them, but I have very little experience with them. With a little investigation, however, I was able to find out more about this old International.
An easy clue is this “retro” sticker on the passenger front corner, indicating an old two-stroke Detroit under the “hood,” one of the best sounding engines ever made.
Sure enough, a Detroit is easily visible behind and underneath the short little cab. This is an intriguing truck for several reasons: it’s powered by a Detroit, it has one of the shortest cabs I’ve ever seen, and the wheelbase is similarly truncated.
Transtar information of any substance is fairly difficult to find online; even finding a brochure took a little doing. Luckily, the Wisconsin Historical Society has uploaded this 1972 Transtar brochure, which is probably close enough. Our featured truck wears a 1973 Michigan front license plate, and 1974 Transtars apparently have windshield wipers mounted at the top of the windshield rather than the bottom. Therefore, I’ll label the featured truck as a 1973 model; if you have any evidence to the contrary, please discuss it in the comment section.
The standard engine in the Transtar was a Cummins inline six, but there was a dizzying number of driveline options available.
The available rear axles alone would take a trucking specialist to decipher, but it’s easy to see that International offered options for most contingencies.
Then there are the engine choices. It seems plain that our truck is outfitted with one of the two Detroit 6-71N engines, but several 8V-71s were also offered, along with myriad Cummins options.
As I mentioned earlier, the inline Detroit is just one reason why I was drawn to this handsome truck. It must have the 50″ cab on a 142″ wheelbase, which team up to make this Transtar one of the most maneuverable big rigs around. With no sleeper cab, this rig was obviously ordered for short run duties.
Although I’m an antique car guy at heart, my heart was won by this bright red big rig, and it was just one of many reasons to smile during my busy August week with cars.
Any time I am able to drive my old cars and hang out with my wife, I’m pretty happy. Seeing other people enjoying their old machines in this uncertain year made my week even better, especially when one of those machines was a ’63 Riviera, one of my favorite cars. I normally attend quite a few car events, and their overall absence this summer has made me realize how much I enjoy them, even when the “same old cars” attend. It’s nice to see event organizers and museums doing their best to offer safe, thoughtful options for car people to enjoy their hobby, and I hope that next year offers more reasons to be optimistic.
I have done parts of the 27 tour the last few years and would definitely recommend it. Did not drive this year, but I did film them leaving Lansing that morning, and it looked like a good day.
There is something cool about seeing a shiny old big rig like this completely out of the element we have seen them in all of our lives. It may not be the best rig for a Sunday evening run for ice cream, but I salute the one who treats it as special.
Your description of your two Buicks’ relative cruising strengths reminds me of the great strides made in vehicle design from 1953 to 1963. The boast of “It’ll cruise all day at 70 mph” had become something of a ho-hum truism by the mid 60s.
You’re totally right, but I’d say that even five years made all the difference in vehicle design, and it was mostly powertrain-related. Chevy went from a 235 to a 348, Ford went from a 239 to a 352, Buick’s Nailhead grew to an eventual 425 cubic inches, Pontiacs grew from 287 to 389 by the end of the ’50s…most of the automakers introduced and improved big, relaxed V8s. There’s a big difference between 100 and 200 horsepower when it comes to cruising speed. You can argue that the chassis designs didn’t improve as rapidly, but by the mid-’60s, the basic blueprint for relatively modern suspension design was there. Buick had lost the torque tube, most front suspensions had ball joints, etc.
I am not much of a vintage truck enthusiast, but that is a great find. I always thought these were a very nice looking rig. The Transtar reminds me of the movie Terminator. There is a scene early on where there is a toy Ertl Transtar truck that gets run over by Arnold driving a Caprice Estate wagon (another CC favourite). Later in the movie a real Transtar is used by Aronold when he is trying to kill the main characters.
Here is a link with a video I found showing the two together:
https://www.reddit.com/r/MovieDetails/comments/eohxqi/in_the_terminator_1984_the_toy_truck_arnold_runs/
I am glad to see that you have been able to enjoy your cars this summer. You have some fine vintage machines. There has been almost no car events here locally this summer, but as time allows I have been using my old cars. I am not really much for bringing my cars to a show anyway, as I prefer to drive my car rather than sit with it at an event (although I really do browsing enjoy the cars at car shows).
The Terminator Transtar, courtesy of IMCDB
Thanks, Vince. I get it…I don’t like to enter my cars in shows, either. First, they’re not show cars and second, I can’t sit around like that. I like wandering around for a while, looking at other people’s cars, and then being able to leave!
I’ve been driving quite a bit, albeit with fewer actual destinations. I keep a mileage log and I’ve been trying to balance the miles on all of them.
I am definitely on the same page for all counts Aaron. Heck I even do the exact same thing with trying to even out the mileage on the cars. 🙂
I just love your ’65 Buick Skylark, one of the best looking cars ever built and arguably the best looking of the 1965 GM intermediates.
Thanks! The Skylark is my favorite, too (it was before I bought it), but I like all the BOP intermediates from ’65. Honestly, there’s not much I don’t like from 1965, hence my screen name. 🙂
What a great sight to see curbside. Anymore, seeing any cabover is sort of a treat, let alone one like this.
Back when these were relatively common, I sort of felt bad for drivers of these really short cabs… not sure why, but they looked like penalty boxes to me. Now, of course, I think they’re downright neat.
I’m glad to read about all of your drives too. The out-the-windshield shot here look a lot like the roads near where my wife’s family is from, in Ogemaw County.
Right next door in Iosco County, Eric. 🙂
The Transtar was massively common back in its day. I assume it was the best selling COE tractor, at least east of the Rockies, where the Freightliner COE was not quite as well established yet.
I had a long ride in one of these during my hitchhiking days, also with a DD, but an 8V-71. Man was it noisy in the cab. The driver picked me up off the side of I-70 at night, because he wanted company to talk to to help him stay awake. That turned into a shouting match. I was hoping to hop in the bunk and sleep.No way; I had to earn my ride, and paid for it with a sore throat.
I wonder if ear plugs were a popular accessory with truckers who drove Detroits. 🙂
I used to wear over the top headphones. The biggest waste of money on any Detroit equipped truck was a radio.
I rode in quite a few other semis, and the noise difference between the engines wasn’t all that much. But I did once catch a ride in a KW COE, and it was decidedly quieter. I asked the driver about that; he said it had a big CAT engine, which I found out later still had pre-combustion chambers.
I don’t know the model number, but the driver said it had like 400 or so hp, which was significantly more than typical for the times. And on the grades of the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Western PA, it left the other trucks in its dust.
I believe you are correct, IH sold a lot of these things. They were extremely common on the west coast as well, being less expensive than a Freightliner and widely available through International’s extensive dealer network. Incidentally, International was the first non-GM truck OEM to offer Detroit Diesel engines as regular options in their trucks. ‘Detroit Diesel’ as a brand name was created for International, before IH started using the engines the valve covers had ‘General Motors Diesel’ emblazoned on them.
Back then (70’s) it was easy to find a new Detroit equipped tractor in the dealer lot. Just look for the oil slick underneath.
BTW, nice looking truck.
International had the biggest volume and lowest prices, hence their dominant position back then.
…in IH applications Jimmies we’re almost always painted red.
The Transtar dominated the east coast in the 70s and early 80s since it was cheaper than the more local Mack and Brockway trucks. I also used to see some Kenworth and Peterbilt trucks and a lot of White cabovers on regular runs up and down the NJ Turnpike. The most noteworthy Mack users were UPS who had a lot of shorty tractors like this one for moving packages between depots and cement mixers. in NY City.
Here in Oregon I still see the occasional Freightliner “suicide cab” hauling hay or livestock and used to see them with triples on I-5.
I’ve always liked the look of cabovers and have been looking through ads lately, although my ambitions are more modest since a medium duty Ford C series or International Cargostar is both cheaper and more usable.
Just great photos of your beautiful car collection, and this International. Nice, the way you framed your lead pic with the hanging basket.
I definitely well remember these Internationals from my early childhood. I wasn’t really into trucks as a kid, until the trucking industry kind of exploded into pop culture with the CB craze, and TV shows like Movin’ On and trucker movies like Convoy and Every Which Way but Loose. I know some primary school classmates that pursued trucking because of great looking trucks like this one. And the generally positive reputation trucking was getting in the media at the time. I wasn’t a big Loadstar fan. Found they looked too early 1960s. But the later Transtars and S Series were leading edge designs.
Thanks! I’d take more credit for the hanging basket, but it was really the only decent spot where I could stand. 🙂
What a cool truck, in time-machine condition! I wouldn’t want to be behind it in traffic or up a hill ( »KOFF!« ) but I surely like seeing it as presented here.
That ’53 Special is a honey of a machine, too.
Thanks, Daniel!
The IH Transtar was a great truck, we had several in our fleet for pulling tankers, 8V-71 and Cummins 855 power. The Cummins was a little quieter than the DD and I enjoyed listening to that turbo whistle. Cummins were 350 horse vs the DD 318 hp. Most trucks back in those days were pretty noisy. I remember riding with my dad when I was a kid and at that time it seemed like the transmissions made more noise than the engines.
Of the 101 varieties of accessory drives available on ’71s, the IH has one of the strangest. Compressor is belt-driven, then, the alternator belt “piggy backs” from the compressor to drive the alternator.
More commonly the compressor would be direct-drive and the the alternator could have its own accessory drive pulley.
Sounds like you had a great vacation. You saw a cool old truck and you gave your stable of antiques some great road time. Love ‘em all, but I’d take the Skylark (my wife would love it) or the Firebird. Still, I like that Special. I’d be happy to take it for a spin just to say that I’d driven one of the last straight 8 Buicks.
A wonderful assortment. The Esprit is also looking great. I can almost hear the featured truck pulling off from a start, see the black smoke from its exhaust tower, and hear the gears. You and I are from around the same area of Michigan, if I recall correctly, and truck transport was (and is) very much a thing.
Close. I grew up across the St. Clair River in Sarnia, and I went to Michigan many times as a kid.
Hi dman,
I think Joe was talking to me…I’m from Mid-Michigan like he is. I’ve been to Sarnia a few times though! 🙂
My younger sister and her family live in Midland.
Nice CC find, a day cab with the Detroit Devil sticking out at the back.
In the seventies, Ertl offered a whole line of heavy IH trucks and tractors. I’m talking about 1/25 plastic model kits, of course. Good quality kits, with “real” tires! An example below.
Around 1980, I built the conventional Transtar 4300 Eagle. Under its hood an International V-800 turbodiesel, 350 hp.
So, were Mack and International the only US truck makers that could offer their own big (Class 8) diesels? Or?…
The V-800 only appeared in 1972, and its primary target and use was construction and agriculture. It wasn’t even listed in this 1973 brochure. But eventually it was also available in the Class 8s.
But I don’t think it was ever very popular with the truckers. It seems like pretty much all of these had either DDs or Cummins engines.
As to you question, GMC and Chevy also had their own engines. But other than that, I think not. In the US, the tradition favored “assembled” trucks, unlike the European tradition. It allowed for more truck manufacturers to exist, as the capital required was much lower. And the mass production efficiencies of the big engine makers was impossible to compete with.
Ah, how could I forget GM’s own DD engines!
I learned and read a lot about heavy US trucks and tractors in the eighties, in the way-pre-internet days. Detroit Diesel – Cummins – Caterpillar. And Mack with their own engines/transmissions/axles.
IIRC, especially Caterpillar had a rock solid reputation among owner-operators (mostly driving big sleeper Kenworths and Peterbilts).