(By Greg Rourke) – Our recent road trip took us to New England, with Maine being our destination. The land of lobsters and Moxie, a soft drink I don’t understand the appeal of. It was also the land of this Mack wrecker.
Truck geek or not, anyone who sees a B Model knows it’s a Mack. They were built from 1953 until 1966 when the R Model took over. This baby is a B70, one of the heavier haulers and well suited for wrecker duty.
The first thing I noticed was the unconventional wrecker body. Closer inspection shows what I felt was a shop built wrecker, and a very sturdy design. The flat steel was made of half inch or one inch thick material. The welds all looked like stick arc, and well done. The Thermodyne emblems confirmed it is a Mack diesel, likely in the 200 horsepower range.
Not sure which transmission was in it, but two sticks protruding from the floor indicated it took more skills than I posess to drive this beauty. Last registered in 2014, the dirt work contractor that owned it was still in business.
The beautiful New England area, the beaches and mountains, and I find old trucks. You can’t take me anywhere.
It looks like it can head out on that next run!
Thanks Lohnes! I got a big truck ‘Jones’ too – I always thought it would fun to collect those ‘grille guards’ with the trucking/business company name on them – but l got collections of collections as it is……
I’d also like to collect the big trucks that those ‘grille guards would come off of too!!!