The interstates are loaded with semi trucks hauling weight across the country, everything from chemicals and commodities to food and fuel. The entire purpose of these big rigs is to move weight easily…that explains the powerful diesel engines and the transmissions full of gear ranges that run the gamut from super-crawl to Interstate flyer. Regardless of how much you’ve cursed at two trucks turning a simple passing maneuver into an elephant race situation, there’s plenty of grunt on tap. (You’re probably enjoying the fun of speed limiters, and rest assured that the driver hates them as much as you do.)
What happens to all of these tractors after they age out of the fleets? Generally, after fifteen years, a lot of the tractors move on to the second market…farmers, occasional uses, regionals, etc. Older tractors are an oddity, a rarity…work vehicles usually get worked to death then forgotten or scrapped. But some live charmed lives, which is pretty much every tractor you’ll see here. These are the violent fun-havers, the 20,000 pound pulling tractors, and the class is filled with names from the past: Mack Super-Liners, Brockaway, Dodge Big Horn, Chevrolet C90. These former kings of the road get to show off after a career of hauling by hooking to the sled and going all out, digging in like some teenager’s lifted Dodge in the dirt near the high school’s parking lot.
