It was likely around one o’clock on Monday morning at the Street Car Super Nationals that both Chad and I retired to the Chevy Spark rental car I was driving and actually took a nap. There was no action on the track because of a crash, or oil, or an alien invasion or something. As we poured ourselves into the tiny car both of us were thinking that there had to be a better way. Well, I have officially found it. For sale on eBay right now is this freaking awesome Marmon-Herrigton truck that was formerly used by the MBTA (Boston’s famed “T”) as some sort of recovery/service vehicle. It is massive, diesel powered, four wheel drive, and its steel body is more than strong enough to stand up to the rigors of Chad and I on the roof while broadcasting a race. In the event of the end of times showing up during an drag race and the rise of the zombies happening at the same time, we could clearly drive this thing home without fear of being stopped. Maybe. See there is one big hitch with this thing.
The truck is powered by an 8.2L Detroit Diesel “fuel pincher” diesel V8. If you are thinking “Detroit Diesel” yay! You are thinking wrong. This was a terrible mill and the company’s first foray into a four stroke diesel engine. They were weak sauce on the power side, apparently ate head gaskets like Skittles, and as you can imagine the legendary lack of reliability still haunts them to this day. It is nearly impossible to see anyone anywhere saying a kind word about this engine. That could all be fixed though. A Duramax or 6.7L Ford Scorpion engine would be cool in there and power would about triple over the weak suck 8.2L Detroit.
Back to the positive. This truck is big enough and cool enough that it could haul all our gear, it has a power lift gate so we can go full on lazy ass when loading and unloading, and it is flipping four wheel drive and awesome. Do we need to say more than that? Sure, the driver’s area looks like something out of a B-grade prison movie from the 1970s but we’d stick a nice seat in there and paint the basically bare steel interior. Yes it would be a bit of a challenge on long road trips but imagine this baby all lettered up with BangShift.com down the side, cruising through your town.
It is just up in New Hampshire…maybe the guy would let me take it for a spin. That would be a fun video!
Check out the photos and then hit the eBay link at the bottom!
With that weak engine,i wonder what transmission and axle ratio it has?.
Trans is an Allison automatic and the axle ratio is like 5.0 something
According to the plate in the last picture, the axle ratio is 6.14.
I’m thankful I don’t have the funds to buy that post-divorce housing (nope, not getting divorced, but if I showed up in it… well, no promises).
If I remember right you guys were in a Chevy Spark in 2013 on the salt a few years ago? You deserve better and this is it!!!