Lohnes, REMOVE That Video!

[Deaf Bob]

Quoted from OUTSIDER..

You're seriously trying to compare, let's say Wal-mart mogul Rob Walton "risking" his 1-of-6 Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe in the Monterey Historics with those barley-pop swilling yahoos bashing antique grain trucks in that insipid video?

Barley pop swilling yahoos... Really? How do you know?
Some derby folks drink barley pop, MANY do not! I do not drink during or after an event..
I personally know two pharacists that derby.. Are you going to accuse them of sampling their wares? (2different states)
For all you know those "ya hoos" just might have a prayer circle beforehand..
I find it offensive someone looks at an event and say they ALL are (category) ...
Because you drag race and went on drag week (uninformed might think you wear women's clothes) does that make you a Lucky smoking, beer guzzling, moonshine runner?
This sport has ALL KINDS of great folks!
And those not so great

I just hope I don't put my foot in my mouth.. Shoe don't taste good to me..

[Hemi Joel]

Unfortunately, there are just a lot more of these trucks than there is folks who want to keep them and care for them.
As an example, this chain drive Mack - I just had to have it. But as soon as the honeymoon was over, I realized that it was too big to store inside, too nice to store outside, too slow to drive it anywhere. And it needed 6 new tires, which would cost half of what the truck was worth. So I had to sell it. Fortunately, there is a market for a truck this rare, but suppose it was a 62 ford grain truck and it needed $1000 - 2000 worth of rubber? They are cool, but they are hard to keep. They will get rarer and rarer.

[Deaf Bob]

At a recent show, they tried to get the excitement up..
They had a lawnmower derby.. It was interesting.. I could use a couple of them myself..
What got everybody on their feet?
An early 472 powered Caddy full track shotting an import wagon...
The caddy had a few dents, still drove onto the trailer..
The import? Rear end was shoved into the front end and the front yoke was poking out under the front bumper. Nobody was in the car.. Entertaining.. Stupid? Maybe.. But EVERYBODY was on their feet when it was over! This was a county fair crowd that brought animals and food to showcase..
We cannot deny we love seeing destruction.. Look at you tube.. All those pile ups and snow crashes... Look how many hits!
Look how many rubberneck at wrecks?
Destruction is here to stay, be it on purpose or not..

[38P]

.. But EVERYBODY was on their feet when it was over! . . . We cannot deny we love seeing destruction.. . Destruction is here to stay, be it on purpose or not..

I realize the Visigoths and the Vandals ultimately won . . . Thus, Dulcich and I are on the losing side of this argument. History, more often than not, is obliterated by the ignorant, the selfish, and the short-sighted.

Bob, I imagine you're a nice person. We just disagree on the highest and best use for a shrinking supply of antique automobiles and trucks that will never be made again.

Does destruction sell? Nobody said it didn't. Before Rome fell, the Coliseum probably sold out every show. And I've got a TV . . . I see the pervasive garbage that passes for entertainment.

But I learned in Elementary school that the popularity of something doesn't equate with whether or not it is the virtuous course of action. The great, unthinking masses can often be sold on ideas that are simply wrong and short-sighted.

It was probably fun to watch the great buffalo hunts of the 1870s, too. But we know how that turned out.

I lament the fact that we've already destroyed so many emissions-exempt RWD cars that you often have to pay thousands now for a rustbucket coupe (and the sedans aren't that much cheaper).

I'm bummed that replacing the door that the now-Prius-driving first Mrs. Outsider dented in 1984 on my 69,000-mile '69 Grand Prix SJ will now cost 2-3 times as much as the whole car did when I bought it in 1981 (and that it will probably have to come from one of those out-of-state ripoff artist junkyards). . . or that the front bumper I need is almost unobtainium (I'll probably just have the small dents removed and have it rechromed someday . . . $$$$)

I'm disgusted that even the cheapest, almost unrestorable rust-bucket Model Ts and Model As now sell for thousands and I've essentially been priced out of the market for good . . . knowing that thousands if not millions of better examples were needlessly scrapped.

I could go on, but hopefully these vignettes make a point that dovetails with Dulcich's. While we cannot stop this stuff from happening, this website shouldn't be celebrating it. And those of us who care should speak out against it.

I've done my small part on this. I've saved several cars from the crusher. I've even bought a medium-duty M211 antique military truck that likely would not have otherwise survived.

I've said my piece.

[Deaf Bob]

There are thousands upon thousands of cars shoved on riverbanks for erosion control..

About 15 miles up into the woods among giant firs used to be a 55 Nomad left way down a rather steep gentle ravine..
It wa a reference point locals used to give directions.. One day after it had been there over 25-30 years (it was stripped bare by then) somebody came and hauled it out.. They had to use pulleys and could not fall any trees..
It wasn't worth much when it went there, but when it became harder to retrieve and less of them it became worth hauling out

[dulcich]

Unfortunately, there are just a lot more of these trucks than there is folks who want to keep them and care for them.
As an example, this chain drive Mack - I just had to have it. But as soon as the honeymoon was over, I realized that it was too big to store inside, too nice to store outside, too slow to drive it anywhere. And it needed 6 new tires, which would cost half of what the truck was worth. So I had to sell it. Fortunately, there is a market for a truck this rare, but suppose it was a 62 ford grain truck and it needed $1000 - 2000 worth of rubber? They are cool, but they are hard to keep. They will get rarer and rarer.

Joel, that sure is the truth! Just annual registration and weight ticket is about what I paid for my trucks.

[Deaf Bob]

Dulcich, I drove a one ton Chevy flatbed daily for better than 15 years.. Don't need to now..
But when I got it, it had "T" plates on it... Meaning I could haul up to 20,000 lbs GVW.
I told the DMV i was gonna use it to pull my boat, thus got regular pickup lic. Limited to 8,000 lbs like a pickup.
Differences is $65/6 months or $80/2 years.. Still haul alot of weight.. Don't get a look at by weight enforcement officers because I do not haul unbalanced loads or struggle to maintain speed..
If the bigger trucks could have cheaper plates, more would be on the road..
Tires probably will not be as bad as the big 4X4 pricewise...

[Deaf Bob]

Joel, that sure is the truth! Just annual registration and weight ticket is about what I paid for my trucks.

Could you get "F" plates? Generally limited to so many miles from the Farm and during harvest..
Or SP plates like on old cars/hotrods... Why would trucks be singled out?

[dulcich]

Thanks, Bob. I can get ag plates in CA, but it is extremely restricted as far as road use. In the local counties which are heavily agricultural, no one uses them - I have actually never seen a truck tagged that way around here. You need a weight tag if the vehicle is over 7500 lbs unladden, and the weight tag can more than double the registration. You actually select the weight limit you buy, but if over gvw you are still illegal if the vehicle's limit is exceeded. The tag price escalates as you get a higher limit tag to more than a grand for a 80k tag if I remember right. Most of these old 2 axle trucks are around 24k gvw.

My 64 F600 is listed at under 7500 lbs unladden from the origial registration, so no weight tag needed on that one, but the commercial registration in this state is very high. I think they used to register them I cab and chassis form and then have the bed made. The bare cab and chassis would usually be just a few hundred lbs under the limit.

My 72 F600 car/equipment carrier with a Buhl rollback bed and pto winch is almost 11k empty, so it needs the weight tags. I have actually run that one over the scales when hauling a big load of steel I needed at 35000 lbs. I have a 72 LN 600 Ford with a very hd scissor lift/dump bed that is even heavier, so it needs the tags too. The little D300 of course is well under.

You can get the historical plates, but that is restricted use to shows, parades, exhibitions. I wouldn't want to explain to a highway patrolman why it is hauling a load, or worse having some hired boys running it illegally. My old trucks get used reguarly and I've hauled big loads of steel from as far as los angeles 400 mile r/t on I5, or posts, wire, pallets, crates, chemicals, seed, cars, equipment, you name it. The way I look at it I get good utility in return for the cost, and that cost is low compared to paying off a new truck in this catagory. Sure they are loud, suck an unimaginable amount of gasoline, are slow when fully loaded, and can be downright scarry at 24k split shifting the two speed rear on a grade like I5 amongst the big truck traffic, especially if you start thinking about that single cylinder master that looks like it belongs on a jeep. They do get the job done, though.

The little guy at the top actually gets the most use. I once had a field debris and repair crew run that truck 8 hrs a day six days a week for five weeks in the heat of summer running all day with no problems.

The rollback barely ran when I got it. After rebuilding the carb, dist, a tune up and all new hoses in the hydraulic system it has beeb very useful and reliable.

The '64, here hauling 8 tons of scrap from the equiment yard is getting body and paint and a new bed as I'm able to get to it. It has a warmed over 390 I built for it a few years ago, and an fully rebuit braking system. It can haul 80mph on the freeway!

[dulcich]

I posted this before, but a more Bangshifty shot of the '72 hauling a new project home.

[Casper]

Biggest reason I sold my last wrecker was plates & insurance (not to mention gas mileage). Didn't use it enough to justify the cost. Car trailer has a lifetime plate.

My stake truck is plated & insured as a regular truck. (gas mileage still sucks)

[Beagle]

nice pictures dulcich... thread salvage?

[38P]

You need a weight tag if the vehicle is over 7500 lbs unladden, and the weight tag can more than double the registration.

Ouch! That's a far cry from the $22.00 it costs to register the M211 (and that's for general use, not historical plates, BTW)

Sure they are loud, suck an unimaginable amount of gasoline, are slow when fully loaded, and can be downright scarry at 24k . . . especially if you start thinking about that single cylinder master that looks like it belongs on a jeep.

Throw in a sixty-year-old belt-driven air-over-hydraulic brake system into the mix for real scary fun (BTW, if you don't have enough air, you're not stopping . . . no need to try it . . . already proved it with the neighbor's fence . . . . )

It has a warmed over 390 I built for it a few years ago, and an fully rebuit braking system. It can haul 80mph on the freeway!

Eighty! You decadent hot rodder! . . . The screamin' 302 Jimmy in the M211 might hit 50 on the governor through the four-speed Hydramatic . . . but it feels and sounds like 100 in a regular truck . . . .

[squirrel]

Sounds like if you had a few other old big trucks laying around, you'd be set for life.

There's one towing company in town that ran a few of the older Fords, but the old guy retired, and a scrapper type guy bought his old rollback. That's the only old truck I've seen working around here.

[NewEnglandRaceFan]

odd air brakes need air to release.. wasn't always this way...
"
Throw in a sixty-year-old belt-driven air-over-hydraulic brake system into the mix for real scary fun (BTW, if you don't have enough air, you're not stopping . . . no need to try it . . . already proved it with the neighbor's fence . . . . ) "
{quote of outsider}