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Source of Mack Cabs?


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You didn't see the painting section on the the factory tour BIG RED watch the under cover BOSS video about CEO .HE chip in his own money to his employees not MACK .

EJ-shame on me I did not- I thought the tour guide said they came in all painted. I WILL pay closer attention this year!

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The current cab is based on the Mack Trucks-designed CH cab. The original Maxi-Glas door shells (which I prefer, and shared with the MH Ultra-Liner) were replaced with cheaper steel doors.

The CH cab entered the scene in 1988, supplied by Sheller-Globe.

Connecting the dots to the current supplier CVG (Commercial Vehicle Group), Sheller-Globe purchased UK-based Motor Panels and then put the Norwalk cab plant under its new Motor Panels division.

Then, that division was sold in 1989 to UK-based CH Industrials, which was sold in 1991 to UK-based Mayflower Vehicle Systems, which was sold in 2005 to CVG.

Thus over the last ten years, CVG has been stamping and assembling Mack cabs under contract in a run-down plant in Kings Mountain, North Carolina originally created to supply the Winnsboro, South Carolina plant about 70 miles away.

Volvo Group owns the worn-out last generation technology cab tooling that CVG uses, and refuses to invest in any refurbishment because the narrowed North American version of the new Volvo global cab platform is in the pipeline.

Every day, these almost 30 year old design cabs are inefficiently shipped almost 600 miles by truck all the way from Kings Mountain, North Carolina to Macungie, Pennsylvania. (the same inefficiency as having Volvo HQ in Greensboro while the Mack brand plant is 470 miles away in Macungie)

* CVG, which has made a career of buying on-the-ropes truck component companies, also is the current caretaker of the Bostrom and National seating brands (http://www.cvgrp.com). Rather than buy a cheap Bostrom or National though, I'd rather you look at higher quality Sears or Grammer seating ( / http://www.grammer.com/en/products-markets/seating-systems/trucks.html)

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With the beginning of the R-model, Mack began contracting out the assembly of R cabs to Sheller-Globe. They were produced in Norwalk, Ohio and shipped in on specially contructed rail cars to Allentown. It was an arrangement that worked very well.

Mack Trucks produced the F-model, CF, Cruise-Liner and Ultra-Liner cab-over engine (COE) cabs in-house.

The Mack MB cab was an odd exception, produced in Ohio by Orrville Metal Specialty Company (which also produced cabs for a great many other truckmakers including Diamond-T, Autocar, International, Dodge, GMC, Ford and Euclid).

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The current cab is based on the Mack Trucks-designed CH cab. The original Maxi-Glas door shells (which I prefer, and shared with the MH Ultra-Liner) were replaced with cheaper steel doors.

The CH cab entered the scene in 1988, supplied by Sheller-Globe.

Connecting the dots to the current supplier CVG (Commercial Vehicle Group), Sheller-Globe purchased UK-based Motor Panels and then put the Norwalk cab plant under its new Motor Panels division.

Then, that division was sold in 1989 to UK-based CH Industrials, which was sold in 1991 to UK-based Mayflower Vehicle Systems, which was sold in 2005 to CVG.

Thus over the last ten years, CVG has been stamping and assembling Mack cabs under contract in a run-down plant in Kings Mountain, North Carolina originally created to supply the Winnsboro, South Carolina plant about 70 miles away.

Volvo Group owns the worn-out last generation technology cab tooling that CVG uses, and refuses to invest in any refurbishment because the narrowed North American version of the new Volvo global cab platform is in the pipeline.

Every day, these almost 30 year old design cabs are inefficiently shipped almost 600 miles by truck all the way from Kings Mountain, North Carolina to Macungie, Pennsylvania. (the same inefficiency as having Volvo HQ in Greensboro while the Mack brand plant is 470 miles away in Macungie)

* CVG, which has made a career of buying on-the-ropes truck component companies, also is the current caretaker of the Bostrom and National seating brands (http://www.cvgrp.com).

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

With the beginning of the R-model, Mack began contracting out the assembly of R cabs to Sheller-Globe. They were produced in Norwalk, Ohio and shipped in on specially contructed rail cars to Allentown. It was an arrangement that worked very well.

Mack Trucks produced the F-model, CF, Cruise-Liner and Ultra-Liner cab-over engine (COE) cabs in-house.

The Mack MB cab was an odd exception, produced in Ohio by Orrville Metal Specialty Company (which also produced cabs for a great many other truckmakers including Diamond-T, Autocar, International, Dodge, GMC, Ford and Euclid).

As always appreciate the great info. By the way is this new Volvo cab a variant of the current VN type or is it some offshoot of a Euro cab over??

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The new (latest) Volvo global cab platform is shared between the FM, FMX and FH.

The current U.S. market Volvo VN conventional cab is based on the now discontinued global market Volvo NH conventional, which shared commonality with the previous global market Volvo FH/FM cab architecture.

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EJ-shame on me I did not- I thought the tour guide said they came in all painted. I WILL pay closer attention this year!

Like he said watch the Undercover Boss episode on Mack. Interesting. Shows a bunch of the assembly and paint, etc. I think there's also one by National Geographic that shows the whole pant in action too and has backinblack pulling in the end. Both on youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfNB0nAX4Zc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h24g2N8id3k

Matt

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Like he said watch the Undercover Boss episode on Mack. Interesting. Shows a bunch of the assembly and paint, etc. I think there's also one by National Geographic that shows the whole pant in action too and has backinblack pulling in the end. Both on youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfNB0nAX4Zc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h24g2N8id3k

Thx Matt-will do.

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It seems as though CVG builds the Mack and IH cabs (not Volvo). and they supply all of the cab interiors (interior trim dashes etc.)

:bmod_trac:

No, CVG stopped producing Navistar cabs in 2010. Navistar decided to insource the cab production that had taken place at CVG's Norwalk, Ohio plant to its own assembly facility in Escobedo, Mexico. The Norwalk plant was subsequently closed.

Relating to what I mentioned above, the Norwalk plant for many years was a Sheller-Globe facility producing R, U and DM series cabs, which were shipped via rail on special cars to Allentown.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Cabs are still painted at Macungie currently, there are rumblings that they are going to come in pre-painted though. The hoods and fairings are starting to come in pre-painted, but I don't think all of them are, as of yet, haven't been on that side of the plant in quite awhile.

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