Leaderboard

A.J. Baime, Car & Driver / March 31, 2020 Trivia question: Who said this? "Never before since Jamestown and Plymouth Rock has our American civilization been in such danger as now." It was Franklin Roosevelt in his "Arsenal of Democracy" speech, delivered on December 29, 1940, to the largest radio audience ever up to that time. But it sounds like a sentence any of us could utter today. Back in 1940, Hitler's armies were rampaging across Europe, the Nazis seemingly unstoppable. A fact that often slips through the cracks of our national consciousness is the degree to which we were losing World War II desperately for roughly the first year and a half of the fighting. We had the soldiers, but we lacked the tools. Ultimately it was the automobile industry far more than any other that created the arsenal that allowed the Allies to win. Now once again we face an existential crisis, and once again our government is asking our auto industry for help. Automakers are plunging forward to build ventilators and masks in this new scenario that feels almost like science fiction. "Ford, General Motors and Tesla are being given the go ahead to make ventilators and other metal products, FAST!" President Trump said on Twitter on March 22. "Go for it auto execs, let's see how good you are?" Days later Trump was attacking General Motors, using the Defense Production Act, as a tool to press GM forward in the ventilator effort with greater speed. It was like FDR's "Arsenal of Democracy" speech recrafted by the pugilistic president. GM was "wasting time," the president said. Can the automakers pull this off? Can they do it fast enough so that their work will be useful soon? We don’t know yet. However, a look in the rearview might give us some clues. 50,000 Airplanes, 130,000 Engines . . . When FDR first asked private industry for help during World War II, he knew the auto industry was key. The industry had a bigger economy than every nation on earth except Britain, Germany, France, and possibly the Soviet Union. The war was shaping up to be a contest of mass production; in this newly mechanized kind of warfare, the side that could produce the most war machinery the fastest would win. FDR brought William Knudsen, GM's president and the highest-paid executive in the country outside Hollywood, to Washington to serve as production czar, with a salary of $1. At the 1941 New York auto show, Knudsen pleaded with his colleagues, the powerhouses of Motor City, in a dramatic speech in which he asked the auto industry to build 50,000 airplanes, 130,000 engines, 17,000 heavy guns, 25,000 light guns . . . "Bombers, big bombers," Knudsen said, "are needed sooner than we dare hope to get them under present circumstances. We must build them at once! You've got to help! The first half of 1941 is crucial. Gentlemen, we must outbuild Hitler." The conversion to wartime desperately rattled the U.S. economy—another parallel to what we are seeing today—as businesses that were not able to serve the war effort largely disappeared. Business Week called this phenomenon in 1943 "the most severe contraction in the business population that we have ever experienced." Sound familiar? It took the auto industry a solid 18 months to get up and running, producing bombers and Jeeps and amphibious vehicles. Ultimately, GM became the largest military contractor on earth. GM made 119,562,000 shells, 206,000 aircraft engines, 97,000 bombers, 301,000 aircraft propellers, 198,000 diesel engines, 1,900,000 machine guns, 854,000 military trucks. Cadillac tanks, Oldsmobile bullets, Buick airplane engines. Chrysler had never made tanks; in a factory built from scratch, the Detroit Tank Arsenal, Chrysler made roughly as many tanks during the war than all the Nazi factories combined. Ford—which became the nation’s third largest military contractor—built a production facility called Willow Run, the largest factory under one roof in the history of the world, churning out 18,482 B-24 Liberators. So many laborers worked at Willow Run, the government had to build a city from scratch—"Bomber City"—to give these people homes and infrastructure near the factory (rubber tires were rationed, so commuting was all but impossible). At the start of the war, the B-24 Liberator was the biggest, fastest, most destructive bomber in the American arsenal. Still today, because of Ford, the B-24 remains the U.S.'s most mass-produced military aircraft of all time. It is no exaggeration to say that the auto industry saved the world. Said Donald Nelson, head of FDR's War Production Board: "The American war production job was probably the greatest collective achievement of all time." The Big Three Were Medical Innovators Back Then, Too The story of Detroit’s efforts during World War II is well known today. What is not is the fact that the auto industry also has a history of innovating medical products. On November 30, 1955, GM announced that it had developed "an ingenious mechanical sterilizer" called a Centri-Filmer. The company partnered with medical researchers at the Michael Reese Research Foundation in Chicago to create this device, which spun liquid vaccines in a centrifuge into a layer 1/20th the thickness of a human hair. Ultraviolet light then blasted through the film, "killing" viruses in vaccines (making the virus unable to replicate, so vaccines could do their jobs without making people sick). In 1979, GM researchers developed a new "ostomy appliance system" consisting of a plastic pouch assembly, an elastic belt, and a soft seal ring. The system aimed to make colostomy bags easier to wear and maintain. The medical feat for which GM is most-known is nothing less than the first mechanical heart. The story begins in the 1940s, when a cardiologist at Detroit's Harper Hospital named Forest D. Dodrill had an idea. At the time, heart surgery was largely palliative because the heart had to function during the operation. Dr. Dodrill had the idea of creating a machine that could pump blood like an engine pumps fuel, so blood could circulate while surgeons worked on the heart. He turned to GM to design the thing (GM's president, Charles E. Wilson, was at the time chairman of the board of the Michigan Heart Association). A team of GM engineers went to work under the leadership of one Edward V. Rippingille Sr. "We have pumped oil, gasoline, water and other fluids one way or another in our business," Rippingille figured. "It seems only logical we should try to pump blood." A Heart Pump Built Like a V-12 On July 3, 1952, Dr. Dodrill and a team of surgeons operated on the heart of 41-year old Henry Opitek at Harper Hospital while a machine that resembled a V-12 engine (it had six pumps on each of its two banks) pumped Opitek's blood through his body. As the New York Times put it in a 2018 article, "Detroit muscle powered a heart and gave Henry Opitek another 29 years of life." Both Ford and GM have history innovating health-care systems. Henry Ford saw in the early years of his company that the massive movement of people to the Detroit area to work in his factory was going to require healthcare infrastructure, and so in 1915—the heyday of the Model T—Henry Ford Hospital opened to the public. Today the Henry Ford Health System employs over 1200 physicians. In the 1940s, Alfred Sloan (the longtime chief of GM, often called the father of the modern corporation) and Charles Kettering (head of research at GM for decades) joined forces to create the Sloan-Kettering Institute, a biomedical research unit which today is known as Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. In 1941, the Ford Motor Company's engineers innovated a movable, affordable infant incubator that aimed to reduce infant deaths in hospitals. Seven years later, engineers at Ford's Rouge factory developed a new iron lung to aid polio victims during a terrifying epidemic. And History Repeats Itself Now today, the auto industry is going to work to build ventilators, respiratory masks, and who knows yet what else. On March 24, Ford CEO Jim Hackett told CBS News that his company is designing two to three versions of breathing apparatuses for front-line medical workers, but also, "hundreds of thousands of the simplest [masks] will be started to be produced in the next week or so." One challenge that engineers did not face during their heroic work of World War II is how to put workers on assembly lines without putting a lot of people in one place and thus creating potentially hazardous virus-spreading conditions. "A factory is all about working together on a line," Hackett said. "So the way these teams are designing the production of this [ventilator] is building subassemblies in smaller groups and having them come together to be assembled." As it was in wartime, the future today is a question mark. How long will this new plague stick around? Will it come back next flu season? One thing is for sure, however: the U.S. auto industry can help. Said Hackett: "We are ready to go." And, as in World War II, time is of the essence and lives hang in the balance. Photographs: GM and medical researchers with Centri-Filmer, a vaccine-purifying machine. GM - Developing the heart pump, 1952

Please don't confuse someone who is good in front of the teleprompter as someone who is an effective leader. Obama is/was one of the best public speakers that our country has ever seen. His domestic policies and foreign policy was awful. Obama care was a bust. Keep your doctor and save $2,000+ per year. More like lose your doctor and see your healthcare costs go through the roof. He handled Putin, Kim Jung and Assad with kid gloves and look where that got us. There was another great speech giver from Germany in the 1930's and 1940's that almost brought the world to its knees and ended the lives of millions of innocent souls. The democrats adding pork to the stimulus bill and then saying that the President wasn't responding to the healthcare crisis is a typical smoke in mirrors tactic that they use. Trump referring to Cvd-19 situation as the "democrats next hoax" was contextually connected to Russia, the Mueller report, the garbage with his former attorney Michael Cohen, as well as the fake dossier, Comey, McCabe, Lisa Page, etc. So the democrats were using Cvd-19 as their next version of what to pin on him. Its not working. His response has been praised by Cuomo himself. Even Ilhan Omar says his response have been terrific. Fact of the matter is that the US has never seen something like this before and to blame anyone directly would be irresponsible. Remember, the left said George W. Bush let down Louisiana after Katrina. Fact of the matter is that he begged for areas to be evacuated and offered to take over law enforcement and government officials were slow to act and declined to let the feds help with law enforcement. Smoke in mirrors pointed the finger at him when the response from local government was anemic at first. Now lets look at welfare reform. The left likes to say that Bill Clinton was its champion. Farthest thing from the truth. The republican controlled house and senate put the welfare reform bill on his desk and they had to twist his arm to get him to sign it. Plenty of good and plenty of bad on both sides of the isle. The left just likes to point fingers and mix up the facts using their bench team, the media, to do their dirty work.

Its been established Dave Wild digs Mack, but hates Mack Transmissions. Now I get a pic on my phone of him putting a CAT in his CH!!!!! Is she hugging a stuffed mouse?

1952 GMC 740 wrecker.

Sounds like him and the congregation should pray for brains.....

My truck was a1998 CL700.We had 100 ton on the girl and she would just walk away with it.

A fellow has to remember it's hard to find a frying pan big enough to fricassee a truck in/you can't eat it. And if we had the buyers money---we could burn ours. And I'm the one wanting the agreement.

Yeah Vlad they are pretty special Aussie thing They had banana backed ones as well with curves in the rear wall of the bunk for trailer swing Paul

Dave's military weapons target gig...……..

I am not sure the American industry could get up to speed as they did in WW2 for a new all out conflict.

A military cargo plane (Antonov An-124) carrying medical supplies to help the US combat the coronavirus outbreak has taken off from an airbase in Russia, after President Trump accepted an offer of assistance from Vladimir Putin. .

Well here in Mass the topic this AM is they want to close the bridges at the Cape Cod Canal. Too many NY plates coming across.

Can never be to brite Vlad, Im sure it will be quite impressive when done Paul

saw this for sale Genuine R model high rise Mack bunk I think only Mack Australia had their own bunks Just encase you are wondering the section missing out of the bottom is for the air start tank Let me know if you want more details Paul

We will all get it , just a matter of time then we all be immune.

Dom Sr is a great person . another good company " chased out of business" Thanks state of connecticut

I will verify week for clutch job, working at Waterbury mack ('69-"75) took 8hrs to remove trans, had to completely remove third axle first. laws changed and every one was stuffing tag axles in spots not meant to have one. battery boxes were jammed one on top of another. I knew the owner of the DM getting clutch I was working on; boy was he upset when the bill came. times have changed .

This demonstrates one of the issues in dealing with CARB: CARB may well approve this engine/application for 2020, but if it isn't before late 2Q 2020 it may be too late for fleets to get large orders in to Ford before the 2020 order cut-off. So, wait until next year. Of course, just because CARB approved this engine/application for 2020, it does not mean it will be approved for 2021, it might need to be tested again. And if it does, look for it to be approved around late 2Q 2021.......... Yes, I believe the Ford factory warranty does remain in place, but Ford does not warranty any of the Landi-Renzo components or their installation.

I have a Marmon COE that I would really like to find a 12V to install

Nice Superliner at the Western Mass Show in 2016.

The idea was to keep SGT general appearance but put some improvements to it since the original look was too simple when you up close to the truck. That took me to make spacings between the stripes and add the second raw of them. I also switched to metallic since I like metallics. Still afraid the final result will be too bright when all the body parts together regardless I made a few real size color tests before ended up with the combo and smoothed yellow and red to less contrast grades.

when they come apart;; boy do they. working at mack in CT yrs ago there was a cabover with 318. truck sat for week or so. guy comes to pick it up. hits the key engine goes from zero to beyond wide open in seconds. as most cases the emergency stop cable froze.. my job to smash rear cab screen and climb on top of screaming engine ;; manually flip shutoff. too late engine trash. baskin robbins in ct had fleet of 318's and 350 DD 's. baskins had a mechanic ,jimmy Cassidy he is one of the best for setting up a DD. the stack tips were blue on one ole binder with 318.. LOL . Texaco had long nose GMC 's with 318. clear night you could hear them climb rte 34 . knew when shift was coming listening to engine. like real muscle cars of days gone by.. big truck engines had a sound of their own. maybe imitated today -NEVER duplicated

Political parties should be banned, because they are a massive distraction. Elected government officials should only speak for themselves and their populace.

Well to quote Mack 458.....in my opinion Trump really did not act in time, and continues to make incorrect/differing statements than his team of doctors and specialist. In the beggining it was a hoax and something that the democrats were using to take him down. He seems to finally be taking the advise from his team. Unfortunatly every press conference is about what a great job he is doing and making incorrect statements. Unfortunately there is a lot of truth in this. Although I think he finally is accepting the fact that he has two very competent people in Fauci and Berx and he is finally listening. I just keep hoping his handlers get him in control. Election is his to lose. People like Hannity have to stop blowing smoke up his ass and get him to STFU! Stick to FACTS. Question is, when do Dems recognize Biden really does have a problem? And as for Cuomo, look at the air time this guy gets. And also NO press coverage about any of his failed pie in the sky proposals to "make NY great again".

My son said there names are Sum tin wong Ho Lee chit Ho lee f_ck I laughed Hope some does too

.

Sometimes only one will do.

You’re leaving out a huge detail Mack458, the Democrats are the ones who kept throwing in crap they couldn’t get passed onto the STIMULUS bill. Isn’t that using a tragedy for political gain in the worst way? if cuomo wants to work together to solve this then why is he threatening to sue the president and his admin if they shut down NY and NJ to help slow the spread down so our medical resources can handle it better? Cuomo is just grandstanding for the most part and following what all of the other democrats have been doing for the last 3 years. Fight the president on everything he does no matter what because party lines mean more than the people that elected them. Do I like trump as a person? No, I think he’s a vain spoiled brat with a big mouth. Do I like his policies like bring manufacturing back to the US, make trading with others fair to the US, worry about the US first? Love the policies and so does a good portion of the US besides Schumer, Pelosi, AOC, Clinton etc.

Before this thread runs completely off the rails on hot button issues lets just get back to the original topic. Emperor Cuomo has been running this state into the ground with only his own personal agenda in mind from the start. As did his father before him. This is just positive press exposure for him and he's going to play it for all its worth.

My guess is that this is to protect the purchaser from his wife. What she doesn't know won't hurt him!

The amount will be undisclosed on signed agreement between the buyer and I.

I try to apply Nason 421-17 2K Urethane primer within the 72 hr. window of the epoxy then sand after dry . To me the epoxy is harder to sand. Depending what you are going to paint it depends. On body work 2-4 coats of Urethane over epoxy allow to dry good follow with a guide coat then block sand with 320 or 400 grit. On castings, frames,and other parts sand the epoxy then a second coat of epoxy should work although I have never done this . If you use the epoxy as a second coat be sure to not to paint it too soon but stay within the window. For final coats I used Dupont Centari for years with great results seems things were simpler then. The tend now seems to be Base coat / clear coat or 2K urethane . Easy rider did a great job on his truck using Imron. As far as holding up Imron seems to be the best. Most new trucks were done with Imron and maybe still are. I have not used Imron for about 25 years it was easy to use went on like alkyd enamel but expensive.

In a couple of days the paint got relatively hard so I was able to took the cab from the shop and transport to my place. Made a couple of pics before putting it inside the shop. It will reqire polishing since stripe edges make clear coat uneven but I was going to do it much later when all the paint is set wery well. I had no hurry with that, plenty of work over the chassis and engine was planned ahead.

The time for the final paint has come. The cab was supposed to get stripes. Doors were painted much earlier as I liked to experiment with the color scheme and to have time to change it if dislike. They turned out well to my taste and I put them on the running truck. This time I had to remove them off there and put onto the cab being needing to correspond the stripes painted on it. To the time we arrived to the paint shop with the doors the painter applied a layer of silver base coat on the cab were the stripes were expected. After the doors were on and the gaps managed we applied plastic masking tape making countours for the future stripes. The matter of the tape was to cover the silver paint. After it was done the painter would mask everything excepting the areas supposed to be painted red. He than applied red base coat on them, went for drying, mask them up and remask the areas supposed to be painted gold. Put gold paint there, dry up, mask and remove all masking from areas supposed to be green. When green is applied and dry he would remove all the masking from everywhere and apply clear coat. There's a point the base metallic coats must be covered with clear coat no later than 48 hours. So not an eternity to play with colors and masking tape. That time my paint buddy did fine. He put silver in the evening and we started putting masking the next noon. He than went through red and gold down to the night, applied green in the morning and clear coated everything the next day. So all in all it took nearly 40 hours. I was invited to watch the result one day later. It was definitely a thrilling moment.

Two brothers near me had a very well built Hein-Werner trans jack that dated to the late '60s or so. They ran trucks and equipment out of their shop. While one brother was cleaning a work bay, he had to make a quick dash to the restroom and the trans jack and some other tools were not yet put away. The other brother brought a large CAT dozer into the shop and did not see around the blade that the trans jack was still there. You guessed it, the dozer won and the trans jack was junk. I believe an OTC replaced it but the brothers always had a "fight" blaming the other and who was at fault.

Now we are getting closer to the end of the story. Door openings were double primered because of weld spots applyed to the sills for attaching the rocker panels. Than seam sealer was layed and the openings painted.

O the good old days. When you had a simple hydraulic controller to set spinner and conveyor . And your supervisor trusted you to put down the amount of product you thought was appropriate for the conditions.

Finished with cab guard/stack support. Next is fender/cab filler panels.

Don't do the HF. They are flimsy as hell with that kind of weight. I have seen it.

Interior is coming back together. Got a dm dash panel off Craigslist which had original bulldog tach and speedo so put those in after painting the dash panel. Seat mounts and stereo are in. I think I'm going to paint the headliner black before it goes back in.

I have the jack you need. It's yours to borrow if you want too.

Years ago i bought the hf. motorcycle lift jack i use it to to brake jobs. I can't imagine how many jobs i did with this jack. Works really well to remove fuel tanks and battery boxes.

We have the harbor freight truck trans jack, works well but you may want to make your own deck adapter to hold the transmission. The "safety" chain is a joke, and the 4 angle iron feet that bolt to the deck are slippery. Jack handle is very nice, it pivots around so you can operate it from almost anywhere. The jack is also nice to use for spoke hubs.

Just less beer And it looks like I spotted this truck in one of old pictures.

Hes got a nice 155lbs rotty he eats any thing unless your a friend , He the kind of dog that walks you!