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I would like to thank everyone for the support and comments during the restoration of my Coca Cola LJ , it’s pretty much done except for maybe some rear fenders,, My goal at 66; years old was to relax for a bit, finish repairs on my shop from the flood damage and enjoy some truck and car shows. But with the encouragement of my 10 year old Grandson ( And some friends that know what a Freedom Mack is) I’m going to try to restore Our 87 Freedom. Probably not to the extent that I did the LJ , but hopefully it will make a nice truck to pull a lowboy if I want to haul the LJ ,LTH or C Model to a show. I actually bought this truck about 10 years ago to use, not really knowing what a Freedom was. And I have used it, I’ve had it to every Dam in Western North Carolina on the TVA system, I bought it because I needed a day cab for the rough places. I have talked to a couple people who have Freedoms , I have read some old posts on here about them, If anyone has any information I would appreciate it, I would love to know how many are left. This truck has had the hood replaced with a aftermarket hood and repainted a lighter grey ,my goal is to get it back to the original color and decals. thanks again for all the support.

Today was my Grandson,s last day of school for the summer, he wanted me to take him in something special,,,, Well I didn’t see any Soccer Moms driving a LJ Mack!

Put Lanova engine into the NR chassis of Friday. The chassis was completed 12 years ago and the engine first started 8 years ago. The 2nd story was untold due to shortage of time. Now the things look more promising than before but still damn amount of tinkering ahead.

Photo I found of a Yellow Transit Freight Lines EUHT in the Yellow Dallas shop mid 1940's. Little bit before my time at Yellow.

Thank you for the information, Unfortunately as for the interior of the Freedom is the best part of it , The worst part is the frame, it’s aluminum, the guys we bought it from installed a plate on the outside, and did a good job, but it’s corroded at every cross member, my thought would be unbolt it under the cab , only 4 bolts on each side attach it to the big steel frame , find a air ride cut off and start changing all the brackets, but I’ve been using it this way so that’s later down the road. I may replace the hood, my number one goal is to paint it back the original grey and red stripes, it’s still the original color on the fire wall . The E6 350 runs great, 10 speed trans . It has some slack in the front spring shackles but overall it’s still pretty sound .I saw a old post were one was hit in the front but I don’t think this is the same truck, I guess it was repainted when the hood was replaced, I bought this one in Gallipolis OH . I’ve had my Helper working on it some today.

right?..

Guys, please don't get worked up. At no point in time do the masses know more than 15% of what's "actually" going on in the world. By design, the masses can not connect the dots. So please don't get worked up. Do I like it? No. Would I like a 100% understanding? Yes. But I doubt we'll ever see that moment.

I remember those conversations and thinking I really had no idea when or if I'd ever make it. Honestly, it was an epic trip for me and the truck. At times I never thought it would be there or I'd have something that would make it that far and be worthy of being seen there. Pulling into the park felt like I was high fiving myself. Pulling back into my driveway at the end of the trip was the validation of having completed a thorough restoration of a junkyard find, dead truck. Sharing the restoration here on this blog was so beneficial and to keeping everything on track. Having progress to report was really motivating, even though at times there were breaks and gaps due to other things going on. A cool side benefit was meeting and conversing with people like yourself and everyone else who added comments or pictures. It's been almost ten years since my first post and it has been one remarkable journey, all just to restore an old truck, and the journey continues on with new adventures. I can't thank everyone enough for their contributions and help along the way!!

My parking spot!!

Good rainy afternoon forum members! It's really coming down here. I hit a couple of days that it wasn't raining and got the box painted in school bus yellow. I did the inside of the box on day two. It turned out nice. Next step will be the cab and all the parts that go with it, (fenders and all other parts). Then put everything back together. So far so good! With Respect.....Frank

Some pictures of some trucks that I took recently-

Yes,, then Matt will have to hire my Grandson to narrate those 1000 pictures ,, he’s got the album down pretty good , That’s his job at the shows .

Well, It was quite the trip and quite the weekend!! Truck ran beautifully with no issues at all. The only wear and tear to it was the KRACKERJACK lettering on the bumper. It took a beating on the way home in the rain. I wondered how long it would last, being painted on the stainless bumper. Not upset at all about it. I'll have some vinyl letters cut to replace it and those should be more durable. The total trip was almost 450 miles and I got about 6.5 MPG!! But the show was incredible. I did end up with an excellent parking spot under a huge shade tree!!. I had a hard time getting away from the truck and seeing the show, with all the people coming by with compliments on the job I did or just to talk. When I finally did get away, the trucks there were incredible. I took a lot of pictures, I'll try to post them separately. Lots of big collections from single people/companies were present. I saw a lot, but couldn't see it all with people coming and going to the show. A really great time and lots of socializing. Our chapter had a lot of members present and we ended up having a great cookout both thursday and Friday evenings. After an almost 25 year absence from my last time, I'm going to try to make it a more regular thing. The trip going down was long and hot. Met up with two othe chapter members at the I-95 Orange, CT rest stop and got on the road about 6:30 AM. And then a long slow exit from CT from Bridgeport to the state line. Coming and going, the worst traffic was definitely in Connecticut. The run down was a little slow and I hardly ever got into 5th Hi-split and the truck I was following would fall off on the hills causing me a lot of extra shifting. After a while I passed him and got in the middle where driving was much easier. Coming back really sucked. Yesterday's rain made a tough trip for loading up and for about 3/4's of the drive. I needed to leave by noon as I had plans for Saturday evening. Getting the truck out of where I was parked and over to the loading lot was a chore with the rain and foot traffic. I was quick loading, but got completely soaked doing it even with the hood on my rain coat up. There was heavy rain for the first half of the trip and my wiper system and defroster fan got quite the workout. The wipers works perfectly throughout the trip and I'm so glad I spent the time to put them together. I ran a bit faster by myself, when it was drier to do so, on the way back. Couldn't be happier with how it performed the whole trip. Part of me still can't believe that it did the trip, considering what I started with and how long it took to get done. Every trip builds my confidence in it's abilities to go places safely and without issues.

the sheriff from Florida speaks for all of us who love the U.S.A. now its time for other sheriffs to join him.

hide the remote and unplug the TV

We had a decent day yesterday for painting, sunny and no wind. I got the B Model out and all the parts. I had to do the painting outside (don't have a booth). It went well, I know it will require some wet sanding and buffing and that will all be done with it apart, them reassembled. I have the light problem figured out and it came down to the light switch not working properly. It's a 1955 B20 so to be expected! Best Regards.....Frank

I believe it.

the Dems will probably want to change the name of ICE to something like 'Suspended Cold Water' ..

hey, I had a blast. It was short but sweet lots of good food. Lots of conversation hundreds of trucks. I got pretty much an Eye full yesterday and talked to a lot of people. it was still well worth a trip plus the rain out gave me a chance to visit the museum ..tomorrow. I’m gonna walk around Allentown fairgrounds check out the old park maybe buy some fresh fruit and head back to the airport. I did go back to the show and spend 2 1/2 hours or so wasn’t so much the rain by then it turned to sprinkle, but the ground was a sloppy mess. Got another nice sausage sandwich and bought some more goodies from watts tent and said hi to Barry. And Tom, I told them you had planned to go in there but got to rained out.

Y’all have fun, post some pictures, I’m looking forward to making it back to Macungie, my last time was with My Dad & Son in 2000 for the 100th anniversary.Hopefully I can get My Son and my Grandson ( My Sidekick) To make the trip in the next few years, As for now this time of year he’s right in the middle of All-Star Baseball.

It has started. Will take time, not sure how fast it will happen. I have legs made up to get it off the floor and I can drop the pan. Local guy has std pan that he will trade for my ESI pan(that won't fit my chassis). Found a couple loose exhaust rockers(like more then 1/8" lash)hope that isn't a cam failure! Didn't make any bad noises while running and had 70# oil pressure. Will investigate that further. My 3/4" IR won't break the head bolts loose, but was using adapter for 1/2" socket. Need to buy a good 3/4" socket and see if that improves the performance. Should have some updates next week?

Lots of those inaccurate descriptions with $1234 for the price are some type of scam.

I know it’s off topic,,, but I passed a Chevy Dealership in Melbourne FL about 30 minutes ago,,, And I couldn’t resist! There is a Quarter Million $ ! Back on this Superliner ,, That thing is Definitely detailed. The price to get that truck to that level would be astronomical! I had a lot of paint and supplies get washed down the creek and it hurt as much as the tools did.

Had some early morning fun yesterday. Moved an '82 DARE Corvette to a garage for some transmission and restoration work.

Tomorrow should be our last day cutting if everything goes right. The local elevator filled up so we'll have to haul to the next town over, It might be quite the race to keep up. The last load of the night is always fun. The look of the glowing orange bulldog at the end of that long hood is unforgettable!

Yes, he has done some interesting research on them. This maybe an interesting story about a Freedom if anyone has a clue. Back around 1988-1990 , a friend of mine that I worked with at Ryder went to visit some family in West Virginia, he knew I had a LJ , he stopped and took a picture of a LJ , I think it was a Burns Motor Freight in Marlinton WV , He also took a picture of a New Mack , I taped the pictures to my toolbox and never realized the “ New “ Mack until years later was a Freedom,, I wonder where it is now?.

Wheels of Time, May/June 2014 Vol 35, No. 3 (article titled Big Guns & Liberty) has the definitive information on the Freedom series trucks. ATHS has the issue in their members area archives. The Freedom edition was to be limited to 200 trucks. I was only able to identify 151 chassis records at the Mack Trucks Historical Musuem. 22 of the 151 trucks were the MH 613 cabover. I was able to identify 129 SuperLiner II trucks.

bud das da ony way her peeps can unerstant her..

An integrated sleeper B Model- very nice! "Small" driving the 1978 Hahn in the parking lot of the top secret 1978 Hahn storage location Super nice B Model

Another Macungie picture-

Looks to be a really complete and original 1950 Mack LJ Tractor. Selling at auction via Proxibid.com. No affiliation. Just passing along. If someone wanted a nice complete LJ to restore this one would certainly be a good candidate. Looks Like Cummins powered. Located in Mogadore, Ohio. 1950 Mack LJ Semi Truck | Collector Cars Classic & Vintage Cars Classic & Vintage Cars - 1950's | Online Auctions | Proxibid

Got the Macungie pictures edited and posted. 300 sounds like a lot, but it's not really when you consider there was over 900 trucks there. sorry I missed a lot, but the rain kind of screwed things up. If I couldn't get a picture because of too many people, or whatever, I would just think ''that's ok, i'll get it tomorrow". Of course that didn't happen this trip. But anyway, here's what I did get.

thats what i tell the wife about child molesters,,,,set up the flatbed right in the town square selling t shirts and beer with a DJ,,,announcer

Yeah, I'm glad Friday was a nice day, we had a great time, but Saturday was just a bummer. I really missed hanging out for another day, but what can you do? I'm home now drinking a Moxie on ice, thanks to 70 Mack MB. I scored a case of Iron City Light too. I found a nice belt buckle at the flea market. And all the rain was good for the garden, we picked all this- And we had picked all the zucchini before we left. I said "we're not going to do like everybody else does and let the zucchini get huge before we pick it, blah-blah-blah". So much for that idea.

Off to Macungie tomorrow morning. Meeting up with friends at a I-95 rest stop along the way. Should be a 3.5 to 4 hour run to get there. Looking forward to going finally. I think its been about 25 years since I've been there. Cleaned and loaded the truck all day . Bringing my little BMW for some wheels to run around with. 934C529B-95B6-464F-B004-FD31E8D7A490.heic