mattb73lt

I think it was 2001 for me, just after I finished the B42. Then 9/11 hit and it was off to the races for me.

Best wishes for your wife’s recovery. Going to try to get as many as I can!!

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

I bet no one was dropped off like that!!! That's awesome!!

Hauled a 1942 Chevrolet Riot Truck with me up to the Bethlehem, CT show On Sunday. Cool little truck that was in service from 1942 into the 1970's, carrying teargas munitions and riot equipment. Only had about 6600 miles on the clock before a cosmetic restoration three years ago. The truck is part of the CT State Police Museum fleet i help out with. Great day and lots of conversations about both trucks.

When I was building my B42 and converting it to diesel I parted out a B61SX dump truck. I bought it mainly for the transmission. I didn't know a lot about B models back then. The transmission ended up being a TRDX-72. Which was a direct gear Duplex with a deep reduction in low range. You didn't split it. Five in low range, then five in high range. What some call a "dead stick" duplex. It did have a normal H pattern five speed for the main. Your transmission sounds like it works similarly, just with that odd gear pattern. That transmission was the only thing I didn't use from that part out.

I renamed mine "KRACKERJACK" from a nickname that was on the picture I got from the original owner, so that was kind've easy. But, if you were to ask my wife it would be, "That Big Red Whore!!". She busts my balls about it every time I take it somewhere or work on it, "Oh, taking your red whore somewhere on a date??". It's all in jest, though and we get a good laugh out of it.

Is that Bradley? I know runway 6/24 is scheduled for resurfacing, I thought it was later this summer.

It's a great car, runs very well. Did a lot of work to it when it was my father's and he couldn't work on it anymore.

Two other things for that trip to Foxboro. One, there was heavy mist for the first part until just east of Worcester and that wiper system I built was awesome!! The intermittent wiper features were perfect and the first two speeds were all I used. Well worth the effort to design and install. Two, upon return to the house, the odometer showed 3,972 miles!!! With minus the first 99 miles when the engine blew up, have been completely trouble free. I built this truck to go places and it just amazes me that from a complete junkyard wreck it's all in one piece, looks this good and runs so well!!!

I talked to a lot of people Saturday. We'll meet up at one of these shows coming up!

Made a two hour run up to Foxboro, MA yesterday to the Springbrook show put on by D. Rounds Trucking and G. Greene Construction. It wasn't on any of my lists of up coming shows, but timing wise it worked out with my schedule. It was held at their facilities which are adjacent to each other. Started out leaving the house about 6AM in heavy fog and drizzle, but by afternoon cleared up for a great ride home by 5PM. Lots of local trucks from the greater Boston area and a chance to see G. Greene's collection of restored trucks in a special built garage just to hold them. I'm so envious of that facility. My brother lives about a half hour away from there, so we got to spend the day together along with my nephew for a little while. Truck ran great and had no issues at all with it. It is very loud when you're in it for that long of a trip. It's going to get a muffler at some point. Still amazes me to see it in one piece and restored. other than the exhaust noise, it's so comfortable to drive with that big, roomy L cab. Another greatshow and day with the B73

Four generations....impressive!! Certainly is a family heirloom now!! And a beautiful restoration!!

Lots of great memories and three generations surrounding the LJ. A similar story with me but surrounding a '27 Model T. I was kind of raised around it and still own it. First picture is when my dad brought it home in 1966, that's me with the hat, then a few in the '70's playing around with it. Up through '80's. It survived my teenage years, for a little bit it was a daily driver. First restoration was really sticking it back together, I had no real money for it. Second restoration was late '80's early '90's. My dad helped me re-wood about half the body. I've been all over New England in it and hauled it to Colorado on the back of the B42 to go on a national T tour in the Rocky Mountain NP in 2005.

Awesome to see you out and about in the LJ. It's been a long road to bring it back to it's current beautiful condition!! The floods were so devastating to the whole area and you property suffered significant damage. But, it's getting better, albeit, slowly. A lot of work to get your land back into useable shape and building that new bridge. Your grandson has grown quite a bit during this. I remember a picture of him standing up in the cab a while back, now I bet he couldn't unless he stooped over!! Looks like he's becoming quite the helper with your projects and you've given him knowledge and memories that'll last a lifetime, too.