mattb73lt

Why is it that everything breaks at the same time?? The right side fuel tank on the B42 finally sprung a leak in the step area. I've been watching it for a while and it finally started dripping. I had it repaired, but haven't had the time to paint and remount it. So that's out of service. Saturday, I went to use my BMW and it started skipping and running rough, with the dashboard lighting up. Tried to diagnose it myself, but it's beyond my capabilities. Found a place that specializes in BMW's and hauled it to them to fix. Now I don't want to touch anything else for fear it might break, too. I did get to use my new strap system on the B73 and play with it. The BMW is difficult to tie down, due to the low hanging bodywork. I moved it with no damage incurred.

I did a quick Google search for 28-30' Mack roll backs and had numerous hits. Newer tandem ones are certainly available. Average price is $100-150,000. Cheaper ones could be found, I'm sure. If your looking for something vintage, like the one posted above, the pickings will be pretty slim and you'll probably be looking at building something to suit your needs. Also, while convenient for loading and unloading, roll backs can be tough to load fire trucks due to the distance from the axle to the end of the tailboard which is usually pretty long. Cribbing and ramps will help soften the angle when the body is up. A lowboy trailer and tractor arrangement might be another and cheaper option.

Yes it was. I can’t recall the length, but it looked in pretty decent shape.

28-30' is a long roll back and not very common. 20-24' would be more common. I've seen numerous ones mounted to R model chassis over the years and the longer ones are usually tandems. They're out there if you look. I did see a Weld-bilt mounted to an 80's tandem R in PA a few weeks ago for sale. Being more specific in your wants and a geographical area of you search would help in your search?

The more this comes together, the better it is looking!! A really unique paint scheme is coming to light and some history along with it. Much better than it all being one color, too!

I few places come to mind, eBay motors, several pages on Facebook for mack truck parts. Just by posting your needs there you may get some interest from someone who has what you need. I would think also, that any reputable upholstery shop could do a decent job replicating the cushion. Bring your good cushion with you for a materiel and pattern match.

All set for the Brooklyn Truck show tomorrow. Got my load all secured!!

That's going to look fantastic!!

Paint looks awesome. I love that combination. It sure will be unique to see it all together.

Were those for 1961H67's L model he's working on?

So with that great tragedy, here's a real kick in the gut for the family. In terms of survivor benefits he was not vested in his position, he had about 9 years on the job, so the family gets no pension benefits. All they get is his contributions towards his pension back, which for nine years is not a lot. No sustained income to live off and raise those two children. What they do get is the insurance and any other survivor benefits. A lot of which are not really enough to live out your life, college for the kids and so on. That's where all these charities come into play and individual donations towards the family. There's even been kids running lemonade stands donating money to the family. Tunnels to Towers has been in touch with the family, so the burden of a mortgage will go away. There are several big charities that are getting involved to help out the family. This is the first Trooper that I recall having a very young family, that was killed in the line of duty. Others had no children or they were nearly grown, so survivor benefits were geared towards the spouse. There is a state law that enacted several years ago that if you were seriously injured on the job and medically retired, you would get automatically promoted in retirement to Master Sergeant's pay. But there seems to be a failure there if you die and or were not vested. Regardless of what you do for a living, make sure your loved ones are taken care should the worst happens.

Don't worry, you'll see it. Next scheduled event is probably the Brooklyn show. I think Macungie is out for me this year. Work looks like it will be in the way as we have several people away and numerous trips on the books.

Made it to the Bethlehem show yesterday. It started off slow, but really picked up in the afternoon. Tough date for a show, right between York and Macungie. I had a lot of questions about the truck. Surprisingly, numerous people asked if it was custom built, is if I had blended an L cab onto a B model. This has come up numerous times before. I guess they are sort of rare.

Those look very restorable, certainly better than what you had. See the others, too, in case you need sections of them or someone else could use them when you’re done.

That’s great. Good find!! Those should keep the progress going!!

A lot of people are upset. when my boss called the night it happened, you could tell in his voice he was having a hard time keeping it together. His offers were from his heart. A friend of mine is a sergeant at Troop H and he knows the Trooper and family well. They both had K9's together. When he was promoted a few years ago, this Trooper was assigned to his platoon. He's been assigned escort duty for the family. He's been driving them anywhere they need to go. I called him directly to make sure the offers of assistance made it to them. Yesterday, the family was at a Hartford Yard Goats baseball game and given a donated corporate box. The older son threw out the first pitch. These poor kids, 6 & 3, have no idea what's going on and what's happened. My boss picked up the tab for the food and drink for the entire family, no questions asked.

Hopefully the surgery will alleviate your pain and give you back some mobility and the recovery gives you no complications. It truly was senseless. The POS that struck him was caught about 5 miles up I84, after his truck broke down. My employer is a huge supporter of law enforcement and has several charities involved and made all the services of his company available to the family and the department, to include our helicopter and airplane. Services are this Wednesday and I'll probably be involved with the helicopter for the flyby of the funeral. The truck rode great loaded up. The pickup was a little farther back than I would load it for long distance, but the weight was still pretty even. This truck is about four feet longer in length than the B42 and it makes a big difference in the ride and turning radius.

Used my military pickup to set my winch cable and to test out my new chains, binders and tie downs. Loading it is easy because of all it's built in tie down points. Then used it as a load weight to run the truck around to see how it ran loaded up. It's probably a little heavier than the Cadillac I had on it over the winter. It rode great loaded up and needed a bunch of extra shifted as expected. It was also a little role reversal for these two as I used the pickup to haul a lot of the truck around and as a parts getter while doing the restoration.

I've been having trouble posting pictures, too. If I add them when I post they fail. After I post I go back and edit and add them there. Then they appear. No idea why that started to happen on both my phone and computer.

Excellent!!

Like I was saying, doesn't have to be pretty, just needs to keep things lined up so you can repair it and get some structural integrity back into it. Nice work!

I intend to. This is the fun part, using it and setting it up to use as I had envisioned. This season should be getting it out there to shows, finishing the details and building my confidence in it to go far from home with it. Future intentions are to load up one of my cars to take it to car tours. I attended several years ago, before life got crazy after 9/11, in the B42. All over New England, down to Virginia and I even went all the way to the Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado in 2005. Drove my '27 Model T Fordor over the Continental Divide at over 12,300' on that tour.

That's all looking really nice. I had a lot of slow downs, breaks and distractions trying to get mine done. When it gets slow, do some little stuff or order up some parts to be ready when time permits getting more accomplished. Nice work!

I would suggest contacting local chapters of the ATCA and ATHS in the areas of your company. Members may have direct knowledge or know some former drivers. Local Historical societies may also be of help with archive information of the company, photographs, locations anf names of people that worked for them. Ask around, you never know what you might uncover.

This is what i used on my B73. PPG Concept is no longer available I was told. The paint codes should cross to other brands of paint, though. I threw the engine paint code in there, too.