mattb73lt

And I’ll say this, I feel blessed surviving what I’ve done and now enjoying the fruits of my labors. Three combat tours and 21 years as a state trooper. Five years away from home from 2003 to 2013. I’m just so glad I’m able to do what I want and fixing up this truck up as I want. A bunch of people I served with never had this opportunity to enjoy what they earned.

All of the WWII vets I know are gone. My Godfather was a LST captain in Europe and the Pacific theater and my neighbor was a Marine vet from Iwo Jima and later the Chosin Reservoir. The Viet Nam vets I’m most close to, as I learned to fly from them when I was a kid fresh out of flight school. We’re all retired now and we meet up monthly for coffee once a month on a Sunday to chat. But, they too are fading away.

The LED’s are so small now. I can easily hide them at the top of the rack in the screened area, front and back. I might mount some additional rear stops and turns on the back side. Nothing crazy and sort of unobtrusive.

Thanks. But it'll be a while before I get tired of driving this one, then we'd have to duke it out before I give it up(LOL)!!

I'm going to add some work lights to it for the deck and some underneath the body for backing up. I'll probably add some LED warning lights at some point, too. The winch mounts into the deck, up front below the head board, like most roll backs.

Utilizing my amateur woodworking skills today. Ripped down the oak for the frame rail strips. Drilled and countersunk all the holes for mounting and now treating the wood with preservative. I’ll give them a few coats before I mount them. Ordered up some parts from Jerr-Dan for the sliding pads and some hydraulic line protector for the winch lines. Mocked up a NOS control box I found to replace the crusty one where the valve body mounts. Ordered more hardware to attach all the bed bed mounts and guides. All the new hydraulic lines should be back next week. And…. Busy day getting a lot of things ready for the bed. Thinking I might make Gerhart’s this year(maybe)!!

Well, that was fast. Thought deck would be done towards the end of next week from what I was told when I set this up. Got a call this morning that it was done and ready for pickup. Jumped through my ass and got the B42 up to Torrington by 11:00, loaded and headed back to the house by 12:00. Glad I shopped this out. I don’t think I could’ve done it cheaper by myself, plus the mess of sandblasting. They guy I dealt with said it took 6 gallons of paint to cover it. It’s done now I’ve got to hustle it up and get it mounted. Painted all the mounts and guides for the frame, today. I have the oak for the frame top, where the bed slides and rests on. All my hydraulic hoses should be headed out to be fabricated tomorrow or Friday. Lots to do and source, but it’s coming together pretty quick at the moment.

This is the Saturday Evening Post cover from 1943 that this car replicates and a recent photo the department did as a tribute.

Again Dean, my condolences. Very tough to lose a friend of that long. Sounds like he was very talented and that's an amazing truck he built. Enjoy those close to you and what you have.

It is real close, it was a very short wheelbase. I have some pictures of the back, but I’ve never digitized them.

It had the shortest factory wheel base, fixed fifth wheel. The person I bought it from put a tandem setup in it and added 8” to the frame for the air tank.

So pissed I missed this show, it's one of my favorites. One of the few where it's almost equal distance for my brother and I to meet up, like Brooklyn. I wish it moved back to the Fall, it's a lot easier for me to attend. This weekend is flat out for work, every year.

Steel or aluminum? Are they not still available from Mack. I bought two aluminum ones complete from Mack around 2005. But that was a while ago. And the was definitely Doug Fetterly. I have his number if you can't find it?

No, I have to work Saturday and Sunday, now. Big weekend at work.

Picked up the deck this morning and dropped it at O&G in Torrington for blasting and paint. The manager actually set me up with another party they do business with and had a much better price for the work. Should have it back in about a week or so. Then went to Atlantic Trailer and ordered the wood, 17-16'X7" boards should cover the deck. 860 fasteners, six drill bits/counter sinks/drive bits, also ordered to install it. I'll head back over in the morning to pick everything up with the B42. It had a big work out today running stuff around. Interesting how different the two trucks are. The B42, smooth, quiet, easy shifting. The B73, harsh, loud and rough. A lot of the roughness will go away with the body mounted, the harshness will go away as things wear in. And while I love the loud bark of the Cummins and Jake, it'll get a decent muffler in the future. Another day of gathering things up and logistics.

There’s a lot of those “safety “ films from that era. Always surprised me how long those films were in circulation, decades for a lot of them. That one brings back a lot of memories of patrolling the highways investigating and cleaning up those scenes. A lot of tragic things happen out there. Everyone I worked with had a very morbid sense of humor from dealing with it. Most of it never made me flinch, it was what it was and that was my job. There are many scenes though I’ll never forget. Trying to hold someone together until more help arrives. Doing CPR on someone I pulled from a wreck in a snow storm, while the family yells at me to save their husband/father. The roads are a dangerous uncaring place.

Thank you for that, it's much appreciated!!

I'm hoping it'll turn a few heads. It's the largest and most comprehensive restoration I've ever done.

It's a 24' Jerr Dan roll back with a 10K winch. The deck is a wood inlay. I'm going to use Apitong, a red Brazilian hard wood, for the decking. It's used a lot for trailer flooring. I'm ordering it through Atlantic Trailer over in Cheshire.

All kinds of stuff getting done. Friday, the B73 hit 500 engine miles and got it's first oil change. No issues since getting it running and it remains very dry on the top and bottom. The oil was still pretty clean and I still have to cut open the old filter just to see what's in there. All 20 new crossmembers have been installed and the head board work should be next. I dragged the hydraulic system out and was able to separate all the lines from the valve body. It'll need all new lines and a valve body as none of it is serviceable. A few lines need to be lengthened for the new installation. All the pistons are ready for installation as are the lifting frames, everything needs paint before assembly. I need to source some wood strips for the top of the frame rails that the body slides on. I'm hoping to get the bed back this week for it's trip to be blasted and painted, that won't be cheap. I'm also going to order the deck wood this week, too.

I have Hagerty on all my antiques.

Looks great!!

I’m going to leave it pretty much as it is and repair what’s there. I few changes. I’d like to find some polished aluminum chain lockers to mount on the head board and with the new wood deck it should look awesome.

It is the very place! Been in business over one hundred years. They still do great work. I was in and out of there in about three hours. The front end is now spot on level!

I think they made about 2003 LTs of all configurations. That could be a little bit more than half way through the production run. The best bet, now that you have the serial number, would be to contact the Mack Museum and request the build records for the truck. That could answer a lot of your questions and help you with the history of the truck.