NY-B61

Thanks for the pic of the Wolf Wagen, Paul! Something new and odd for me to research and figure out why they never caught on.

I also saw this truck outside of Selinsgrove PA. In fact that's were these pictures were taken. If you enlarge the pics. you will see a sign on the road that says RT.522.

You are 100% correct, Shaun. I always get Shamokin and Sellinsgrove confused.

Glad you're here, anything Mack related is at your fingertips.

Here`s the article about the 3 axle version.

Thank you, Mr. Conover! I'm beginning to wonder if the picture of the rig I originally posted isn't the actual prototype of the 4 axle version of the McBright / McCullough Road King. Lehighton, Pa. (place of manufacture) is but 150 miles from where I took the photo I posted (Shamokin, Pa.) Google until the cows come home and you'll find that McBright/McCullough had a great idea that disappeared almost as soon as it was introduced. How many 4 axle models could have been produced?

"..... BIGGER tanks. i think i have 2 100 gal tanks. may be having some 200 gal ones made if they will fit in there."

That's a nice looking rig and welcome to BMT! I've learned a lot in the little time I've been here and appreciate the people and resources I've found. The tech info is the best.

Before you fabricate and install 200 gal. fuel tanks in that monster, please remember you pay taxes like the rest of us. You've already paid for your upgrade, make that phone call.

Welcome aboard!!

Cool truck, welcome aboard!

That's a McBright, predecessor of the McCullough Road King.

You are right, what a great piece of detective work! The lighting array and badge position on the front and curved wheel wells on the rear are identical.

Welcome from your New York neighbor on the other side of the big lake!

Nice B53, Roel! Welcome from a new member here also.

From a new member myself, welcome to BMT!

Lots of valuable people, ideas and tech info here. Your manual will show up.

I hope everyone is having a great Independence Day weekend!

I'd posted a craigslist ad in Harrisburg, PA asking for info and/or offering to buy the beast I posted earlier:

I'd received several emails from people in Pennsylvania who had seen the thing or knew of it but nothing concrete as far as it's manufacturer, current location or condition. Then I received this:

"sorry buddy but i already sold the truck to a scrap yard"

I wrote back and asked if he could offer any additional info on the make and year of the vehicle. Was it a McCullough Road King? Here's the reply I received:

"i dont have the papers to it anymore to tell you that buddy im 80 years old n had it since i was in my teens, but wish you well on your search it would have cost me over 40,000 to restore it junk yard gave me 2500 for it so i was happy because whole inside floors were rusted threw and it didnt run"

And then this:

"the guy at junk yard told me he was going to gut it and make it into a rv i thought that was neat"

That's the most concrete response I've received yet. Was I fed a line, punked or boofed? "im 80 years old n had it since i was in my teens"

Opinions?

welcome to BMT

Thank you very much!

Cool looking B!

Welcome and keep the company.

The lake in the background is that a one of the great lakes?

I had been to Buffalo but only once.

Vlad

Thank you, Vlad! That is Lake Ontario in the background, one of the five Great Lakes. Part of Lake Erie is also in Buffalo. The Niagara River connects Lake Erie with Lake Ontario. You saw the Niagara River if you went to Niagra Falls when you came to Buffalo.

It's not always sunshine and blue waters here. There's a lot of snow in the Winter in Buffalo, but you get a lot more snow in Russia!

Welcome to BMT.

Thank you for the welcome!

Here is the response from the Just Old Trucks "What Am I" Expert

Thanks Brocky. This has a familiar look to it, I'll have to see what I can dig up. I think McCullough Road King is the right answer.

Take care,

Jeff

Thank you!

If there were people that wanted to buy it, hopefully it got sold to someone that wanted to save it and use it. It could be lurking around somewhere yet.

You guys might have to settle for a Super Freighter. There seems to be a few of those around yet - the two axle type anyway.

I hope it is lurking in a barn or warehouse somewhere in PA. That would the kind of barn find you could get some mileage out of.

The Super Freighters have a streamlined appaearance similar to The Road King but, if following Fageol form, were probably built around an International chassis and power train. The Road King seems like a heavier and better powered truck......if anyone knew where one was. I think we're close.

Another difficulty in choosing a Super Freighter over a Road King is its name. For instance, it's time to name your first-born son. Do you choose 'Percival', 'Super Freighter' or Road King?

Freighters really aren't bad looking.

I called Charlie Paige the promoter of Selinsgrove Speedway about the truck. He recalled it and said a few racers wanted to buy it for a transport / mobile track side shop but it was never ever for sale. Paul

That was smart thinking, Paul. Not bad for a needle in a haystack! I'm having no luck finding patent drawings so far. I hope the Road King is still out there somewhere near Selinsgrove and the right person spots this thread. I can't imagine it would have been scrapped if that many people knew about it and/or were interested in buying it. Upcoming barn find? Lol!

Damn I miss my jeeps .

There are plenty out there now from all years at near give-away prices. I don't miss the rust on every model I ever owned or worked on. By the time the welding sparks settled and the new body panels, cross members, floor pans and windshield pillars finished cooling, I could have bought a Mack - already painted.

What did you have?

Welcome! We need more Upstate people around here.

Thanks for the welcome! It's our two Seasons here, Winter and 4th of July, that could be limiting Upstate enrollment.

Great B model! Love the pictures next to the lake!

Thank you! That was always a good place to take pictures during the time I was interested in Jeeps. The B61 does it more justice.

I'd have to find 2. It's # 2 on my gotta have list.

They look flat-floored from front to rear. Think of the options you'd have without having to fight wheel wells. And you could apparently drive a forklift in to the interior of a Road King. Interchangeable, multi-purpose interiors using repurposed shipping containers? Slide them in and slide them out on rollers?

I'll keep looking for more info - and 2 Road Kings.

In the meantime, the U.S. Patent Office online seems like a good place to start searching for drawings.

The Road King is beginning to remind me of the GM Futureliners - very few built and not much left of most of those that remain. There are a couple that have been immaculately restored though.

If anyone sees a Road King in a field, junkyard or elsewhere please snap and post a pic of it. I'd like to buy and restore one before none remain. I need a Road King like I need more rocks in my head but I'll cross that bridge when I find one.

I posted an ad on Craigslist in the Harrisburg, PA area asking if anyone knew the location of the now-identified McCullough Road King I'd seen 10 years ago. I thought it was located in Shamokin - turns out it was closer to Selinsgove, 35 miles west. Here's the nice response I received from my Craigslist ad:

Darn. A decade late and a dollar short.

Here is one photo I have on the computer, I'll scan the others this weekend. Crown / Fruehauf for Red . Paul

Paul, Thank you for the picture. That's a nice looking rig. Greyhound eventually converted a number of their Scenicruisers (GMC PD-4501) to freighters by adding a bulkhead at the top of the staircase and freight doors either on the sides or at the rear of the vehicle. I believe Crown tried something similar with individual buses traded in for newer models.

I think McCullough and Fruehauf were on to something, but for the wrong reasons - regulations. Look at the increase in useable cargo space per foot of vehicle the McCullough and Fruehauf designs provided when compared to a conventional semi of the time. Could Road Kings have been linked together in units of 2, 3 or even 10 for distance transport - similar to an Australian road train - and then sent on their individual way from regional Truckports®? Sure.

With an umbilical cord setup and synchronization controls similar to those used in locomotives, power would be supplied incrementally, unit by unit, depending on terrain and load. "But what about the 1200 tires ?" (I've increased this to a 100 unit Road King, by the way) Yes, and so what? Put 100 trucks side by side, even on nylon cord, and how many simultaneous blowouts do you get? For each tire changed, if any, during a 3,000 mile run, you're still moving 100 containers that will find their way to 100 individual destinations.

I wonder why these rigs never made it?