Red Horse

Anyone know where the Mack cabs are built, who does it, and how far that facility is from Macungie? I do believe complete cabs are delivered with final paint correct??

Good run! Glad to hear that the sons will keep it going.

Matt, How old was he? Sons running the business ?

With all due respects to Mr. Ruppert, I guess his last job was Flex marketing manager. I can't think of a poorer connection than the one they picked- what is a Tonka? A toy! This might appeal to the yuppie who is buying a 50 grand F-150 to haul his boat-or his wife's horse, but to a truck guy? I don't get it. Mr Ruppert has given the Hino, International, F'liner and Paccar class 6/7 sales guys the best tag line they need- ..."You are comparing my truck to a Tonka??? Clueless is what Ford marketing people are when it comes to anything beyond pick ups. "It's part of the language....Built like a Mack" Now THAT was a meaningful tagline-but I date myself.

All in all, you did a good job considering what COULD have happened. Just out of curiosity, what did the bill come to? I look at these guys in this neck of the woods with these triaxle hydraulic "rotators" ($500,000 investment?) and the days of a guy showing up with a Holmes 750 on a single axle and a surplus WW II tank retriever are gone. Then again a tribute to what these old boys could do-nothing like "rigging know how!" You New England guys know what I mean- Red-Art, Plunske, Joe's, Harold's etc etc.

The 6.7 Power Stroke is very quite compared to old 6.4 and 6.0. A friend of mine traded his old 6.4 250 in on a new one and he misses the "cackle"! I guess he views the noise as..."here I am, I have an oil burner"! to each his own.

As always KSC thx for the good info. Amazes me how at least in this neck of the woods, in spite of fierce loyalty to the Cat brand, I have never heard anyone have a good thing to say about these "trucks". And I always say, you could paint a pile of dog poop Cat yellow and the comments would be.."that IS the best looking dog poop I've ever seen". As to your Paccar comments on the common cab, when do the Swedes play that card with Volvo/Mack? Which of course next question becomes..."why do we have two wrappers around the same powertrains?

Neither- Hasbro! yuk yuk. I think Navistar builds them- KSC-how about it?

Yep- Just think of it-an ideal marriage between two partners who have probably more outstanding legal actions against them then the rest of the heavy truck industry combined. Gives you a warm feeling right?

Hmnn- I thought multi-plex was best thing since canned beer

Boy-if that is not JD green its very close! In any case looks like you are doing a first rate job

Good "refresher"- forgot the timelines on the demise of GM class 8. I always felt the creation of WhiteGMC was a legal tactic to keep GM from getting sued by the GMC dealer network. In any case, no different than the Diamond T/Reo/White, Brockway/Mack, Ford/Sterling/Freightliner scenrios. Next one will be Mack/Volvo ...IMO

JJN- Agree big time on Ford comment. No doubt they are hopeful that the inhouse powertrain will be very profitable and offer a very competitive package for the price buyer but I say they are missing too much of the market by not continuing to offer the ISB. OR-big "or"-, they have plans to offer the Ford Duratorque 6 at some point assuming they get it EPA compliant. And no doubt you can't go crazy with options but I think they are taking the narrow spec list to the extreme. Maybe my problem is I'm old and I remember the days of V-8 Cummins V-185/210, 555. Then again, they have a lot of 6.7 Power Strokes on the road so perhaps the class 6/7 version will be bullet proof-I hope!

Given their aggressiveness in the car business, this can't be good news for US companies. Their Sprinter/Transit looks just like a .......Sprinter/Transit. As for the big trucks, more Euro stuff. We shall see if they come up with a conventional.

Whoa Matt-that is one heavy 550-between that big plow, and the sander this thing has to be at the max. Be interesting to see how they hold up-in particular the trans.

Phony bastards-what else can you say. I got a stock proxy the other day-don't remember who-but I usually vote with the bd of Directors recommendations-I figure they know more than me-except this one- Al Gore was up for a seat on the board...."against"!

Price of oil will go up for sure! He was hauling frac sand! Obummer is right-fracking will be our downfall! Hmnn-while he loves to talk about how the price of oil has dropped on his watch, suppose he has figured out why??

Thx-And I guess it is safe to say this applies to a lot of products beyond trucks. Hopefully instead of our political "leader(s)" worrying about ..."everyone getting a shot at a better education", we will start worrying about people getting a technical education that will prove useful-be it at the high school, jr. college, or four year level. Nothing wrong with a degree in "philosophy" or "communications", but we do need people with creative minds who can design and produce things.

So Matt, are a lot of towns in Conn going with 350-550's? The four newest trucks in my town are 350/450 dumps-including 2 crew cabs (so they can lug the summer hires around cutting grass.) With about 40" of snow in the last two weeks I see the weak point in these trucks- great for going down the middle of the road, but the roads get narrower and narrower and narrower. IMO, takes a big blade and weight to get the sides pushed back. Also I'm out with my Deere cleaning up end of drive as well as around mailboxes and one of the super duties goes by. He throws a little windrow but the surface of the road shows no change to speak of. Ten minutes later one of the International 4900's goes by with a big blade. You can see the difference in the packed snow cover. No doubt the "One tons" are like half the price and do a good job cleaning up intersections etc but the repeat storms we have had IMO show their limitations.

Just looking at these trucks, I have to believe with all of their technology, they are NOT inexpensive. And they appear to have a lot of complexity-which means their service network has to be pretty well trained. How about it KSC? We think we are so advanced but it seems to me when you look at these Euro trucks we should stop complaining about the complexity of what we have here. Then again maybe it is just me who still misses the old days of KISS (Keep it simple stupid!)

Hah! Brings back memories of my youth. we had a T6K Backhoe. The boom and the dipper were like heavy pipe sections. I was never allowed to run the hoe ("cause then kid you'll know what I know") but I was the driver job site to job site.. Always amazed me that big cab with no motor in it! At which series I wonder did the "upper" get its own power?

OR it means ..."Bluediamond JV with Ford winds down and we are looking for another partner to fill the production space at Escobedo"

Good points- I guess its just cyclical? Like say Komatsu "studying" Cat designs in early 60's to them being a world player now. And no doubt, these "copy cat" situations can ultimately lead to a reverse role-like I'm sure you will find Cat paying attention to latest Komatsu design as the Japanese industry has matured.

Can't argue with that. Your stealing technology comment takes me back to an old guy I knew who years ago told me about being at ConExpo and seeing all these Japanese guys swarming over the equipment with their cameras. What's that they say about ..."imitation is the best form of flattery?"