1958 F.W.D.

Came across some old pics. Many of you know of, or have even met my Dad at Macungie or the Mack Museum. Back in the beginning of time, he was an Owner-Operator leased onto Charles E. Danbury, a trailer broker and the bulk of his work was hauling brand new trailers out of the Trailmobile factory in Lansdale, Pa. His second tractor was a 1971 Mercedes Benz LPK1319 OM360 engine. 6 cyl., 210 HP. ZF 5 speed manual trans. fully synchronized. 2 speed rear. Trans was not short 4th, so 4th high and 5th low were pretty much identical gears. It was a demonstrator, and when he bought it, it only had 10,000 miles on the clock. He traded it in with just shy of half a million for his first F-Model (The Hayward F-Model....) Dad says about this picture: I remember taking that picture. It was at the Trailmobile factory branch in Birmingham, Ala. where I was delivering them. Triple decks were a pretty common load for us. This was what we called a transfer, where after completing delivery of a new trailer from the factory, we'd pick trade-ins or something used and go somewhere else. I can't for the life of me remember where I got these but I think it was Pittsburgh or Cleveland. I didn't do that tie down job, either! "this one was at the Bobber Truck Stop in Effingham, Ill. This was the first set of doubles I ever pulled. It was long before doubles were legal in all states. The normal route from Longview, Tex., where this trip orginated to, Dayton, O, where they were going would have been via Little Rock, Memphis, Nashville, Louisville, Cincinnati to Dayton. That would have been all interstate after Texarkana. But since doubles were also illegal in Tennessee, I had to go US 67 from Little Rock to Poplar Bluff, Mo. I-57 wasn't done yet so I had to run US 60 from Poplar Bluff through Wyatt, Mo. to Cairo. and get on 57 above town. That was also my first trip across the old, narrow, two lane Cairo bridge. Quite an adventure."

Found this pic of me when I was about 7 or 8 years old, circa 1980 or so.....Me in the 78 Hahn, probably at the Hatboro (Pa.) Christmas Parade.

Here ya go Paul....the welder and the cart in a kit, $300.00 Hmmmmmmm and I'll get my holiday bonus check on Friday....and the store is less than an hour away....hmmmmmm hmmmmmmm hmmmmmmmmm

Hmmmmmmm That thing looks like the cats ass!!!! Exactly what I think I'm looking for- best of both worlds- MIG and core flux.....And there's an Eastman Catalog Store less than an hour from here.....Hmmmmmmmm

Thanks for all the advice Lads. I did do some welding back in the day when I worked in Jevic's trailer shop but it's been years. Carl, yes this will be for the Hahn. Going to work on some of the less-visible stuff before I tackle the exterior visible stuff. Please keep the tips coming, I appreciate everyone's help and advice.

Looking for a small MIG welder, that can run on 110 or 220, no more than 40 amps, that can handle 14 or 12 gauge steel..... I know Miller has some smaller portable units......Looking for the whole kit, the nozzle, wire feeder, and regulator too (bottle too if you happen to have one.) I'd rather buy one from someone on here that I trust rather than some schlep on Dreg's List.

Time for an oil analysis......Just because you can't see it in the oil, doesn't mean it isn't there.....Is it being burned and residual running down into the crankcase??? Pay the $15-$20 and get an analysis done.

Octopussy?

Adjust the dwell?

Is that girl in the grocery store shopping for sausage? Kielbasa? Maybe a fresh fish of some kind- trout? Snapper?

I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE!!!!!

I'm fairly regular if I eat enough bran

What do you call all of the regular knuckleheads on here? LOL

It is indeed the man, the myth, the legend NO CLUE JOE.......I suggested him as a friend to any BMT guys I am friends with on FB.

DOH.......Sorry it was late.....Dunno what I was thinking.....

Does anyone know No Clue Joe's last name? I got a friend request on Facebook, I think it may be him. I know he didnt have a FB before.....without giving away his last name here, does it begin with the letter P ?

Perhaps Yarnall or Doug Maney can lend some insight about what the card is all about???

I recently switched my mowers, blowers and trimmers over to 87 octane non-ethanol. I can't believe how much better they run. Just bought 3 gallons for the 2-stroke snowblower for over the winter, too. Also put 10 gallons into the F.W.D. for her winter hibernation- wish I could feed her that exclusively but at $3+ per gallon and 2.5 to 3.0mpg it gets a bit costly.....I'll burn corn squeezins in the summertime because I burn them off pretty rapidly.

It was probably replaced with a new truck purchased with a Federal Grant. If this is the case, part of the Federal Grant programs (funds provided by several sources such as the US Fire Administration, Homeland Security, etc..) requires that older apparatus that no longer meet NFPA Standards must be taken out of service and may not be resold (or even given) to another Fire Department. It is a really shitty deal because there are so many trucks out there (the one pictured being a perfect example) are very usable and desired by very poor, rural fire departments that dont have a pot to piss into that would LOVE to have them. One loophole in the program- rigs can be sold or given to a collector and tagged/titled as a collectible vehicle. Then if the private individual chooses to donate or sell the rig to a poor fire department for actual use is between they and that fire department and theres nothing the Gubmint can do. I can neither confirm or deny any knowledge of something like this having happened 3 or 4 times in the last 10 years that I may or may not know about. Nothing wrong with the pictured truck. The jumpseats aren't unsafe, but they are not as safe as something with four doors could be. As long as the guys stay seated and belted in, they should be OK. And this having a diesel and an automatic.....With a Waterous pump......I know many small rural VFD's that would KILL to have it.

Kevin, inquire on the "CF MACK" facebook group about those front lights if you have not done so already.

Ray, step away from the bottle. There are 12-step programs for you.

No regrets pal. You were a bulldog that chomped into the ass of this project and didn't let go until you had the truck. You made a valiant effort- you need to sell because it's the right thing to do for you at this time. Holding onto it may drag you down financially and no one wants that of course. Keep your head high knowing you pulled it from a potential scrapper's death.

Last year, Jim Winsor and I were having a conversation about this very topic. He was in the beginning stages of doing research to write a guest editoral for HDT on this matter, but then he got sick and then of course he passed. I was under the impression from our conversations that the Gubmint would adopt certain exemptions for mechanical equipment, but we never got into depth in it. I owe his wife a phone call, maybe I will ask her if she still has his research file on the article and if I could take a peek at it.

We brought the Hahn to the house today to start sprucing her up. While the kids and I cleaned out the inside of the cab (really dirty with bees nests, mold/mildew, leaves/dirt) Dad installed a Hubdometer (the speedometer/odometer isn't working for some reason, we suspect a broken cable....) and besides the odometer turns when the pump is engaged so Dad has always liked Hubdometers to keep track of true road mileage. We also did some other piddling around- we want to give her a good bath but not going to bother until we secure indoor storage. Had her at the house for about 3-4 hours "bringing her back to life" and I get repaid by that demon seed of an engine pissing on my asphalt. And as you can see from the pictures....Yeah I don't think we're gonna fit THAT into the garage....Even if we DO use a shoehorn and rub butter on the sides. What is that shiny liquid-looking spot on the ground? SONOFABI*CH!!!!!

Sucks JT. But ya gotta think with the correct head in matters like this.