Tom B

Thank you for the kind welcome. I really enjoyed working for Mack Trucks but things went downhill when AirResearch bought the company...development investment was drastically scaled back. RVI was purchased, and the rest is sad history. After Mack I enjoyed positions at Mercedes-Benz, Britax Child Safety, and lastly BMW where I retired as VP of Engineering. Walter May eventually became Chief Engineer and then retired, followed by Bob Zalokar and then Steve Homcha, Win was the father of the Maxidyne concept...Walter May was the father of the "Walter May" test. That was, for anything mounted on the truck with a bracket, smack it with your hand and if it moves it's not robust enough. A seat of the pants method that all young engineers could understand, and it forced hands-on development. He also helped establish the fuel tank "bump test" (with Dr. Bill Geiger) where a filled tank and brackets on a frame were lifted and dropped at least 1 million times. I think if Mr. May stayed on the company would have continued to flourish. I remember the big development projects for UPS trucks since they always got special features like mirrors and steps, etc. The head guy at UPS had worked for Mack at the Test Center so he was a big supporter of Mack. Eventually, some bean counters tightened the belt and UPS moved on. There were a lot of very talented people that left Mack. The strikes and "us vs. them" mentality were devastating. During one strike I was warned not to look at strikers while driving into work, or risk getting my tires slashed. I was pelted with grommets from line workers on break at the Macungie plant when I was there to fix leaning fire trucks. Engineers could not pick up a screw driver and use it even once or there would be a grievance filed. Sadly, management was also to blame. As a Senior Test Engineer in 1979 with about 7 big projects at once, I was paid the same as a plant floor sweeper. When engineers met with management and showed them the numbers their response was "you don't have a union." I left shortly thereafter. I still have the actual bulldog from the prototype MA model cabover build that I supervised. Nice memories.

A few amendments to the otherwise excellent information on this topic. I was the project engineer for the GT-601 installation in the R model. My team at the Engineering Development and Test Center in Allentown, PA installed the engine in 1979-80 and modified the vehicle accordingly. The technicians and machinists at the ED&TC were absolute masters of innovation and deserve huge credit for their work. The vehicle was eventually driven out to Phoenix where AirResearch was HQ and extensively tested in desert and mountainous conditions (up to Flagstaff). When idling, the air velocity of the gas turbine intake made horrendous noise at the front of the vehicle but there was no time to work on silencers so out it went. The vehicle was interesting to drive because it needed no clutch. Compared to Maxidyne engines it was not very impressive and I had many good conversations on the subject with Win Pellizzoni the Maxidyne concept inventor. The fuel economy was poor (it was a prototype), the engine management was buggy and black art stuff, plus the engine costs were enormous. It was reasoned that 500 hp and the costs would not be successful so the idea was dropped. I might be able to find my photos of the project and post them.