1961H67

Yes they were originally aluminum,, I would say that the roads in Alaska were pretty rough and probably beat them pretty hard. His nephew told me they made new ones and never drilled the holes for the stainless trim. He said he never did anything with it, keep it under a shed . He sold it to Johnny Extine whom I purchased it from , he saw it setting in the shed and kept asking about it until Mr Millers nephew sold it to him, He replaced the steering tires with tubless because the original ones were rotten. He had the seats recovered, Bought the correct Mack emblems and the stainless trim, they were still in the box, I installed the emblem s and trim after I clear coated it . He only had it for a few years. Unfortunately it sat out in the weather and started rusting some of the chrome. I still have the original tube type wheels for the front.

Thanks for the comments , It was great talking to Wayne Hiatt and him telling me the story himself about riding home from Oakland with his Dad when it was new, I told him I would love to visit there someday,, it’s been fun and interesting researching the history of this LTH ,, and I’m still learning new things, even with this topic.

That’s great! I love those old black and white pictures! I’m sure there were some taken on this truck back in the day, maybe some will turn up but if they don’t I feel fortunate to have the timeline pretty much intact from 1955 to 2025 , there are some unanswered questions,, but still loads of interesting history! She’s had an Adventurous Life for Sure! 2 pictures I always wonder about, when she was about 10 years old hauling equipment in Alaska,, And a picture of her when she turned 18 , when she was all dressed up ! A knock out for sure!

I’m sure a V12 would fit! You were also commenting on the color, I think FarNorth helped on the color origination , and hopefully I’ve given some insight on John C Miller and Alaska .and why out of all the equipment he had he picked the LTH to make a show truck for his horses. When I first bought it I thought it would look great Black ! Because the paint was old, faded and chipped, it didn’t really look Yellow, kinda brown. If you notice it had the wrong Mack emblem on the hood and no stainless trim, because when they customized it they made new hood sides, when I removed the Mack emblem it was bright yellow, so I sanded the whole truck with scotch bright to bring out the yellow, a friend of mine at the paint store matched it with base coat the best we could, because the fenders and lower door panels were terrible. I sanded and sprayed them then taped the complete truck and sprayed it with a semi gloss clear to seal it and preserve the original paint, I couldn’t bring myself to strip it and kill all that history. The doors originally said 10Tucky Stables, Lewisburg TN . I found a fellow who still does hand painting like it was originally,, we added a little extra! I think Tennessee Miller would approve of my addition .

It’s heavy flat stock, cut , welded, finished smooth. All the fabrication is smooth and professional.

I just saw this, my cousin was a Big Detroit guy,, he bought a 3 cylinder, aluminum engine from one of those, he put it in a C30 Chevy truck, he took it out and I bought it from him, hopefully one day I can install it in something else.

According to Joe Jaines, Mr Millers nephew they had a top notch maintenance facility I think in Anchorage ( maybe Fairbanks also) . Some of the engine mounts, fan shroud, firewall modifications for the air compressor looks amazing being it was done in the middle 60s , and Joe also worked for the company on the North Slope ( that’s where he said he got frostbite) . He said they kept new Detroit engines waiting for retrofitting in the shop. And also liked Terex equipment because of the 2 stroke. Thanks for the information. Here’s a few pictures of the Detroit retrofit.

I looked up a old picture of Frontier Transportation in Alaska, this is from the 80s and does sort of have the same paint scheme as the LTH , I know one of those articles says John C Miller was founder of the “ Frontier Companies of Alaska “ so I don’t know what that includes,, if I get a chance in the next few days I’ll try to call Alan Abee who’s Dad worked for him, I haven’t talked to his nephew in a couple years but I’ll do some more research, clues like FarNorth posted is how I found a lot of history on this truck. I’ll dig up some pictures of how I decided to try to persevere the paint scheme.

Have you got the old bearings out ? They should have a part number on them and should be marked, Standard, or .010,.020 or something like that and like Joey mentioned if the crank has been turned down it should be stamped with the amount it was turned down to. There’s a bunch of them still running . There are a lot of variables when your asking for bearings, you will have to get those numbers .

I’m unsure if Frontier Transportation was one of his companies or perhaps it was the company he sold his business to, I think he sold out in the late 70s . But that may have been where he got the idea to paint it Yellow with a Red stripe, frame was also painted Red . I’ve found a lot of interesting information about this truck, but I’m sure there is some more information and hopefully pictures out there. I’ll continue to ask questions about it. Thank you for your help.

I’m sure there are a lot of us out here that are thinking the same thing,, that’s a beautiful truck and I guarantee it has a lot of life left in it! I’ve been down this same road with our Superliners , Mack will discontinue the simple things and I’m sure it’s because they just don’t sell enough to justify making it. Personally I’d rather keep running the old reliable ones because the flip side of that is if you had a new truck I promise it would be setting at a dealer waiting for some sort of sensor with in the first year you have it ,, No matter what make truck it is . There are a BUNCH of great people on this site that can help if you need parts in the future.

I found out a few more things about the Millers , mostly from his nephew and some from the Abees that worked for them. Evidently 10Tucky Stables & Farms was one of the most successful in the Walking Horse community in the 70s and early 80s . John C “ Tennessee “ Miller passed away in 1984 , His wife in the early 90s , they had no children. They left most of their fortune to Middle Tennessee University, Over 20 Million Dollars. The 154 acre complex was built with the money . They had an auction at 10Tucky Stables, Joe Jaines said he didn’t inherit the LTH , he was the highest bidder ( he never told me what he paid) . He brought it to White Pine , Tennessee . A few pictures, some staff at 10Tucky in 1978, The John C “ Tennessee “ Miller Colosseum. And a write up on his induction into the Walking Horse Hall of Fame.And 10Tucky as it looks today, privately owned.

I would like to thank everyone on here for your support! It was a fun journey.

After we took the LJ to Mack’s 125th birthday celebration I was contacted by Mack’s Bulldog Magazine for a interview, this came out in this months issue, it can be accessed online to read the article, I was grateful for the opportunity to share the journey.

Yes you can, It’s big Money also! The way I understood John C Millers nephew, Joe Jaines continued to work in Alaska for a while and Mr Miller eventually sold his company ( Frontier Companies of Alaska Inc) in the late 70s . I think they relocated to Lewisburg Tennessee. Alan Abe’s father worked for 10Tucky as their Farrier and Blacksmith, and also hauled the horses. There was a Lady, famous in the Walking Horse World named Billie Nipper, she was a artist, she did this painting of John C “ Tennessee “ Miller , if you look closely there’s horses, mules , some construction images. Miller gave Mr Abee a copy, his son Alan sent me this picture of it .