1961H67

Still looking great! Winter will go by quickly and hopefully we can get some more shows in next year! Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

lol, don’t have a Movin on KW ,, But a friend of mine started this 55 about 10 years ago but never finished it, I bought it and finished it about 4 years ago, I used the same paint code as my Western Star,,, Imron Black Cherry ,, like most of the STUFF here,, wait till someone gives up on a project and finish it, I can’t afford to buy them already done.

There building those Western Stars right in the middle of the state ( Cleveland, NC US 70 ) Every time I pass by they are rolling them out,, I’ve toured the assembly line 2 times. They do have a good look to them,,, But remember they are LOADED with Electronics and Plastic. Keep that 86 R going. I was looking for a newer truck last year, I talked to Joey about the pros and cons of the newer ones. I have a good friend in the towing business, and over half his towing is emissions or sensor related. So I bought the RW753 from my Son , and now that I’m done with it I have about the same money that I could have bought something in the 2010-2015 range with a lot of miles on them. I’ll be 67 my birthday, so that was the choice I made.

Yes I have one, I’ll try it. I’ve just been trying to get the deep scratches out with the DA ,,,, I’m too the point where I’m telling myself,, it’s a work truck !

I’ve spent 2 evenings sanding the rear fenders , they had some deep scratches, there are a few that’s not coming out,, I’m down to 600 grit . I’m about ready to polish and move on.

TOO MUCH STUFF,, Every once in a while we have to sell some STUFF or we run out of sheds.

Yes, it’s my Son’s, it’s a 96 F250 Power stroke , I think with 140k miles. , he’s all into the Diesel pickups . That Gold truck is a 85 K10 he put a 4BT Cummins in it.( I bought the truck new in 85) That green truck is a 78 F250 with a 6BT Cummins.

The Rotator of the 70s ,, All Mechanical,, Keep holding them levers down and something will move or break. 4200 ,318 Detroit. 750 Holmes

Unbelievable the work that can do compared to what we used in the 70s , I’ve been to the Towing Museum in Chattanooga a couple times, it’s a good walk through the advancement of Wrecking. We used a couple 600 Holmes for years, running blocks around trees, anything that would hold but we worked a lot of big truck wrecks in these mountains. Here is a picture of a magazine ,1979. I sent in the picture of the LJ , Mr Jones is who I worked for when I got out of High School and started driving the LJ towing trucks, mostly for McLean Trucking. I later bought my B61 .

Yes , the new equipment is very expensive and takes less time to move a wreck, Back in the late 70s around here ( all of Western North Carolina, 100 mile radius of the I 40 /I 26 interchange) There were only 3 Big Wreckers , R Model Mack , 4070 International, and a 4200 International all with 750 Holmes . We still have the 4200 Setting in the shed. I wasn’t the owner of it back then, I had a B 61 with a W45 Holmes and my LJ with a 5th wheel boom for towing,, I was jealous of the guys with the 750s . One of the guys is still in business with some bigger Hydraulic wreckers , we still help him from time to time, When he retired the 4200 he gave it to us, I’ll try to get a picture of it .

Y’all did good,, can’t pass that up!

I haven’t dug through everything yet,, I haven’t forgotten you

Lots of Aluminum brackets on the LTL , I’ve never researched the weight difference of the two.

Back to polishing and cleaning, the weather has been nice for this time of year so i took advantage of it while it lasts.

It was Crazy! All we could figure is some of his old drivers parked there trucks on his lot at another location, and I moved those old parts trailers to this location about 10 years ago,. The date on the box is 2007 . Still don’t remember any of them with a Mack .

We’re down to 3 Superliners , He’s probably going to sell the white one he’s using. Brocky you will love this story, Like the guy working on the Superliner that his Dad once drove the LTH . A friend of mine that ran about 5 trucks back in the 80s , he’s retired now and has a few trucks setting in the weeds, and a couple of old trailers with some old parts in them,He told me I could have any thing I needed for the rear suspension for the Freedom Mack ,, I was over there cutting weeds trying to see the rear axles on a 95 Volvo,, Kyle stopped by and was nosing around up in the old parts trailer,,, I heard him start yelling,, said he hit the “ Mother Load “ he came carrying out a box with a Brand New Heat/AC unit for a Superliner , My friend NEVER owned a Mack ! Never worked on a Mack , No one knows how it got there, The trailer is about half full of nothing but junk ,,, talk about a Needle in a Haystack! What’s the Odds of that happening ever again!

I’m going to try to polish those rear fenders some. They have some pretty good scratches on the rear where the lowboy gets into them on some of these Pigtrails around here. I’ve got some finishing touches to do before I start tearing down that Freedom.

They look better than the H I bought for parts , hopefully they will take 2 and make a nice one

Put some fuel in this morning, Spent most of the day cleaning the interior, Took it on a spin to the post office, Drove good.

Thank you so much for your post,, It’s great to hear from someone who saw the truck back in the day! And yes All 10 tires have The Millers name bonded on them, I have the original tube type steering tires, Rotten but still mounted. Im going to have to replace all 8 on the rear because I only have 40psi in them, one blew out loading it on the trailer the last show I took it, I’ll probably find 8 tube types , I have plenty of tubeless but I love the old school look of the flat aluminum wheels. That way I can drive it to local shows again.

Yes! After talking to a few of the guys that live in the northwest and used both or knew people who did, The “ H “ was more suitable for the logging industry .

I’ve made some progress on the RW 753 I’ll try to put some fuel in it and pull it out this week a take a better picture, I just put the tanks on Thursday.

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!