1961H67

Great tips! I do like the wood, it does have a good solid feel to it. Thanks for the ideas.

I can’t tell what the old ones are, ( it would be nice to know what Mack used back then and years before, just for the history on their choices of wood vs Metal. )

Yeah you see several different floors in them, I’m sure you’re correct on years of u joint grease and trans oil soaking it up like a lamp wick. I have no clue what wood Mack used, looks like plywood, that’s what I’m using to replace it (1/2 inch) .

One of my parts trucks has the floor replaced with metal, this one still has the original wood, but in bad shape where the accelerator pedal and foot pedal bolts down , and it’s soaked with oil from underneath, I have no idea how it got so oily, I steamed cleaned both them and it’s like brake shoes,, just keeps bleeding out.

Got started on my woodworking skills today, I guess we’ll see how this turns out.

Just in time hopefully for warmer weather, it will go quickly when you get all your parts laid out to install in that refurbished block!

I know where a Giant and a Raider is but I’m not by that way often, about 50 miles from me. I stopped and looked at the Raider about 2 years ago, it was all there, Cummins, 13 speed. He wanted $5000 for it, I thought about buying, but I have too many projects already! If I’m out that way I’ll measure them.

Just saw this on eBay,, still available! I’ve got to many Hobbies/ Projects, if someone has a HO collection it would be a cool addition, I don’t think it’s complete , probably worth $40 for parts.

Another truck related thing about the last local train show we went to is that all the really detailed layouts have a lot of Mack trucks involved, one guy had a setup with a fire station, quarry, coal mine, trucking company, all using B models, Trains and Mack’s just go together, They should they Built America!

I still have a few parts of HO trains from my Son, and I bought my Grandson some to add to it. I got this 1941 model from a guy that sounds like the one you mentioned. He realizes it’s 82 years old , that makes it special to him, also the cars are metal, no plastic. I’m not a Train collector, but I love to go to the local shows an check out the detail layouts. All Kids need more of this and less videos!

I got a few minutes to start making the wooden floor panels in the LJ , I let my help take the evening off,, he stays with me on the weekends,, No Video Games! 1941 Lionel 1666 , Much More Fun!

A good friend of mine that was in our Truck/Tractor club was a Belly Gunner on a B17 ,, he joined the Army Air Corps while in high school, just turned 18 , he was later moved to tail gunner, he flew 26 missions over Germany , he told me some great stories. I’ll always remember he said the “ Flack was so thick you could walk on it “ I would call him on his cell every Veterans Day, and tell him “ Thank You “ he would always say,, For What! We had a job to do ! I also had 2 Uncles in Pattons Army,, 18 also! You can’t get a 18 year old to do anything today! We would be so screwed if we had to rely on our High School graduates to fight a war, they want every thing free, and our Gutless Politicians keep giving in . Personally I’m sick and tired of hearing,Woke , Racism and all the nonsense in our colleges, it’s Sickening knowing what those kids went through over 75 years ago!!!

That’s 20/20 Hindsight,, like all of us have,, I remember when I started driving the LJ , Mason Dixon , Carolina Freight was selling B models for $2000 .

Yeah I see crap like that all the time,, I guess someone has nothing better to do than hack websites trying to get people to click on it. That person probably never saw Ukrainian. We’re talking Mack Trucks, no time for BS

No doubt,, I’ve gave $400, 600 , 500 for stock ones with good body’s , Yes they offer a complete 5 window cab now. But 100’s of thousands made, old 50s Mack’s were a couple of thousand here and there . But that makes them more unique!

They are hard to find nowadays without being rusty, and if you do their bringing top dollar, I’ve had 3 though the years, good thing now is you can buy every part to make one ,, I wish it was that easy for a L Cab Mack.

That’s the case most of the time, I’m to the point now I don’t have the energy to get in big projects anymore, I had 2 trucks from years ago I wanted to restore , one was the LJ and the other was a 47 Chevrolet 5 window, Honestly I was offered a LJ that is now in the Keystone museum for way less money than what I’ll have in mine, but I wanted to restore it because it was my first truck. The Chevrolet pickup wasn’t sentimental,, so kinda like the gasser , a guy I went to school with had a 54 GMC 5 window, it was almost done, so I traded for it, so I’m done on my pickup list. Just 1/2 a LJ to go hopefully.

I built the 55 gasser “BADMAN” back when I was 10 or 12 , I always wanted one, so this one came along and I was able to afford it because it needed finishing, I probably could have bought one completely done for what I spent,, but it made it seem less because I didn’t buy all the parts at once,, plus I enjoyed it . I still have the BADMAN model, also built a DM Mack and a dump trailer , still have it , had a few other trucks but after 50 years and a few moves they were falling apart .

Yep Mech , that would be awesome to all chip in and write a book. ( Nice save with the Mack/ Coca Cola pitch,) lol

It’s all fun,, I’ve been around these trucks ALL my life,, ( and about 3 months before , Dad had a run hauling eggs from a hatchery about a mile from here in 1958,59 to Miami, bringing watermelon back to New York City, with a trailer he put ice in a hooper on the front with a 1 cylinder gas motor pulling a fan, my Mom rode down to Miami and back a couple times when she was pregnant with me in his H63 ) I still learn something from all y’all every day!

Hey James,,, if you will notice,, some of these guys bait me and lead me down a rabbit hole, lol

Heck about 25 years ago a fellow called me wondering if I was interested in a old H Model Mack for parts because he knew I had a LJ ,,( doors were about all I could use) I remember his Dad pulling a lowboy with it when I was young , needless to say, I didn’t part it out,, that put the LJ on the back burner another of probably 10 times in 30 years. Plus I changed it from a tandem (dead axle ) to single axle, stretched it to now a rollback. Rabbit chasing !

Yes Im prone to chase rabbits! I’ve been restoring the Cocoa Cola LJ half my life,, and a lot of topics came along with it , thanks

It was probably a 150 or 210 ,, I’m sure I could find it with the vin ,, it’s a cool car but it kinda goes back to the comments I made about truck parts vs car parts . Take for instance my Grandson, he likes the 55 Gasser ,,, But when you mention one of this old Mack’s he will give you a history lesson,, because they all have done something, been somewhere. From the LJ that was the first local Diesel Coke truck, to the C Model my Dad drove new , H Model that hauled furniture new , The LTH was a log truck new . Trucks are just different, they have a Story to tell .

I don’t think I have mentioned it, I got it from a guy that my Son knows, he started building it , put Nomad 1/4s on it , had it running, then had other projects, I bought it and finished the body and interior, used the paint code off my Western Start ( Black Cherry) . It’s been fun to take to shows , plus it has a pretty hot motor,firewall set back about 4 inches , it’s set up to drag, he was starting to make a roll cage when I bought it, I’m not messing up the inside now. I did this about 2 years ago,, Now you know why it has taken me 35 years to restore a LJ ,, too many detours !