DavCut

Hopefully you were able to make better numbers with in house equipment and being able to sell them in the end. I grew up in the Boston area and my Dad used to dispatch for a sand & gravel supplier. At times in the 80’s he used to have around a hundred hired trailer dumps running bank run gravel into Boston every day. I think the most they ever had was 5 company owned tractors to set the pace. Thank you for the offer to see the trucks. Definitely will take you up on this once this craziness starts to clear up. Stay safe. Dave

Great piece of industry history Mike. Thank you for sharing. I live the the Philly burbs and have worked for H&K and Allan Myers along with a few others the past 17 years on the project management side of the business. I could see either one of them buying that many trucks in a year, but probably not for one job. Looking forward to seeing photos of your B and R projects in the future and the finished products at the shows. Dave

Neat information. Thank you for digging it out and sharing it. You must have been your Mack salesman’s best friend in 1979! What was the big project in 79-80 that you were building up the fleet for? Dave

Looks great Andy! Dave

Neat that you found the post John. Any details or more photos that you can share? DavCut

American Trucker did the Bandit run a few years ago.... DavCut

I remember Ross Myers having that cab tucked away at the shop in Worcester years ago when I worked there. Neat to see that he got around to having it restored. Is this a current photo? If so I might have to make a trip to the museum to see it. Dave

From the aerial photo on their website they run quite the fleet with a number of Bulldogs on the front line.

Pretty sure I had a Mack calendar with a similar photo on it back in the 80s...

Good morning Andy, Have you made any more progress on your International project? It’s been a great project to follow. Dave

When I worked at H&K about 6 years ago they had a few older ones still on the line that were pretty tired. The drivers always seemed to take good care of the Superliners though.

Do you think it’s an H&K one Mike? Mileage seems a bit low to have come out of their fleet - they have at least one that they are/were still running daily recently. More photos/details on the dealer site: https://www.coopskw.com/product/1989-mack-superliner-rws754-18p262/

I don’t remember hearing the fate of the Superliner that you used to drive with the frame issues. Seeing that your still in the R I’m guessing the Superdog is still sidelined. You keep the R looking great! One of the things I enjoy about living in the Philly area is all the old Macks that are on the road every day. DavCut

Great photo! I was introduced to this truck by my Dad at the ATHS show in Marlborough Massachusetts back in the early 90’s. If I’m remembering the story correctly Dad had moved equipment around eastern MA with this truck for his uncle, Howard Blades, who was the second owner. Dad knew it was the same truck due to the groves on the capstan winch drum from his uncle using cables instead of ropes. Is the truck still owned by Ted Valpey? If I remember correctly Ted had purchased it back in the late 80’s early 90’s from the Blades family and completed the restoration just before the Marlborough show. Ted’s daughter is an artist who created an amazing drawing of this truck. As far as I know my Mom still has a print copy hanging in her home. Thank you for the memories! DavCut

Two amazing pieces of Mack history.

A major loss to the preservation of old iron - especially snow removal related equipment. I had the opportunity to see him in action at the Kemp Auction in NH. He appeared to be grabbing everything that he could to keep it from the scrap hunters. I was especially impressed with the work he was putting into the recreation of a 1928 Linn Truck with what has been established as the first hydraulic Gradall mounted on it. From the photos he was basically starting with a painted shell of the original machine and recreating it piece by piece. Previous "restoration" had been basically paint only. Last I had seen online Daryl had it back to running and operating. Amazing dedication! Apparently God had a complex rigging or truck restoration project that he needed an expert to take care of. RIP.

Don't forget about the John Haines show on the 28th of October.

If Daryl Gushee was buying many should be safe. I was at the Kemp auction a few years ago where he was going after just about anything with a snowplow. I haven't made it up to Maine to see his collection yet but I've heard that it is amazing!