Vladislav

Eastern Turkey. Kurdish land. Big mountain you can see at the background on the 3rd pic is Ararat. 5137 meter high. Armenian national symbol but geographically located in Turkey. BTW no more Mack trucks on my way so far.

Thanks for the comment. The bike is quite powerful and fast. But it's cool to drive roads where nobody can check your speed. Currently I'm in the right area😀

The guy looked younger. And the truck either did 😀

But the Mack 😀was met on my way. Otherwise all this blah-blah-blah would'n worth being posted at all. The truck was Iranian. I saw it parked on a side of a road. Also in Georgia but close to Turkish border (don't ask me what I was doing there 😀) I sure stopped by (there were two trucks with similar trailers but the 1st one was Volvo or MAN), knocked to the cab door and said Salam, adding a few Persian words I happened to learn in the distant past (of having nothing to do definitely). The guys got exited seeing my interest and represented the threasure. I was told it was Iran Kaveh assembled R600 of 1970 with 250hp. It had two sticks originally but was swapped with Eaton due to wear. The truck looked well cared and restored in the past. Fresh paint on the cab and chassis, the engine seemed owerhauled. I honestly have no idea how it's possible to cruise mountain passes of 2500m high having 250 hp and a tank trailer hooked. Just seems I'm way far from knowing everything in this world. So here you go

Ok, I mentioned Gulf fuel station. That's true. I saw many stations branded that way in Georgia. Nothing extraordinar but presence of that American thing took my attention. I must be honest I forgot to make an actual pic when fuelled so the one below is from the net. And the most interesting point - the Mack truck. For the first I should say those three conwoys each three kilometer long didn't contein any Macks. Just a few Freightliners, 1 Kenworth (at the pic) and 1 IH I was not able to make a pic of.

So the title turned out as quite common chain of events for a general American trucker. At the same time the things I got involved into we of almost different kind. Ok, more correctly at a different place. Feeling lust to travel I sat on my motorbike and rode direction Georgia. Which is not the state of the US but the country in Kaukazus mountain region. It's a former part of Soviet Union so plenty of connections with Russia and the most people speak Russian language. There's only road from my place to there and that's a long roamy mountain pass. I never drove there before and got surprized of how beautiful the scenaries were and how difficult was the way. I was really lucky riding (with no rain though) but found out plenty of trucks went that way either and at some places it seemed about impossible to do. But the main trouble for the trucks was crossing the border. Drivers I lalked with said they usually spend from 1 to 10 days in the waiting line. In the mountains, just on a side of the road! On my way I met at least 3 "parked conwoys" of nearly 2-3 kilometer long. Police car was placed at the beginning and they managed to allow a certain amount of trucks to go depending on what was happening at the customs. Definitely not a place you'd like to spend one or two weeks of your working time. One of the pics represents such the line of trucks. I stopped at the shoulder to make a pic but exactly at the time police flagged the trucks to go so the pic looks like the conwoy's going. But if you look further there's endless tail of stopped trucks.

Happy B-lated B-day! I have an excuse though, had been off the 'puter for some days.

It looks good as it is now but remove of the mixer unit seems as a shame. Would be cool looking tractor or a flat bed but mixer was its especiality on my mind.

That's one well recognized B-model. Do you know how she's doing at the moment? BTW never knew about BMT calendars.

Nobody wants to pull the engine off the chassis? Also if you advertize a motor you're taking at least some responsibility for its condition. At the same time old trucks usually sell as is. That funky red seems oversprayed to bring some "fresh look" judging by the spots on the bumper and front wheel. "Graffity" was done to hide scripts which could lead to former ownership or the kind of service.

I might grab a coulple locally. Would swap for the Superliner cab mounts

I also noted there's butcher tendency about rear ends. Seems like the most scrap yarders don't bother themself turning wrenches and just light up a torch. On the other hand I see plenty of folks easily weld or bolt on cutoffs to their chassis and don't have anything scratching their heads with. Honestly I saw relatively many parted trucks (MH's) with full length rails and rear suspension separated. Don't know if the owners would sell a portion though. On the other hand it might be easier to buy a complete truck. Wonder what this particular guy is asking for the whole thing?

It doesn't look really ugly with those fresh polished alu wheels and clean interior. The chassis rails look freshly oversprayed and the hood too which means the cab got its portion of green as a company.

Even the hood doesn't look bad and the thing is still complete. If it is. Happily I've got luck purchasing a hood a year back (with plenty efforts and headaches) and now looking for the cab mounts and a 5 or 6 feet long section of 600 series frame rails to add them to a MH chassis I have. Would be cool to use a solid RW frame and I even lean toward pulling a sock of pennies for the deal but such the thingy seems troubleful to ship to NJ guys who forward parts my way. If they still do...

I'm honestly about to but always keep hopes for any chance. Maybe warmer times will give you more possibilities to work on the truck.

Judging by the pic it's RS700 definitely made in Hayward not Eastern R700. Has straight frame rails front to end, fuel tanks with "stepped" shape of the bottoms and front end appearance as the Duck truck had. Actually it would look almost like Duck if put a sleeper and paint black. Interesting example definitely. Good luck on the project and we all waiting to see more pics. Vlad

Yup, shame on us! Happy B-day Mack Pro!

I would even consider purchasing a chassis with no rear bogie and engine/tranny. Depending on the rails condition. Seems easier than stretching out MH I bought for the project. It's doubtly an easy deal for me at the moment though having no possibility to show up in person.

I'm in strong interest on the front cab mounting brackets (off the chassis) and the central "two legged" bracket the hood brace attaches to (at the very 1st chassis crossmember). Maybe a few other things depending on complicity of remove and shipping to NJ. Unfortunately I'm no longer Facebook achievable so checking out the parts and getting contact info of the seller are very appreciated. Thanks for the post.

Best B-day wishes Joey! Have a great day and don't miss the evening! Seems like April goes on

As Bob said above. Not every step brings you closer to successfull result but only well done ones.

Interesting story and interesting truck. Pretty sure a short nose (600 series) R with a V8 is a rare beast. Even haven't kept in my mind such ones were ever produced. Congratulations on the successfull repurchase Vlad

No, no! No talks about funerals! Only positive points in this thread! Have a great B-day Bob! Many more to come! Remember you always have options to choose between make a big run or tinker with the DM a little bit.

Mike is no longer with us but he's on our minds. One of the longest time members on here I belive (did it much longer than I do) and had Birthday in April. My memory tells it's on the 6th of and the date the thread was started tells the same. To my understanding just a few persons in the world have so huge amount of Mack trucks collected together as he had. I mean a collection or a kind of it, not a commertially operating fleet. As many others I kept a plan or idea to go to Iowa and visit him some day. "Could" do that in 2019 if had more time and deeper pockets. But the things were different and later on became different with no way to get back. Rest In Peace Mike and Happy Birthday!

Wow, guys! Many thanks for all the wishes! April seems good for birthdays indeed. I even feel ashamed I didn't make any pics along the time to share as Tommy did. He's a professional though and I'm not competitive enough Had my parents visited me for barbequeing and observing the "state of disaster" of my truck collection. Than had a nice time in a restaurant in the evening accomanied by a nice and pleasant person of oppisite sex I should probably say sorry for replying on the next day only since the evening turned out getting toooo looong into the night