granitefan713

The unimax front axle with spoke rims, was that the one with the really wierd looking front spoke rim? I saw a lime green Granite at the plant on that Sat. that had a strange front spoke rim, I took a pic and its posted below. The window tag said "BOGIE DUMP"

I'm also in Northeast PA (Tunkhannock), I've see 3 Red Tri Axle Dumps, and one Green Rolloff. On the net, I've seen red, black, green, and magenta with grey. You can see them in my Legend Album (http://www.bigmacktrucks.com/index.php?automodule=gallery&req=si&img=1575).

I'll be there, probably only for the plant tour though.

Thanks, is the plant walk-through offered only on Friday and Saturday, or Sunday also?

This might be slightly off topic, but I've been hearing rumors that International will be offering Cat engines in their Medium-Duty trucks and Buses (IC Corp) in the near future. It will be interesting to see what happens.

I understand that 07 engines put a HUGE dent in the truck market, but comparing the "Freightliner Group" to the "Chrysler Group", Freightliner is the stronger of the two. From my research and understanding, Freightlienr has a VERY strong presence in the over-the-road market, and Sterling has a great presence in the municipal market (especially here in PA, Penndot buys all Sterlings for thier single axle trucks). I'm guessing that Daimler will monitor sales and make a decision on what to do. P.S. My info on Freightliner making Daimler money came from a Freightliner salesman.

From what I understand, Daimler has no intention of dropping those brands. Unlike the Chrysler Group, Freightliner, Sterling, Thomas Bus, etc. acutally make them money, so they plan on keeping them. But, I could be wrong. Just a bit of interesting info, the company that just bought Chrysler, Cerberus, also owns Blue Bird buses. Blue Bird's newest bus, the 2008 Vision, was designed by none other than Volvo (Its actually a really nice bus).

I agree, but I'm wondering if its to accomodate a large radiator for 07 engines. I know other mfgs. grilles aren't that big but......

It seems everyone here sees the fuel tank half empty.

I have two questions about the Macungie show since this year will be my first one. 1. I understand the assembly plant is open for walkthoughs, will the "stock yard" be open also as it was at the 100yr Celebration, or just the plant it self? 2. Other than at the assembly plant, how many "newer" trucks can I expect to see (2000-2008) at the show? Nothing against old trucks, but I like new ones better.

If Freightshakers are so bad, why are they so popular? Is just becasue they're cheap?

UPS also has Sterlings with the traditional paint scheme.

Yeah, me too. Were in for 10-16+ here in NEPA. Like you said Barry, I'll believe it when I see it.

Well let me start by saying that my Mack dealer is the one you mentioned in Scranton, Pa and they too have sold a ton of trucks over the past year, probably 10+to Bolus Freight in the last few months. My Volvo dealer dosen't sell nearly as many trucks as Mack either. But getting to your question, i remember when Volvo first bought Mack, i read that they would be combining some dealerships since Volvo is strong for highway applications and Mack is strong for vocational. I also think it may have to do with expanding Volvos/Macks dealership network and it was just easier to add the Mack franchise to an existing Volvo dealer than build a new one or vise versa.

This may be slightly off topic, but when Volvo owned part of Blue Bird buses, they actually hepled Blue Bird design a better Vision (Blue Birds convetional bus). This was Blue Birds design (2003-2007): http://c.myspace.com/Groups/00015/30/90/15740903_l.jpg And this was Volvo's (2008): http://c.myspace.com/Groups/00019/32/98/19208923_l.jpg

I look at it this way, (and please forgive me if someone already said this, but I did't have time to read all the replies), Volvo bought Mack for their powertrain and theres nothing we can do about it, unless we all group together and buy all of Volvo's stock. We just have to continue to show our support for Mack inorder to show Volvo how much we value the Mack name and what it stands for here in America. Hopefully Volvo will or does know this and won't drive Mack into the ground as they did Autocar and White/Gmc. All we can do is hope...and pray.

Hey, Its a new truck, well at least it was when the pic was taken. I found it on the internet a few years ago. Anyway, No. The next person has heard good things about the MP engine series.

I thought it would be fun to start a little game called the Next Person Game. I’m not sure if one was already started or not, but here's a new one. For those of you who haven’t done anything like this, here’s how it works. I’ll ask a yes or no question and the next person will answer it and ask a new yes or no question. For example, if I ask “The next person would love to have a new Mack Granite”. The next person to respond could say: “Yes. The next person has a Mack B-61”. And so on. So here’s the question: The next person drives a Mack truck for a living.

I am near Pittston, but this was a blue tri-axle log truck.

Speaking of power, according to one of the compaines who test drove a Pinnacle with the 395hp MP7 mentioned in Heavy Duty Trucking, that it climbed hills faster than their 427hp E7s.

How popular was the R-700? I saw my first one today. Unless i saw it wrong as i passed it on I-81, it looked to me like a long-nose R-model.