Monfort The Legend

[daveigou]

Anybody remember an article about Monfort Transportation published in Comercial Car Journal many years ago?

If anybody can come up with it, I would sure enjoy reading it again.

Dave

[vision386]

Anybody remember an article about Monfort Transportation published in Comercial Car Journal many years ago?

If anybody can come up with it, I would sure enjoy reading it again.

Dave

I do remember that article,i have a stack of old trucking magazines going back to the sixties,will see if i can find it when i get some time....growing up on the east coast when i did,it was quite unusual to see a conventional out here,one of the very first "fancy" largecars i ever remember seeing was a Monfort KW,long wheelbase (for the time) V8 cat with a 2 stick trans.( i looked in the window lol!)....they were quite the outfit in their day!..............Mark

[other dog]

I do remember that article,i have a stack of old trucking magazines going back to the sixties,will see if i can find it when i get some time....growing up on the east coast when i did,it was quite unusual to see a conventional out here,one of the very first "fancy" largecars i ever remember seeing was a Monfort KW,long wheelbase (for the time) V8 cat with a 2 stick trans.( i looked in the window lol!)....they were quite the outfit in their day!..............Mark

There was an article in Wheels of Time a while back about Monfort. Or it could have been in Old Time Trucks,a really good antique truck magazine too.

[RowdyRebel]

http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/Monfort-Inc-Company-History.html

ConAgra acquired Monfort in 1987 and then merged the operations of a former Monfort competitor (Swift Independent Packing Company) into the company,

Interesting....

Annual sales topped $400 million and the company would soon join the Fortune 500.

Monfort then faced its first major crisis starting in 1973, when a combination of factors depressed the meat packing industry, forcing many of Monfort's competitors out of business. With average after-tax returns in the low single digits, the industry can be hit hard by economic difficulties. Monfort and its competitors had to contend with the doubling of grain prices nearly overnight after a massive government grain shipment to the Soviet Union in 1973; reduced frozen beef prices as a result of the government's inflation-fighting wage and price controls; and increased costs from having to comply with new government regulation of chemical additives.

Damned government

In March 1988 ConAgra merged some of the SIPCO holdings--including three beef plants, three pork plants, and one lamb plant--into Monfort. This integration proved to be difficult in the short run as management differences between Monfort and Swift had to be reconciled. A major area of conflict was in style--Monfort had always had a fairly loose approach to management, while Swift, a company founded in the mid-1800s, had developed numerous rules for everything over the course of its long history.

wonder if there's any relation to swift trucking....

[Green Dash]

wonder if there's any relation to swift trucking....

Yes there is....

http://www.swifttrans.com/c-clamp.aspx?id=174

[RowdyRebel]

Yes there is....

http://www.swifttrans.com/c-clamp.aspx?id=174

Operating authority was purchased from a descendant of the Swift Meat Packing family, hence, today’s name of Swift Transportation.

I always thought Monfort was known for fast trucks.....and their sister company is now known for the slow ones.

[vision386]

These are what most everyone remembers,big, FAST KW's......but towards the end monfort did run some WHITE "road commodes" (road commanders) that was pretty near the end of the company as it was once known..........Mark

[daveigou]

The article I'm looking for was about Monfort's early W9 KW's with the 1693 Cat engines. If I remember right, they promosed second day delivery any where in the lower 48 states.

Another thing I recall from the article was that they did not do any kind of PM on the trucks, some were out with 700-800,000 miles and never had an oil change.

Keep looking guys!!!

Dave

[other dog]

These are what most everyone remembers,big, FAST KW's......but towards the end monfort did run some WHITE "road commodes" (road commanders) that was pretty near the end of the company as it was once known..........Mark

They called them "The Left Lane Carrier" or "Left Lane Co." or left lane something,I do remember that.

[other dog]

Oh...I guess I don't remember that-the left lane was the Monfort lane. I did find these pictures, and the article was in this issue of "Old Time Trucks".

Sorry for the crappy pictures but my scanner doesn't work.

[RowdyRebel]

Another thing I recall from the article was that they did not do any kind of PM on the trucks, some were out with 700-800,000 miles and never had an oil change.

In high school, a girl in one of my classes got a brand new Honda car for her 16th birthday. Didn't even know how to raise the hood to check anything...barely knew enough to put gas in it. Within 15K, it needed a new engine....never had the oil CHECKED, let alone changed.

....and to think people like that share the road with us

[vision386]

In high school, a girl in one of my classes got a brand new Honda car for her 16th birthday. Didn't even know how to raise the hood to check anything...barely knew enough to put gas in it. Within 15K, it needed a new engine....never had the oil CHECKED, let alone changed.

....and to think people like that share the road with us

Years ago i worked with a guy (owner-operator) who once asked me what my normal transmission temp. gauge reading was,so i told him my average temp. was between 250/300 degrees on a hard pull.....he said his was between 750/800 degrees! and had been for months! i asked if there was oil in the trans.,and his answer was "i don't know,IS there oil in the transmission?" had never been checked since he had the truck (did'nt know how) seems the seal on the tranny had been leaking for over a year,and was never detected!.......long story short,he does'nt have a truck anymore!

[John H]

I remember the left lane being called the Montfort lane. Those boys drove them hard. I 80 was loaded with them.

[Bullheaded]

I used to work for a company that ran like this, but was better because they were all Mack. R Model's, V8 Superliner's and V8 Ultraliners.

We hauled 140,000 pounds in the hills here and the owner always said...."if you get passed by a tandem freight hauler in the hills, you get that truck in to the shop and we'll turn it up more."

[alex g]

Sounds like a fun place to work

[Mark T]

My picture was a RW from The Great White North (lol) 

[Bullheaded]

1 hour ago, alex g said:

Sounds like a fun place to work

It was back in the day. We were always under the police radar, LOL.

 

Those were the days I enjoyed trucking. Running wide open in a straight piped Mack.

 

Now I had to get out of trucking because trucks and engines are junk and not many left that can actually drive.

[Bullheaded]

25 minutes ago, Mark T said:

My picture was a RW from The Great White North (lol) 

The pic in your avatar? Got it full size? Where was it from?

[Mark T]

1 hour ago, Bullheaded said:

The pic in your avatar? Got it full size? Where was it from?

I had two of those. They were tractors . The one in the avatar was just a big spec day cab, not sure where it was originally from. The other was from way up Mistissinni (? I may have spelled that wrong) That was a tractor too, but it was originally built with planetary rears. They both were exported by R. Neadeu (again, spelling may be wrong) in Lenoxville Quebec .  Both E9s and both were a blast

[timm45]

On 2/15/2021 at 2:24 PM, John H said:

I remember the left lane being called the Montfort lane. Those boys drove them hard. I 80 was loaded with them.

Yeah. In the days of 55 mph,Monfort would being doing 90 plus. Back in the day,a Monfort truck would rolling into or leaving,the northeast markets (New York,Massachusetts jersey, etc.) Every hour. Ken Monfort told his drivers (this is not verbatim, but close enough),"I want my meat there yesterday. Drive as fast as you can. If you get a speeding ticket,bring it to me,I'll pay the damn thing". Monfort trucks were rarely seen sitting idle st a truck stop

[timm45]

On 12/12/2010 at 8:41 AM, other dog said:

Oh...I guess I don't remember that-the left lane was the Monfort lane. I did find these pictures, and the article was in this issue of "Old Time Trucks".

Sorry for the crappy pictures but my scanner doesn't work.

Ken Monfort told his drivers (this is not verbatim but close). +I want my meat there yesterday . So move your ass. If you get a speeding ticket,bring it to me,I'll pay the damn thing".

[timm45]

On 12/11/2010 at 9:04 PM, vision386 said:

These are what most everyone remembers,big, FAST KW's......but towards the end monfort did run some WHITE "road commodes" (road commanders) that was pretty near the end of the company as it was once known..........Mark

They had a couple Freightliner power liners. Those were the  Freightliners with those big grills

[mechohaulic]

the word on the east coast back in the day was ; the monfort  speeding ticket would only be paid by the company if it was OVER  80 MPH.  an east coast truck doing 80 !! you are joking . there were a few : very few.  such a different world it was "back in the day"= you youngsters missed a lot of fun times in the trucking industry.

[The Rubber Duck 006]

A buddy of mine said he had a truck that was passing him in the left lane when a Monfort started coming up on him. He said all he heard on the CB was "Move driver!!!!". The Monfort truck then proceeded to pass the truck in the left hand emergency lane. 😳 My buddy said the other truck had the nerve to blow his horn at the Monfort truck lol. The Monfort driver got on the radio again and said " I guess next time you hear a someone tell you to move and it's a Monfort truck then maybe you'll move". 

[Mark T]

I've seen a fairly new W900L painted like a Montfort truck. ( maybe there's several ??? )  It made me think " how many people know what that is painted like that trying to look like "   it did look pretty good too. Guess that's what you call  timeless good looks .