daveigou 431 Posted December 11, 2010 Share Posted December 11, 2010 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 Quote See my Flickr photostream page http://www.flickr.com/photos/96692978@N05/ Link to post Share on other sites
vision386 3,791 Posted December 11, 2010 Share Posted December 11, 2010 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.DaveI 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 Quote Mack Truck literate. Computer illiterate. Link to post Share on other sites
other dog 9,070 Posted December 11, 2010 Share Posted December 11, 2010 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!..............MarkThere 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. Quote Producer of poorly photo-chopped pictures since 1999. Link to post Share on other sites
RowdyRebel 2,221 Posted December 11, 2010 Share Posted December 11, 2010 http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/Monfort-Inc-Company-History.htmlConAgra 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.... Quote When approaching a 4-way stop, the vehicle with the biggest tires has the right of way! Link to post Share on other sites
Green Dash 2,433 Posted December 12, 2010 Share Posted December 12, 2010 wonder if there's any relation to swift trucking.... Yes there is....http://www.swifttrans.com/c-clamp.aspx?id=174 Quote Jim Link to post Share on other sites
RowdyRebel 2,221 Posted December 12, 2010 Share Posted December 12, 2010 Yes there is....http://www.swifttrans.com/c-clamp.aspx?id=174Operating 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. Quote When approaching a 4-way stop, the vehicle with the biggest tires has the right of way! Link to post Share on other sites
vision386 3,791 Posted December 12, 2010 Share Posted December 12, 2010 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 Quote Mack Truck literate. Computer illiterate. Link to post Share on other sites
daveigou 431 Posted December 12, 2010 Author Share Posted December 12, 2010 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 Quote See my Flickr photostream page http://www.flickr.com/photos/96692978@N05/ Link to post Share on other sites
other dog 9,070 Posted December 12, 2010 Share Posted December 12, 2010 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..........MarkThey called them "The Left Lane Carrier" or "Left Lane Co." or left lane something,I do remember that. Quote Producer of poorly photo-chopped pictures since 1999. Link to post Share on other sites
other dog 9,070 Posted December 12, 2010 Share Posted December 12, 2010 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. 1 Quote Producer of poorly photo-chopped pictures since 1999. Link to post Share on other sites
RowdyRebel 2,221 Posted December 12, 2010 Share Posted December 12, 2010 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 Quote When approaching a 4-way stop, the vehicle with the biggest tires has the right of way! Link to post Share on other sites
vision386 3,791 Posted December 12, 2010 Share Posted December 12, 2010 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! Quote Mack Truck literate. Computer illiterate. Link to post Share on other sites
John H 2 Posted February 15 Share Posted February 15 I remember the left lane being called the Montfort lane. Those boys drove them hard. I 80 was loaded with them. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bullheaded 1,040 Posted March 1 Share Posted March 1 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." 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
alex g 732 Posted March 1 Share Posted March 1 Sounds like a fun place to work Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mark T 82 Posted March 1 Share Posted March 1 My picture was a RW from The Great White North (lol) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bullheaded 1,040 Posted March 1 Share Posted March 1 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. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bullheaded 1,040 Posted March 1 Share Posted March 1 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? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mark T 82 Posted March 1 Share Posted March 1 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 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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