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New Mack Born Ready Video


Neil@Mack

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Just reflecting on how times have changed... If I was shopping for a new truck 20 years ago, I would have looked at the competition but bought a Mack. Natural choice would have been an RB or RD with a Maxidyne engine, 6 speed Maxitorque with the low hole, and of course Mack axles all around. What's changed- Today Mack don't even make that combination. You'll have to fight just to get any kind of manual transmission, and while the Volvo engines are cleaner than Mack's, they're a lot more complicated and thus unreliable.

Glad I retired from driving truck, and all I do is write 'bout 'em now.

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Just reflecting on how times have changed... If I was shopping for a new truck 20 years ago, I would have looked at the competition but bought a Mack. Natural choice would have been an RB or RD with a Maxidyne engine, 6 speed Maxitorque with the low hole, and of course Mack axles all around. What's changed- Today Mack don't even make that combination. You'll have to fight just to get any kind of manual transmission, and while the Volvo engines are cleaner than Mack's, they're a lot more complicated and thus unreliable.

Glad I retired from driving truck, and all I do is write 'bout 'em now.

They got the Maxidyne (M)

They got the 6 speed Maxitorques

T306G

TM308

TM308M

TM309

TM309M

They got the top load rearends

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My point is that NONE of the major manufacturers offer what they used to as far as drivetrain options. Due to gov't regulation, most truck makers push customers toward vertical integration and fuel efficiency. Unless you have a good sensible dealer, you can't order specs you want anymore. Most owner complaints can be traced back to improper specs for the job.

I remember a time in the 80's when Mack lost a lot of market share because they held onto old designs and low horsepower. Everybody else had 400-425 hp and Mack still says " 300-350 is enough, we build the truck, we know what's good for you! " Integrated driveline... Nowadays seems to be a bad word.

I am tinkering with my latest purchase 1985 MH this afternoon... Can't figure why it was spec'ed all Mack EXCEPT Roadranger transmission?!? Not necessarily a bad thing, every other truck on the road has a Roadranger, but I am a fan of vintage Mack vertical integration.

2 more pennies

Gregg

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Great Video - Great Truck. There is no doubt Mack Trucks and trucks in general have changed since my first driving job when I got out of the USMC in 1981. I drove M123 10 ton tractors in the service that were built by Mack. My first civilian truck was a 1979 DM600 triaxle dump truck , 237 with a 2 stick 6 speed driving for Fred Burrows Trucking in Whitesboro, NY. Before upstate NY got tough we never hauled less than 30 ton in the box! 2004 I was Vice President of Maintenance for a fleet in Florida - had nearly all Mack fleet of 500 tractors - Mack was really struggling at that time to put a decent product on the road. Today the MP7 and MP8 engines are probably the best engines on the road today. ALL engines (and trucks) are much more complicated - it is ALL government mandated. I have customers in linehaul applications doing in excess of 7 mpg - didn't get that 25 years ago! If you don't believe the Mack pride, passion and committment is still there go take a factory tour and go to the Mack customer center.

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Jim Toussaint

Division Operations Manager - Worldwide Equipment Inc

Knoxville / Middlesboro / Crossville / Morristown / Asheville Highway

 

 

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Thanks for the positive comments guys! We are excited about the video and hope you guys will help us get the word out about it. It would be awesome to see Mack get the attention it deserves from this.

@Underdog - you are right. All the emissions regulations that the .gov places on the OEM today makes it impossible to keep the trucks as they were 20 years ago. I think 2017 will bring even more regulation. The energy should be placed on the gov agencies that drive these demands on the industry.

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You can still get new trucks with old diesel technology and the old transmissions, it just won't be a Mack.

Check out Fitzgerald trucks. They will take a new KW or Pete glider and put a remanufactured Detroit 60 or Cat and a remanufactured fuller in there. I don't really know how they are getting away with it but they are selling new non-emissions trucks.

There's a local company that has just bought 4 of the Fitzgerald 389 Pete with Detroit engine and 18 speed Fuller.

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You can still get new trucks with old diesel technology and the old transmissions, it just won't be a Mack.

Check out Fitzgerald trucks. They will take a new KW or Pete glider and put a remanufactured Detroit 60 or Cat and a remanufactured fuller in there. I don't really know how they are getting away with it but they are selling new non-emissions trucks.

There's a local company that has just bought 4 of the Fitzgerald 389 Pete with Detroit engine and 18 speed Fuller.

Just like Neil said there will be more regulation in 2017 and the EPA has glider kits in their sights. Don't be surprised to see them come under some sort of regulation.

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Gliders are going away - EPA will not continue to allow them. Gliders have been flying under the EPA and congressional radar for years but not anymore. I have customers that have bought them - they are not cheap (nearly the price of a new truck) and the reliability and fuel economy are suspect. Most dealers will not take them in trade - can't imagine what a glider will be worth in the future but guessing the values will be low and demand poor.

Jim Toussaint

Division Operations Manager - Worldwide Equipment Inc

Knoxville / Middlesboro / Crossville / Morristown / Asheville Highway

 

 

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They got the Maxidyne (M)

They got the 6 speed Maxitorques

T306G

TM308

TM308M

TM309

TM309M

They got the top load rearends

Sorry, all the wide ratio Maxitorques are NLA. "Top loaders" and camelback are still available, if you can find a salesperson that will let you instead of Volvo spec the truck.

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I have customers in linehaul applications doing in excess of 7 mpg - didn't get that 25 years ago! If you don't believe the Mack pride, passion and committment is still there go take a factory tour and go to the Mack customer center.

Was getting 7.5 MPG 25 years ago with an L10 Cummins, but it laid down and died at the mere sight of a hill. As for Mack pride, the folks at the factory are doing a great job, too bad Volvo top management keeps letting them down.

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Thanks for the positive comments guys! We are excited about the video and hope you guys will help us get the word out about it. It would be awesome to see Mack get the attention it deserves from this.

@Underdog - you are right. All the emissions regulations that the .gov places on the OEM today makes it impossible to keep the trucks as they were 20 years ago. I think 2017 will bring even more regulation. The energy should be placed on the gov agencies that drive these demands on the industry.

Neil, it's nice to see Volvo show some respect for the great trucks that Mack used to be allowed to build. But it says something when a manufacturer is pushing their history instead of their current products. You folks got any current products to show off... Like maybe an unrebuilt M-Drive that's gone a million miles? Or a 4 axle Titan with a sleeper that can show it's tailights to the Petes and KWs while hauling a 170,000 pound South Dakota doubles "train"?

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Absolutely disgusting.

"The sound is America"..........with the American flag waving in the wind.

It is appalling of Sweden's Volvo, a foreign company which has NOTHING to do with America, to drum up warm memories of the former American Mack Trucks, Inc., and try to grab one's heart with images of American-designed Mack R-models, Cruise-Liner's and Super-Liners.

Legendary American engineers, the likes of Walter May and Win Pellizzoni, led the way for these signature American trucks.

Throwing in a Mack-branded Volvo at the end, as if there was some connection between this Swedish concoction and the aforementioned, respected American trucks, is nothing less than delusional on Volvo Group's part.

Rather then investing in a video that mocks America and the late Mack Trucks, Volvo Group would have spent their money more effectively by launching common rail-equipped engines in North America more quickly.

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I understand that Mack is not the company it used to be, but the world is not the place it used to be either. I see a lot of trash talk about Volvo and the current status of Mack trucks on these forums, but I also believe that Mack would have been long gone if Volvo hadn't invested in the company.

Take it for what it is and support our namesake marque. Compared to other brands, still one of the best out there.

2 cents worth

Gregg

It's isn't our (America's) namesake marque anymore (and hasn't been since 2000).

The Mack "marque", now merely a nameplate on a North American market Volvo chassis, is owned by foreign truckmaker Volvo Group of Gothenburg, Sweden.

Förstår du?

Why should Americans take the Mack-branded Volvo "for what it is", a Volvo, and support a foreign truckmaker's business in the United States?

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Like the video top stuff of a better time I feel

Now I'm no sports man at all don't follow any sport but have picked a few tips

Dont ever play the other man's game you will always loose

Play your game be good at it and nine times out of ten you will do ok

Now these rules I apply to my business in my own world don't worry about what the rest are doing do what I know to be right or least what I believe to be right and nine times out of ten it works ok

Yeah I'm only a small two bob cane cocky but we got here on our own princess and I started with a set of clothes and a dream the clothes have changed but the dreams still there

My point is, if the Princess and I can do it so can Mack Volvo what ever you call them they need to get back to what they are good at and stick to it just my 2 bobs worth

Yes once again top video

Paul

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Gliders are going away - EPA will not continue to allow them. Gliders have been flying under the EPA and congressional radar for years but not anymore. I have customers that have bought them - they are not cheap (nearly the price of a new truck) and the reliability and fuel economy are suspect. Most dealers will not take them in trade - can't imagine what a glider will be worth in the future but guessing the values will be low and demand poor.

Great disinformation campaign. If I run for office, I'm going to need someone with your spin skills.

On another note, the M123 you drove was more than likely built by Consolidated Diesel Electric.

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It's isn't our (America's) namesake marque anymore (and hasn't been since 2000).

The Mack "marque", now merely a nameplate on a North American market Volvo chassis, is owned by foreign truckmaker Volvo Group of Gothenburg, Sweden.

Förstår du?

Like I said IMHO Mack wouldn't even exist today if not heavily invested by Volvo. Take it for what it is, it's the best we're going to get. Most trucks on U.S. highways are not American anymore. Freightliner, PACCAR, etc.

Mack AND Volvo still one of the best products available today. Not what it used to be, but compare to said freightliner or navistar.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

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