1972 Loadstar , my love for loadstars continues .

[Geoff Weeks]

That would be the heavier end of the Loadstar line 1800.  Air braked? I think I see an air tank, but could also be for vacuum storage.

[Terry T]

On 12/14/2025 at 5:19 PM, Geoff Weeks said:

That would be the heavier end of the Loadstar line 1800.  Air braked? I think I see an air tank, but could also be for vacuum storage.

Geoff,

If you're referring to the one I posted, it did have air brakes.

[other dog]

On 12/13/2025 at 12:47 PM, mowerman said:

i never drove a transtar,,only rode in one,,,,they used to be everywhere,,,,i have driven a few eagles,,,i really liked them,,bob

I drove 2, the first truck I drove was a 74 Transtar with a 290 Cummins and 13 speed. Then I drove a 78 Astro with a 290, 9 speed. 

When I started driving for H.H. Moore Jr. my first truck there was a 74 Transtar with a VT903 with a 13 direct.

Here I am at the old Ponderosa Truck Stop at the bottom of North Mountain with a load of wood chips, going to the Westvaco paper mill in Covington, VA.

That's the last Transtar I drove, drove a couple of F models after this truck, then 3 K100's, then H.H. went to conventionals.

[mowerman]

Sounds similar to my past about drive every make at some time or another 

[Brocky]

I drove a 2001 9600 with series 60 Detroit and RR 10 speed for 5 years and liked  that truck.

[BOBWhite]

I wish our truck had the 549, but the 345 V8 in our seed wheat truck really has treated us well. Such a smooth engine for not being maintained and cobbled together spark plug wires. 

[mrsmackpaul]

345 and 392 are really low compression 

Have a huge crank shaft

As a result they just tick over and last a long time

They are no power house, but they are good motors for what they are 

Hard to believe we had line haul International semis with a 345 and later the 392

Never had any bigger petrol V8 inters in Australia than the 392

 

Paul 

[Geoff Weeks]

IHC had different compression pistons both for altitude and for "export". One being higher the other lower. All IHC designed engines were truck engines (or ag) from the get go. Made them stout as opposed to converted passenger car designs.

[Brocky]

6 hours ago, mrsmackpaul said:

Never had any bigger petrol V8 inters in Australia than the 392

Paul, Up here in the States the 549 IH and 534 Ford would run with a 220 Cummins, until it got to a petrol station, then they had to stop and fill up again!!!!

[Geoff Weeks]

7 minutes ago, Brocky said:

Paul, Up here in the States the 549 IH and 534 Ford would run with a 220 Cummins, until it got to a petrol station, then they had to stop and fill up again!!!!

LaPort Transport ran an all gas fleet of IHC and Ford until they closed sometime in the late 90's early 2000's.

Before my time but do you know how the GMC 503 and the IHC 450-501 inlines stacked up against the diesels? I had a 406 in a parts truck for awhile. sold the engine for more than I paid for the whole truck.

[Brocky]

1 minute ago, Geoff Weeks said:

Before my time but do you know how the GMC 503 and the IHC 450-501 inlines stacked up against the diesels?

Geoff, NO I do not!! There were a lot of them around, our school busses had the black diamond 450's in them. In about 57-58 (when I was 12-13) one of the local dump truck operators had a fleet of tandem drive GMC's with the biggest V-6 in them. One local sand and gravel / redi-mix outfits had a fleet of 59-60 F-1000 Fords with the 534's.