Do you remember when the roads were filled with this make of Freightliner FLD? I do but then again I don’t as I didn’t pay much attention to them at the time. I never really though much about this model of ‘shaker for at the time they were a dime a dozen. Now that years have taken their toll and greatly reduced their numbers I find myself admiring these trucks. The first semi I ever drove on public roads was one these old FLDs. That poor old truck had over a million miles on the odometer but was still chugging along with with one student driver after another sitting behind the seat grinding gears. While to the general public I was just another normal sized big rig to me, the inexperienced driver, I might as well have been behind the wheel of the Death Star. That’s how large one of these trucks seem the first time you hit the open road. Once while approaching an intersection with a fading yellow I was too slow on my down shifting to effectively stop without touching the brakes. At the time the trailer out back was a 33’ dump half loaded with some form of soil. I laid into the peddle and the brakes out back clamped shut and bounced the entire truck around like a child with a Tonka in the sandbox. From that day forward I understood the concept of downshifting as a form of speed reduction.
The joys of fiberglass and aluminum have helped to preserve this truck over the decades but have done nothing to save the paint. Looking past that obvious defect you have a solid looking old truck on your hands.
Old tow truck for old trucks? John’s Body Shop or maybe it’s Ken’s runs this Western Star wrecker. This truck actually isn’t as old as it looks but the rusty tow body and slouching cab aren’t doing any favors in the looks department. Regardless, I’ll always be a sucker for grizzled looking rigs.
