Three weeks ago I went to the Palmyra Government Surplus Equipment Auction that gathers a variety of trucks, pickups, and heavy equipment from numerous government entities from around the region and beyond. If you are looking for a late model plow truck this is the auction for you. The offerings this year were not much different from last year when I first attended. Plenty of Ford L series trucks still crossing the block from good condition to rust bucket on wheels. A few former military items like an International Payloader and CCC semi were up for bid with both smelling suspiciously like urine. It must have something to do with the canvas material found in all army vehicles. Yeah, canvas. The payloader had a nifty plaque on the inside to remind the operator what various airport runway signal lights indicated while the CCC was completely rebuilt inside and out. It came with full service and repair manuals in both book and CD form. It would have been a good buy except the engine seemed to have a really nasty nock sound. As we saw Monday there were more than a few Autocars on hand with plenty of ACL models to choose from. I even found the predecessor to the Town of Pompey 2014 Western Star 4800 we’ve been following for months. Check back on Autocar Mondays next week for that one. The Town of Arcadia was back again with another pristine Mack, a 2000 CL713 with an E-7, 8LL trans and just north of 100,000 on the odometer. This CL was on of those trucks that caused people to camp out in the cab and fenders until the bidding started. Territority was marked. If you took more than a casual glance on that rig you would become embroiled in a stare down. You may remember that last year Arcadia sent a like new 1987 RM6884X to the auction. The City of Rochester with their distinctive lime green trucks were represented in the form of two Freightliner Condors and a few GMC 8500 grapple trucks. You start wonder about the state of International Trucks when a two year old WorkStar with less than 20,000 miles shows up for sale. The Town of Stafford had one ready to go. I guess Maxxforce engines really must be junk! Yikes.
Take a moment to browse the gallery below and find your favorite. I’m working on updating the photos with years, stats and previous owners so check back often or leave a comment if you have a burning desire to know more about a particular truck. Video to follow of select vehicles.
Really nice job Eric. Oh to have a better camera 20-25 years ago when I was hitting these auctions. When I look at your photos, I am embarrassed by my grainy, often off-center photos taken with the old 110.
Don’t be so hard on yourself! The cameras of today are very forgiving when it comes to shadows and bad light. I’m glad you took the shots you did. They are the only record of many a cool truck.