Excuse my excitement but you just don’t see many trucks with a setup like this in New York. In the land of oil field work a truck like this long hood DM is a dime a dozen but the last time I checked Waterloo, NY is not a hotbed of petroleum drilling or exploration. The desperate plea on the windshield to “RENT ME” is what caused me to pull over and take a closer look. I wonder what the going rate is? Maybe if I could get a good price I could take it to truck shows. 😉
Ryan has stumbled across another jewel in the desert in the form of this International R-210 tow truck.
Found in the farm country near Escalon this truck appears to be in near perfect shape. Maybe fresh batteries and some gas and you would be ready for your favorite local truck show or cruise in.
We can’t see much of the marker lights on the wrecker body but they look cool and authentic. This is a really awesome vintage ride. Great catch Ryan.
Today we have some photos to enjoy of select lots from the truck and equipment auction held in conjunction with the Empire Farm Days. A large selection of heavy trucks made up the bulk of this auction with many, if not all of them, hailing from agricultural related ventures. Look at that mammoth Detroit powered Oshkosh with liquid fertilizer tank. That old lime Green mack with steel constructions fenders caught my eye but here is a hit, its last load had nothing to do with salt if you catch my drift. The Ford LTL 9000 was a 20 foot looker for sure. A few rows away it looked like a real jewl but with each step you began to see more and more age lines appear. At least the iconic grill still had all its teeth. A fuel tanker from the Oneida County Aviation Department caught my eye and that of many other bidders. It fired right up and was surprisingly quiet. At first glance the International Loadstar seemed like a nice old truck but it had more than its fair share of rust lurking under the paint. Make sure you click on page two of the gallery to view a Fordson tractor that was cobbled together with bits of machinery, ammo boxes and pointy steel to make even the most hardened of operators cringe in terror.
Lost in the jumble of activities from the past two weeks was my coverage of the largest farm related show in the Northeast, the Empire Farm Days. Just like last year, the latest in agricultural technology was on display in the form of tractors, implements, and other devices that non farmers would find strange. Have you ever heard of a remote controlled manure agitator? It’s a crazy looking device with large tires, multiple pumps, and nozzles pointing every which way. I didn’t take any photos because I knew I couldn’t out do this stock photo from the manufacturer, Nuhn Industries.
I don’t know what it is about a the farm show but the discussion usually breaks down into a conversation about poop. Read more about the lagoon crawler by clicking here. After cracking the case of the Nuhn the rest of the day was spent browsing new tractors and watching a few demos. Seeing all this equipment in action I really wonder how anyone can afford this stuff. These machines seem to become larger with each passing year. One oddball of note, have you ever heard of heavy equipment manufacturer SDLG? It stands for Shandong Lingong and is another brand of the Volvo Empire. Look for it to become your next low budget value loader.
Tomorrow I’ll fill in the gaps regarding the equipment auction that also takes place during the show. Sooooo many Mack trucks went across the block. Make sure to check back.
This weekend I paid my first visit to the ATCA Northern Empire State classic truck show in Madrid, NY. This show has been on my radar for awhile now but par the course other things usually prevented me from attending. This year my schedule was open so I made the trip north. Cool and windy weather conspired to keep the numbers down but a great collection of trucks still made the journey for all to enjoy.
Check out this 1987 Freightliner FLD120. You know it didn’t leave the factory looking that good.
And here is a truck I got a second chance with. I didn’t get to see much of this 1976 Brockway 761 at the National Brockway Show a few short weeks ago so I was happy to see it arriving on the backs of on the nicest Peterbilt around.
I consider myself lucky to live in the same part of the world as George Tackaberry and his wonderful collection of vehicles. Every single truck is simply top notch perfect. Right down to the smallest detail. Enjoy this video of the Cat 3408 happily idling away.
This year the show was held on the grounds of the St. Lawrence Power and Equipment Museum which offered plenty of interesting equipment to shake your head at in amazement contemplating how far we’ve come (or gone back) in the world of machinery.
All in all this was a great show hosted by some very nice people. I would attend again.
You may have seen this truck in a few of my videos or photos from the HECA national meet last week. It sat on the opposite end of the show field nosed into a row of corn. I saw it almost immediately and vowed to check it out before I left. Even though I could only seen its rear end I knew it was an Autocar or at the very least a White. My intuition proved to be correct. Maybe I am starting to learn something after all these years? New York stopped using the “liberty” license plates around 2001 so I don’t believe this truck is actively plowing snow anymore.
I checked out the year on the registration sticker but I don’t remember what it read. I’m going to say 1982. Like the Town of Clay truck from last week there are no White/GMC/Volvo badges to be found so my guess could be a sound one.
I couldn’t find any markings to indicate what municipality this truck worked for back in the day. Too bad it wasn’t running at the show!
It stands to reason that at an event in which people bring 40 ton bulldozers and other heavy equipment there will be more than a few trucks lurking in the background. The national HCEA held in conjunction with the Pageant of Steam was no exception to the rule. Based on my research Mack trucks, more specifically Superliners, appeared to be the truck of choice. I was also happy to see two Titans in the crowd as I never seen those anywhere.
Did I mention yet that there were more classic tractors at the Pageant of Steam than I have ever seen gathered in one spot? Row after row of red, green, olive green, orange, and yellow. No matter your allegiance your tractor was here. I didn’t grab too many photos as they were packed in pretty tight but some were simply too nice to walk by.
And the steam. THE STEAM! I could not believe some of the iron monsters that I saw cruising the show grounds. Giant metal tires. Enormous spinning fly wheels. Chains rapped around axles to control directions. And everything had gears of all types and sizes. On nearly every corner  there was a motor running, hissing or popping. Saw blades whirled. Whistles blew. If you like steam you MUST attend this event next year. If you like flea markets that cater to the parts and memorabilia surrounding steam power and old tractors you HAVE to attend this event. The vendor tents stretched over the horizon. It felt like a small city at times.
And before I forget, check out this video of a Cat 955H track loader. I totally forgot about this machine in the avalanche of equipment.
And with that folks the coverage of this fine event draws to a close…..once Autocar Mondays comes and goes. Yes! An Autocar also came out of this fine event. It truly was a magical place. I only saw a small portion of what there was to experience but it was more than enough…for now. Take a moment to visit the youtube channel of TrukLuver for more coverage of the weekend or visit this flickr album for even more great photos. You should probably do both.
I’m getting close to wrapping up the coverage of the HECA national meet but before we do let’s take a moment to enjoy some of the scapers, draglines, and graders. There were plenty of shovels in operation at this event but I have surprisingly little evidence of them due to my battery woes. Plus every time I went to shoot footage they would stop! Despite my poor timeing I did manage to grab a few moments of a Bay City shovel clunking around. It was interesting to watch. Basically to lower the boom you just let gravity take it to the earth. The Northwest 25-D dragline was very active and filled a variety of dump trucks over the course of the day.
As the final day of the meet started to wind down participants began to smooth over some of their work from earlier in the weekend. This Caterpillar 14D was helping to clean up the rough spots. I zoned out at one point during the video and let the Cat fall out of frame but the rest of it still fun.
Tomorrow coverage wraps up with a variety of random stuff from steam engines, campers and the trucks that haul all this wonderful iron to the show.
There will be no long winded speeches today, just video after video of dumps trucks working away.
Euclid R-13 – You’ll notice the very large glass on the passenger side of this truck. That is a factory option to help provide the driver with a better view.
Caterpillar DW10 belly dump. – I like the looks of this 1940 Cat. Subsequent generations would appear more tractor like in their desgin while this one, with the long rounded hood, appears almost car like. Heavy equipment with style.
Old Euclid – I spent plenty of time watching this truck work but never followed up to see the model and year. I’m guessing mid to late 40’s? This was one of the hardest working trucks on the field. It seemed to be make a constant loop between the gravel pile and the road construction spot.
Also in the gallery below you’ll see a nice 1968 Ford F-800. Like the Euc above this truck and its driver never stopped working. And what about the nice little Diamond T dump truck? I can’t say that I’ve ever seen one like it before.
It was a real treat to see these old dozers in action at the HCEA national meet this past weekend. They appeared to be the most popular form of equipment brought to the show with a variety of sizes and types represented. I spent a fair amount of time watching this Cat D9 dozer dig a trench and then smooth it over. It was great to hear the engine lugging away as the blade encountered a mound of earth.
Elsewhere on the grounds this massive International Harvester TD-24 dozer was busy spreading gravel on the new parking lot road being made by HECA members. Sadly I don’t have to much footage of this great machine but believe me when I tell you it was awesome. At one point in the afternoon I stood only feet away from this marvel as it clawed through the soil with little effort. At one point the tracks begin to spin and it looked as though the TD-24 wouldn’t have the guts to get it done but the operator dug in the blade, bumped up the RPMS and the battle was won.  The ground was shaking, the engine groaning, the stacks smoking. It was a beautiful sight. Eventually the machine crested the large pile of overburden, teetered at the top for a moment and then slid down. By this point a large crowd had gathered and there was much clapping, head nodding and smiles at this display of power.
One other bulldozer of note was this Euclid TC-12. I only saw it operation once during the weekend it was a sight to behold. I was familiar with this machine before the show but really didn’t appreciate the size. The one thing I did I know was that it packed two Detroit Diesel 6-71 engines. One for each track. Looking at the back of the machine you can see right down the middle straight to the blade up front. It really looks as if a two dozers were frankestiend together by insane Euclid engineers. Truth is stranger than fiction because that is exactly the concept behind the TC-12. Despite the two 6-71’s under the hoods this machine didn’t seem all that loud to me. Of course I was surrounded by an army of other equipment clanking away so the effect might have been lost. Still too cool either way. I would have liked to see the truck this Euclid rode in on.
In the gallery below there are a few more shots to enjoy of the machines mentioned above plus a few for the Caterpillar faithful.
Stop back tomorrow for the dump trucks of the event!
