Well, I was going to make a joke about the name Road Boss 2 sounding like a movie squeal title until I realized I already made that joke four years ago in this post. I guess it’s time for some new material. Based on the two tone greet paint job I would peg this truck as a former Suit Kote tractor. It’s possible in its later years with the company it was converted to a dump and probably used a site truck. Or maybe the dumper came along with the second or third owner. Yet another mystery of time and space that will go unsolved.
For all you White GMC/Volvo experts out there can you tell us if the green pencil graphic on this truck was a factory scheme or was that Suit Kote original? Here we see it on another truck of their fleet.
The age of the Star Car as the plow chassis of choice continues on, unbridled by no man or force of nature. Here we see the latest edition to the Village of Minoa DPW fleet. They picked up a WS 4700 with a Heil packer about a year ago and I’m fairly certain a year before that a 4700 single axle plow truck. This particular truck comes equipped with American plows and a Strong Box (?) brand roll off body.
Back in early March when snow was intolerable but still expected I came across a few trucks from the Town of Manlius Highway Department. I’ve been trying to get a decent shot of this little International of theirs for sometime now.
And my personal fav, one we’ve seen many times, truck 212 of the Syracuse DPW. Here we see it parked on Salina Street a few days before St. Patricks Day. I was hoping to catch some street cleaning action for the yearly parade but low and behold the night shift guys took care of it. I’m very disappointed. This new level of efficiency and common sense is cramping my style.
And here is a bunch of other stuff that is self explanatory. 🙂
That old Loadstar from yesterday was a nice looking truck but personally I like this one a little better. The Town of Verona is still rolling with this nicely preserved 2574. The black strip up near the hood ads at least 5 mph to the top speed. The clear lights on the tab of the cab are also interesting. I would almost suspect to find them on a fire truck of some sort. Perhaps this truck is in it’s second municipal life? The old style detachable goose neck trailer out back is a perfect companion to this old truck. In fact, this would be a great setup to haul old trucks around to various shows. Keep an eye on those auction sites.
THE International Loadstar. Say that line like your an Ohio State football player introducing themselves on Sunday Night Football and will make sense. I came across this old truck a few weeks back on a farm outside of Rome, NY. This a later model Loadstar and represents one of the most popular and successful truck lines ever produced by International. Over the decades it could be had in a variety of gas and diesel powered option with numerous frame lengths and weight combos. It was THE medium truck of its time. Like this one, many can still be found working on farms across the country.
When you see a still working Autocar DK from the land of rust you just have to stop for a picture even if old Mr. Sun is blaring directly into your lense. Overall I would give this truck a 9 out of 10 for general condition. The Town of Lyons is keeping this truck in excellent condition which is no small feet considering it is at least 30 years old. Besides this old Autocar, Lyons NY is also notable as being the birthplace of Syracuse men’s basketball head coach Jim Boeheim.
Do you have an Autocar you would like to see featured in Autocar Mondays? Email eric@dailydieseldose.com today!
In the name of economy and tracking assets old trucks like this NYSDOT Diamond Reo don’t often hang around 30 years after their active service time. Nevertheless NYS still has a hand full of these rigs lurking around the downstate area. One of them still rocks a V-Plow and dump body while this truck patently waits for…something.Thanks to Newman for sending in these cool shots of a bygone time.
Big Rig Racing is back! Of course well all knew that but it looks like it’s about to hit the main stream. You may or may not be a fan of those reality tv shows were a group of high strung individuals build cars, motorcycles, and trucks under ridiculous deadlines with little budgetary concerns. If so the name Aaron Kaufman might ring a bell, after all he was the bearded wonder from Gas Monkey Garage. Turns out he has his own show now by the name of Shifting Gears with Aaron Kaufman. For the fourth episode in the series he begins building a honest to goodness race truck out of Sterling with a Series 60 Detroit. Sounds like this is right up my alley! Oops, I dumped cable years ago so it’s a no go for me BUT if you still have service check out this episode. I’m sure it will be a goodin. For the rest of us the video below will have to suffice.
We are living in the age of the gig economy. You can rent your home, boat, car, even yourself out through a variety of online apps like Uber, AirBNB and GoShare. Ryder is taking the next step by allowing you, the fleet owner, to rent our your idle commercial vehicles through Coop, their in house developed truck sharing app. Like the old saying goes, if your wheels arent’ turning you not earning!
Now before you go thinking that your 18 wheeler can be rented out by some guy looking for a cheap thrill, don’t worry, the app is designed for business to business use and comes complete with physical damage and other insurance coverage.
Hmm, maybe I have to pickup a few cheap trucks at auction and start my own rental business?
As I alluded to yesterday I spent some time in the NYC metro area last week. Did I mention I left on Wednesday? Yup, just in time for a big nor’easter to pass through the region. Some of you out there might not believe this was coincidence but it was! I swear! I’ve had about enough of snow and leave it to my luck that the CNY came through the storm unscathed. I am human snow curse I suppose. That being said it was interesting to see how NJ and NYC handle eight inches of snow.
As usual with these trips I saw many things that I didn’t photograph and what I did photograph is not all that I saw. Starting around Scranton the snow begin to fly heavy. PennDot was at each turnout with one or two trucks just waiting for a flurry to pass through. Once I hit the Delaware Water Gap is when things got crazy. Unlike Scranton the snow wasn’t sticking but that didn’t stop the contractors from being called out in force. At each exit rows of Peterbilt and Kenworth dump trucks that would seem more at home at Englishtown waited with drivers in cab for the weather to turn.
Further down the road in Old Bridge, NJ the snow was starting to fall at a decent rate but still not enough to stick. Passing by a mall on RT 9 I came across a vertiable fleet of Mack drump trucks just chomping at the bit to hit the road. A few miles down the road at another shopping center the cycle was repeated but this time the trucks were of the mixed variety. My favorite was the single axle S-Series International garbage truck still sporting the Temple University logo. I would later to get see it action but it was to dark for any photos. Just add it to the ever growing pile of regrets.
By the next morning the storm had passed and the streets were basically clear. Good job NJ! At some point in the night this rig from J. Supor and Sons showed up on the parking lot of my hotel.
Heading into NYC that morning I saw plenty of DSNY garbage trucks with chains (buses too) plowing nearly clear streets. By the end of the afternoon the plows were already coming of the trucks and life was returning to usual for Big Apple. Here we see a fleet of DOT trucks on Staten Island. Photo credit to my wife.
Taking the ferry back and forth between Staten Island and Manhattan was a great way to see the city. On one of the trips I noticed the entire inside of the ferry was painted that industrial green color so popular on truck and heavy equipment of the 60’s. Turns out I was riding on the John F. Kennedy, the oldest ferry in the fleet. No surprise it was the fast and quietest journey of the entire trip. It’s scheduled to be in service until 2020 and is now the inspiration to the new fleet of ferries currently under design. Long live the old iron on both land and sea. Speaking of Staten Island, there was a steady stream of large cars heading out from the docks carrying road salt.
And of course there was so much more. I wasn’t even looking for trucks on a hardcore level but there are nearly everywhere. Even in the heart of Manhattan you can find an International Eagle with straight pipes. Truly the greatest city in the world.
Just imagine what I would have seen if I had actually gone down for truck spotting?
The past couple of days I spent some time wandering around the big apple with my wife. Most streets are some combination of narrow and or traffic choked. It’s hard to believe that big monster Autocars like this early DC model once plied those streets. Of all the heavy haul companies to hail from the NYC Metro area Gerosa is perhaps the most famous of them all. We’ve seen a few of their trucks, Autocars in fact, on this site before but there can never be enough.
Matt sends in this awesome shot of Gerosa rig loaded to capacity with a Bucyrus Erie 40H. This behemoth represents the first generation of B-E hydraulic machines and was most likely powered by a 12V-71 Detroit Diesel. The hills were alive with music back in those days!
Thanks for the share Matt! If you have an Autocar you would like to see featured in Autocar Mondays email eric@dailydieseldose.com today!
For all you White GMC/Volvo experts out there can you tell us if the green pencil graphic on this truck was a factory scheme or was that Suit Kote original? Here we see it on another truck of their fleet.
