Category Archives: Mack

Canadian Co-Op Caper

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Back again…. To much going on to blog at the mo, so please bear with me. If I could I’d be doing this as the full time job, you know that.

Plus side for you lot is that we have a new roving reporter living and trucking from Regina in Saskatchewan, Canada. When life in Suffolk, England gets to non-plus and you and the family want I new challenge, then the wonder of being a mother trucker, means you can apply your skill set pretty well anywhere in the world. So in this case, the destination of choice was Canada. A few months waiting for permits and visas and then off they went, off to a new life in mid-Canada just north of the US border

Not everyone’s cup of tea I’m sure, but driving a fuel tanker has lots of benefits, not to mention the danger money! The Super B tankers operated by the Canadian Co-Op Foundation can carry 62,500 litres of diesel or 71,000 gas/ethanol. The two trailer combinations are about 120 foot from the front of the tractor to the rear of the trailer combination called a super B. The job entails delivering fuel to mostly all commercial delivery points, along with a few farms. For now he will be based in Regina xn the relatively local areas (by local you can still clock up 1100km in a days work), until further exams are passed and then the trips will get longer, opening up the whole of western Canada up to Alaska.

For now a day cab Mack Anthem is the daily steed, with the hope of a bigger sleeper as and when the longer trips become the norm. To be fair the sleeper on these trucks are huge compared to the previous European sleepers, so I’m sure he will cope when the time comes. This is just a taster and hopefully it will become a regular update rather than a one or two off!! Thanks AS and family.

Merry Christmas Bloggers!!

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The Duck is Back

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What a legend of a truck and what a great looking model! This is a release from IXO Models in 1:43 scale. I’m sure you all know the film, but the truck is of course the one and only Rubber Duck Mack R Series. What an iconic truck, so I jumped at the chance to get my hands on one.

Now if like me you’d like one, the IXO contact in the UK is a very helpful man by the name of Andy Mills and can be found in various model groups and of course on the Convoy film group. You better be quick, for £42 delivered to a UK address, Andy will post worldwide, they are selling fast as you would imagine! I’ll post a couple of photos of the actual model when it arrives.

While we are at it, feel free to post your favourite Convoy film quotes!!

Happy Convoy Day!

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Melissa : Why do they call you the Duck?

Rubber Duck : Because it rhymes with “luck.” See, my daddy always told me to be just like a duck. Stay smooth on the surface and paddle like the devil underneath

Melissa : But they’re all following you.

Rubber Duck : No, they ain’t. I’m just in front!

Rubber Duck : Here’s the plan: When we get to the pass, we’re gonna put on our fish costumes, pass out the Vaseline® an’ an extra ration o’ rum for the men. That should do it.

Belgian Belle’s

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So there I was, digging a hole, hole in the ground, big and sort of round, it’s was flat at the bottom and the sides were steep……..but I digress (if you get that you’re as sad as me!). While out in the garden I checked my phone for some much needed garden advice from a pal, when I noticed I had a message on Instagram. Truckblog Instagram gets looked at a lot and plenty of views but very, very few comments by comparison. Intrigued by who it was, I opened the message only to find it was from very well known Belgian transport company, Sitra Group – yes that’s right the massive orange operator from Belgium messaged me, I’m honoured!

Sitra have obviously been bored during Lock Down and found my Instagram and taken a liking to it. Who ever does Sitra’s social media, likes my insta page and decided to message me. How very nice of them and if any other large European companies want to follow or get in touch, my Instagram account can be found by clicking this link TruckblogUK and Sitra’s by clicking this link; sitragroup.

For those who don’t know them or don’t know the name, Sitra are a family owned firm from Belgium and have been operating since the 1960’s. They have operated all types of vehicles from fridges to tankers. Sitra sent me these two awesome photos of days gone by, who knew the Belgians were big Mack fans?! Sitra also have a history section on their website so if you want to read more then please click HERE.

As for these two trucks, obviously both frigo’, so I asked Sitra what they did and where they got too and as with any proper, successful European haulier, anything anywhere springs to mind! Here’s what they told me;

“These trucks mainly drove fridge trailers, with frozen and fresh cargo, across entire Europe: UK, Italy, Sicilia, France, Poland, Romania, Benelux, Germany, Greece, Spain,.. But also countries as Russia, Turkye, Kazachstan…
We transport goods like: meat, vegetables, fruit, dairy, chocolate…”

A lorry load of Belgian chocolate to anywhere you like, sounds like good work to me! Hopefully we may here a little more from my new friends at Sitra, but for now I hope you like these two photos.

Big Boys Toys

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I have a son who is 5 years old and for a couple of years now he has been the proud owner of a Bruder Toys fire engine. It’s a big bugger and takes up a fair amount of space but what I really admire are the working parts. The turn-table ladder extends up to over a metre, the stabiliser legs extend out and take the weight off the wheels and best of all there is a fully functioning and usable water pump that shoots water out of the long rubber hose. If there was a small fire in our house I have no doubt that this machine would easily cope with the emergency. If you watch the first video above then could easily be forgiven for thinking that it’s a promotional video about the Arocs range by Mercedes-Benz!

This leads me nicely onto another chance mention of Bruder Toys I had on a training course at work. One of our top trainers who works with people all across the UK and is is regular liaison and consultation with those at world headquarters in Germany, made me aware of the Bruder videos and was quite insistent that I have a good watch. Now I’m please to say that following Mr Nick Smiths advice, my son and I spent the best part of 30 minutes (father and son bonding time of course Mrs Blog!) watching through loads of videos on the Bruder YouTube channel, including the tractor and combine harvester ones, you’ve got to have a look. Not only are they big boys toys in the true sense of the phrase, they really are, or could be a useful working truck! If only they came radio controlled, now there’s an idea Bruder, then you really could have a fleet of working vehicles to help with the gardening or building jobs. The cement mixer can even pour out its load and the gritter below does actually spread grit out the back, what more could you want?? Oh you want it big enough so your gorilla hands don’t stop you playing, well as the 8 wheelers are over half a metre long I don’t think you’ll have an issue.

It just so happens that I have a birthday coming up in the next couple of weeks and for the first time in a good while I think I will have something affordable that I actually want on my birthday list. For boy or girls, for truck lovers, young farmers or what ever, I strongly recommend having a look at Bruder. If I get one for my birthday then I’m sure said truck will last for a good number of years and will get a few metres under its wheels on family jobs and beach holidays! Great work Bruder, now how about the radio controlled versions??…….

 

My Best Truck of 2014

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For me this is the best truck I have seen in 2014. It might not be the newest, it might not be most practical for most of Europe and it certainly won’t be everyones taste but for me, spot on.

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If you live in the UK and haven’t been to one I strongly advise that you make 2015 your first trip to a European truck show, the standard of trucks is amazing. I can’t deny that the trucks here in the UK are getting better and better but the Europeans just seem to have it right, they all look good. To me the best trucks have always been out of reach of what I could afford or achieve and the T560 is no different. We all joke about winning the lottery but a Tcab would be very close to the top of my list. It’s blue, it’s got two sets of pipes, it’s got a subtle custom interior and enough lights to make it look good but not over the top. As with anything I would make a few subtle changes as I’d want to put my mark on it.

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2014 has seen a big rise in the blogs popularity through all mediums, the Facebook page, twitter and the good old fashioned http://www.truckblog.co.uk website. I’m not going to link to any of those this time round as I’m sure you all could do with a break from the ruthless links and plugs for the blog. I have no idea where the blog will be in another 12 months, hopefully you’ll all still send me stuff, photos, info and the odd piece of trucking memorabilia to decorate TBHQ and I’ll keep bugging the TV companies in the vague hope they’ll see that we need Truckblog TV!

Hopefully I’ll be visiting, Truckfest Peterborough, Crowfield Truck Rally, Gathering of the Griffin, Retro Truck Show at Gaydon, more than likely (and hopefully) Truckstar Festival at Assen as my foreign trip, although I have heard on the grapevine that there is quite a convoy of English motors heading to the International Trucker & Country Show held at Interlaken, CH. I have always wanted to go James?? Finally if the offer is still there then I might just make it to Belfast too.

Anyway thank you for following and thank you for making the blog what it is, without your contributions I’m sure you’d all be bored silly of 143’s, MAN TGL LX’s and Mercedes-Benz photos! As we all do secretly say now and again Keep on Trucking!

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Big Rig Videos – New Vids!

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For those of us on the more regulated side of the pond, we can only dream of Big Pete’s, K’Whoppers, Bulldog Macks (with or without a can on the back!) and the like, we have to put up with our length regulated, cab-over trucks (for most of us). If any of you are anything like me then I long to go back to the States now I’ve got other the need to go to Disneyland, I’d rather go to Florida to meet up with man behind the camera and CB interviews of Big Rig Videos, Christopher. I love just watching trucks rolling along the motorway as it is, but Big Rig Videos brings us all the trucks and big rig from the US, well all those that and trucking up and down Florida on their way to and from where ever. For example the big orange Peterbilt from Fox Trucking above is on a fairly decent length trip from Denver, Colorado down to Miami, Florida. That’s just over 2,000 miles and something like 8 states, for comparison, it’s virtually the same distance as Manchester, England to Istanbul, Turkey.

As its Sunday, then why not get the roast dinner out the way, then put your feet up and spend an hour or so enjoying some of the videos on the Big Rig Videos YouTube Channel. Well worth the time I can tell you. The Gold Digga Pete is another quality looking truck that has been loved and cared for by its owner and lavished with all kinds of custom parts and paint work. The HD quality of the videos makes them all the more enjoyable as does the odd burble of American muscle, listen to the Caterpillar engine purring away in the first 30 seconds of the video above, just awesome! Please make sure you check Big Rig Videos out at some point;

Big Rig Videos Website – Click HERE
Big Rig Videos YouTube – Click HERE
Big Rig Videos Facebook – Click HERE

Last but not least, I will put up a video I have put on the blog before, but for me it is one of the best looking Amercian rigs I have seen. Plain and simple and in a lovely deep purple colour, the only way the video could have been slightly better, would have been catching the rig loaded, but you can’t have everything. Keep on trucking – 10-4 over and out!!

Ozzie Big Macks – by Huppo

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A quick bit of Ozzie history. A few nicely restored Mack’s, bought to us by one of the blogs roving reporters from Australia, Joe Hupp;

Golden Oldies time - some special old Macks

This is a Mack B-61 (6 cylinder) – seen here dressed up in the fleet colours of Jeffsan Plant Hire of Agnes Banks, NSW, Australia…..”Misty Blue”, as she is known, is a very popular truck for truck photographers like myself.

Golden Oldies time - some special old Macks

Next is of a Mack B-615RS (V8) – this one belongs to a one eyed and very fastidious Mack-man, Fred Goldspring of Rutherford, NSW, Australia. Fred has done a marvellous job in restoring this truck and I am proud to say that I have met him – he has every receipt for the truck from the time the truck was first delivered through to restoration receipts and many more!

Golden Oldies time - some special old Macks

Finally an iconic truck in Australia….this is the legendary Mack SuperLiner MkII (depicted by the square headlights) – there’s only one truck even more legendary here than a standard SuperLiner and that is the BiCentennial SuperLiner! There were 16 BiCentennial SuperLiners built in 1988 to celebrate 200 years of Australia – the man who owned Room 500 has a few of them!