A view of the Past, Vintage Photos

Talk about equipment, the 1st heavy duty truck I drove was a 1963 IH R-190 tandem dump truck with a 450 gas motor and a 5x3 set of sticks. It was for an asphalt company, and we only worked like 8 months a year, so the equipment sat a lot. It had Hendrickson "rubber pad" rear suspension ( no springs) and "wedge brakes". It was so slow, with a load you'd never even get in the last gear. I noticed, it didn't stop too well, and once I couldn't stop and blew thru a stop sign. The mechanic found only 2 working brakes, and the bushings in the back were so worn out, the axles "walked" so bad on turns, the inside of the tires rubbed on the frame. That truck taught me how to REALLY drive a truck. It's amazing nobody got killed with that thing.

 

Semi Retired, I can totally picture you blowing through that stop sign with the old 1963 Cornbinder!

@ColoradoGreen

Thank you for a very well thought out and insightful post.

 

My grandpa was an old time farmer, heavy equipment operator, truck driver and a whiz of a mechanic. I can remember a couple times listening in on conversations with him and his old time buddies. Ocassionally one of them would say " they sure don't make them like they used to". My grandpa would lean over to me and in a low voice say "Thank God they don't".

 

Top photo is my great great grandfather. I don't know when this was taken. All I know about him was he owned the ice business which was based in new york.
Bottom is my great grandfather and his friend. He started as an ice man then with wide spread refrigerator use he moved to milk based in california

 

This is my great grandfather. Not sure when this was taken I'll have to talk to my grandma.

 

Shanman, thank you for posting those.
I love the old truck pictures. But what I enjoy even more is the truck pictures with the drivers and helpers in the picture. The pride that these guys have is an honor to witness.

 

Lastkid you are welcome. Those men sure did have pride in their rides!!! It's a big difference from most today. Look how nice they dressed.

 

Ok, that's just cool! I assume this was home built, great job!
Screw the tree house, I would've rather had one of those

 

I built the truck in 1970 when the tall kid was a baby. In the picture he is 5 and brother was so little Mom was hiding behind the truck holding the door so he wouldn't fall out. I rebuilt it for the 200th. birthday of the USA in 1976. The little guy had taken over by the. Now big brother is 46 and little brother is 43. I loved trucking so much back then, this was what I did on my off days.