Am I the only one that thinks this?

When were macks ever cheap, back in the 70's and 80's macks cost more than a comparable speced pete or KW..The old macks had their place, and were good and tough, fairly tough on the driver too, I never really considered them a road truck, but don't know much about newer ones.
All macks were not built with mack components, the west coast macks could have any motor, tranny and rears that any other truck could be bought with. I have an old 74 model RL that has a detroit, 13spd and page suspension. I bought a parts truck for it years ago that had a cummins in it.

You kind of have that backwards don't you, for ever trucks could be specced with the same components, today you are severely limited and most make their own engines now. You can no longer pick which engine you want, like you always could before.

 

Well I only have six Macks, but I'm a firm believer in their quality.

 

I know nothing about the ewer macks. The old b and r models, I was around some, even drove a superlinr some, all of those trucks were work trucks in my way of thinking and were good at that, tough old birds, and that camel back set up was also tough on the driver. lol
There is no mack dealer in Alaska and has not been since the pipeline days, if they even had one back then. The state did buy some a few years back for dump trucks.

 

For all y'all that say Peterbilts are ugly... Y'all must never have seen the old Needle Nose Pete's... Tell me thats not one sexy truck!!!

 

that is the problem with being cheap.
i was lucky enough to never have to worry about cheap people. the one i worked for i was only with for a week. all the Macks i ran were top of the line, just like the Kenworths the current bossman buys.

 

Seems like owners/ drivers take that new Pete and start buying all those chrome decorations and do-dads from the Pete catalogs, and chrome shops, with their hard earned money. Looks shiny for about a year or two, then the rust starts to show up, and the truck starts to look tired. After the first or 2nd Repo, the next owner or driver has no interest in keeping up with the ‘supposed’ stainless steel chrome junk, and is only concerned with paid miles. The rusting continues, I see it all the the time, and the beauty queen starts looking like an ugly old lady. (No offense to the ladies in the audience) Some of the best looking longs hoods I’ve seen are Pete’s and KWs that were basically strippers, clean and neat. No add ons to age prematurely. I drove an underpowered old, big hood Brockway, with a screaming Jimmy 8V71 (oops I’m showing my age) Got more looks and questions about it, than any other truck I’ve driven. Soft riding like a big old Caddy. The fact that I’m half deaf, is a direct result of that truck. Goes back to that old rule, if you take care of your equipment, it will take care of you!

 

I know of one V8 S500 mack on the farm it still runs, but if anything happens to it mechanically in that engine you would probably be machining parts for it. IF you can find the particulars. In that area there was a machine shop that did pretty much everything for a price. I don't know if they are still in business or not. Just a thought.

The older macks are the ones you want, not the more recent ones being put out. I suppose they might have a few things still but we'll see. A local company went all in on macks not too long ago.

 

anything built before 06 in not bad. the 07 and newer macks are big problems.
my first real truck driving job was in a 63 B-815.
after that i "moved up" to a 79 DM-800 for 15 years.
i was picked to run the B-815 because at the time my "car" was a 49 international L-190 single axle tractor with the big 6 gas engine and a quad box.
since i already knew the quad, they put me into the B cause it also had a quad.
i ran that old dog allover the place for 3 years and put close to 100,000 miles on it before they sold it.

 

Newer Macks like my 2016 and 2018 ones are tough tough tough!!!
Not a single problem with any of the six.
I know many people who have several from 2015 up to 2019, all are problem free. Unlike most other brands that within a year of the abuse we give a truck here are starting to show glitches. Not arguing that Mack had a few years making some garbage trucks, they sure did I agree. A 2015 to current year Granite is as solid a truck as made by anyone.

 

People saying Pete’s and kw are ugly but they must be the 1% that think that. The resale value numbers and how sought after they are here tell a different story. That’s why I buy them I made over 20k profit on my last w900L plus ran it for a year and made money every month. Freightliner classics are a good truck but flimsy and I have one I can’t sell, even tho it’s a flat top with Detroit 12.7 nobody wants it, Same with international Volvo Mack etc no resale value, even tho they are good trucks but just plain nothin special drive ok but not great, rough ride etc