Old days of trucking vs. New days?

Those were old when I was a kid in the 70s!

 

back in my day, cabovers ruled...some had a/c, but even with a/c, you still roasted as the heat would still get into the cabs due to very poor insulations.

jake brakes were nearly non-existant, as was power steering, we had "Armstrong steering".

i had to stop at rest areas to make phone calls, and dial something like 87 numbers on my phone card, wait for the operator, THEN dial the number i wanted, and hope and pray the line wasn't busy...!!!!!!

when i'd go to a truck stop, there would be a "phone room", and i'd hope and pray at least ONE phone was available and WORKING, and start the LOOONG number dialing process all over again to "phone home", and hope and pray the teen girls were NOT tying up the phone for me to speak to mama.

showers were available many times and were actually FREE, then you had to buy at least 50 gallons of fuel before you got a free one.

the food wasn''t really bad, and it was cheaper.

 

Yea they were, but I drove some oooold stuff back then. lol
I actually never drove on e
with the belt drive, but I had an uncle that had a couple of them when I was a kid, too young to drive.
He retired in 76, and the reason that is easy to remember is he always drove and made a good living with old cabovers mostly, when he retired he went and bought a brand new 76 359 and parked it in his yard. lol

 

Air assist steering is a thing of the past too, as is the switch to turn off the front brakes. Iirc they actually outlawed that one.

 

Air driven wipers and those low air flags that would drop down. Forgot the name. Air driven windows. Drove a Mack that had 3 sticks.

 

Pump ball washer fluid on the floor next to the brights.
Split rim wheels.
Spring suspension.
Bias ply tires.
Manual mirrors that were not heated.
A fan or two on the dash.
AM/FM w 8 track if you was lucky.
Listening to Dudley or Sovine.
CB radios, talking thru the night across states at a time.
Maybe you had a pull up throttle control or just used an adjustable bar.
Always liked the pay phones on the pole for trucks.

 

IMO, the cell phones made the biggest change. You all already know about the payphones at the restaurant booths. Thing is, you got directions and all your info over the phone. So, you actually had to be able to listen. And you actually had to be able to read road signs and follow directions.

Today, we have smart phones. And so, now they can hire that dumb@55 and he/she will do just fine for the most part...

...until something happens and dumby is required to think. And dumby, a stranger to thought and ideas and problem solving, goes blank.

 

Split rims
spring suspension.
bias ply tires
fan on dash
cb's all trucks
hand throttles
air wipers and air windows.
and if I really looked I might find an old sovine, dudley and even gene tracy tape or two. lol They would be cassette though.

I still have and use trucks that have one or more of these. lol
I was inspected last year by a very young dot. when he ask to turn on the wipers, I just turned on the drivers side. He ask why the passenger one didn't work, and couldn't hardly belive it came with seperate switches. lol

Lots of trucks up here have fans on the dashes, helps keep the windshield defrosted when it is 50 below. lol

 

Wig Wag

 

LOL...Ever get bored on a long flat stetch and try to get the old air driven wipers to synchronize?
No music radio, nobody on the CB to run with, certainly no computer games...trying to get the wipers moving the same pace was cheap entertainment.