"Rooster cruiser" & "chicken lights"

Never seen a truck loaded down with live chickens or turkeys?

 

Ahh. That's cause today's chicken hauler ain't what they used to be. If you are relatively young and didn't grow up in the industry I guess you never saw what kind of trucks those guys used to run.

Anyway the short version is chicken haulers are what started the trend. They had a rep for fast stretched out trucks (rooster cruisers) lit up with a hundred lights with big radios. Unlike today where they run beat up pos trucks just slightly better than a container truck out of Savannah or miami. Just another example of a segment of trucking that really took a nose dive.

I'm just thankful the poultry guys started the trend and not the pork guys or id be driving a pig cruiser decked out in sow lights.

 

Years ago, there was a battle for highway supremacy. The rooster cruiser vs the bull hauler vs the stagecoach. A rooster cruiser looked like the bullhauler except it pulled the stainless steel reefer with matching lights.

 

Grandpa what happened next...(on a serious note it does sounds interesting)

 

Song about a chicken hauler.

 

Well, I had a rooster cruiser with all the lights. The long wheelbase thing was a west coast deal. You didn’t see this in the East back then. The million chicken lights was more east coast and the long frame and neon paint scheme was more western.

The chicken lights actually served a purpose. People would see you a long ways off. Huge glow that would light up the road way and shoulder without blinding anyone.

 

Drove for years out of the usual chicken plants in the southeast to California, and Chicago etc. you had to have a fast truck since there as a 72 hour kill sticker on the loads to the wholesalers.
379 Pete with a 3406 Cat turned to 525 HP and a 48’ Utility with a shiny hiny.
And a member in good standing with the American Chicken Haulers Association!!