what was it like

My 1st driving job, I drove an old cab over Freight shaker, the only part of the truck that had air was the tires, NO air ride seat, air ride nothing!, No a/c, Hardest riding truck I have ever been in, trying to get a hold of someone for load info, was like trying to pull teeth on a alligator, no cell phone, no QUALCOMM, no GPS, But it was a adventure, Now, I've been to truck stops to hear young rookie driver complain on how hard it is to be a OTR driver, With their cells, laptops, GPS's, TV's, DVD's, And just have to shake my head, Now I know back in 88' when I started driving, there where cell phones, but back then, the only people that had them where the more well of people, I couldn't afford that bill, I know because I got one of those old phone in a bag (who remembers those), And the monthly charges where way out of affordability

 

Weren't car phones all the rage in the late 80's/early 90's? I remember my mom had one installed in her car in 1991. She was a realtor so she needed it. I'm surprised trucking companies didn't bother installing them in trucks to make the driver's life easier.

 

I remember witnessing my first "mobile phone" call in a business meeting in 1990. The guy came into our conference room toting this huge brick like shoulder bag and set it on the floor. All of a sudden a LOUD phone rings... it's in the bag. He picks up the HUGE walkie talkie handset off the top of the brick battery and starts talking. He explained later he was paying $2 per minute to talk local and up to $5 per minute for long distance or international calls. He BRAGGED about how he was spending almost $3000 per month on his phone bill.

He went out of business 3 months later.

 

Yeah, in the late 80's through the early 90's - if you had a cell phone and weren't a business mogul; you were an international drug smuggler...

 

My mother had a car phone in the late 80's as well, believe she got it in 88' or 89', around this same time, they came out with what was called the brick, very large phone, about the size of a brick, Lepton1 is correct on the price per minute, Myine was around $2,25 per minute, my first bill was around $1900. had the phone turned off

 

Yup, the Motorola Brick.

View attachment 56295

 

Yes, I recall it was a Motorola BRICK. I could swear it had a pull cord to start the 2 stroke motor, but memory fails me...

 

you getting old losing your memory axle back then were 10/32/32/gross was 73280 length was 55ft east of mississippi but if you was like me weight and length didn't matter i was not going to be crossing any scales anyway.

 

All I honestly remember,

it was hotter than heck in the summer.

And colder than heck in the winter.




Other than that, it paid pretty good.