Trucks Are Beautiful

[RINC]

Originally Posted by special-K

The trucks have gotten better back east but the west has the best!

Well yea ! We has the space to truck it up out West.

[powerdriver 1958]

More work related pic's . Digging thru old photos

[powerdriver 1958]

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[KQQL IT]

Cool A model. Ex hood or short?
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[powerdriver 1958]

Ext . 1976 KT 525 Cummins 525 HP at 2100 , 1650 ft. lbs. at 1300 under the hood , 5 and 4 . Only reason to back off the throttle was heat , The transmission temp gauges would just keep climbing .

[KQQL IT]

Nice truck.
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[KQQL IT]

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[CREWCABGMC]

Everybody should know this truck!!!

[CREWCABGMC]

POWER DRIVER, I think the company I drive for is just to the east of your place!!

[palerider]

[KQQL IT]

That is awesome.

[special-K]

What a brute...I mean beaut...I mean brute...beaut...brute...?!!

[C10 - C90 Bill]

I agree. Real nice '63.

Not that far from me either.

[mosesburb]

I guess this one fits into this thread too.

We took a little trip this past summer (detailed in the link to my build thread in my sig line) and we found ourselves at Ellsworth AFB outside of Rapid City SD. We took the bus tour of the base and while we didn't get to see much of anything cool, they do have a Minuteman II missile silo on base.

Now if you're thinking all the Minuteman II missile silos were destroyed with the START treaty you are right, they did. This particular silo on base was a training facility and thus was not required to be destroyed. It also had stairs to access the silo instead of having to go through the "B" plug like the silo operators had to back in the day. So we go down in the silo and check out the mock missile and support equipment. Not too much to see really, but we are starting to get some redemption for the money spent to take the tour.

Missile in its hole:



There is actually a ton of neat history about these missiles and equipment used to support them. It is also very impressive when you think about the engineers who created them. No computers, just huge brains and slide-rules. Good luck pulling that off today.

So it's cool. I enjoyed it, but in my opinion, the coolest part of the missile silo area were the support vehicles on display up top (what can I say, I have a thing for trucks??)



This was a purpose-built missile transport vehicle. It was built by GMC to haul the missile (minus the warhead) from the manufacturing facility to the silo site. Very unique. I made sure I was the first person out of the silo so I could check it out a little before we had to re-board the clapped-out shuttle bus to continue the "tour".

Front shot:



Interior shot (check out the steering wheel--not a crack in it!!):



Seeing all of that high-style carpeting over the engine cover got me to thinking it must have an old Detroit Diesel in it. Maybe an 8V71 or even a 12V71?? This is a large truck and those missiles ain't exactly light. I wandered around the other side and found a cover over the rear of the engine that I could monkey with and get open to allow it's power secret to be told. I was very surprised to see two distributors looking back at me!! Yep, the GMC 702" V12 gas engine. Sure didn't expect THAT!! I know they were extensively used back then, but so were the 71's. Interesting. So I kept wandering around (time on site is finite, but I'm not sure how finite, so I have to get as many pics as possible as quickly as possible).

It is a twin screw with a tag axle on the rear with two steer axles up front. One interesting thing I noticed were tubes in front of the lead trailer axle:



I opened one of the cans above the tube and found trace amounts of sand in the reservoirs. Sanding the tires for traction on slippery surfaces. I found it interesting that this was the only position that got the sanders. No sanders on the power axles or steer axles--only on the trailer.

Another curious cat had followed me over to the transporter and he swung open one of the rear trailer doors. We were immediately hit with the smell of fiberglass resin. Amazing the thing still stunk of fiberglass after all these years.



So at this point we are getting yelled at by the tour guide and other passengers (namely our wives), so we reluctantly head back to the 6.9L diesel powered chariot.

The museum itself is great. If you ever find yourself in the area it is well worth the time to check out (use your own judgment on the base tour). It is free to get into the regular museum and there is a TON of stuff to see there. I've been to pay-museums that were not as nice as this one. Very cool place.

[Katrina/10]

Very cool missle rig. That steering wheel is straight off a 55 pickup.

[palerider]

cool diggin the shag carpet 2

[KQQL IT]

[KQQL IT]

Better pic

[JPBrecheisen]

1960 Chevrolet C60 Viking. 29,000 original miles.

[C10 - C90 Bill]

One of the nicest ones I've even seen that wasn't a Fire Truck. With some dents taken out and some new paint, it would be a real beauty.

Bill

[palerider]

I luv those 1960 model hoods cool

[meatwagon83]

Originally Posted by CREWCABGMC

Everybody should know this truck!!!

cletus snow!!!

[powerdriver 1958]

Originally Posted by meatwagon83

cletus snow!!!

And Fred

[JPBrecheisen]

Originally Posted by C10 - C90 Bill

One of the nicest ones I've even seen that wasn't a Fire Truck. With some dents taken out and some new paint, it would be a real beauty.

Bill

Thanks.

I'm rather proud and excited about it. I always wanted one of these old medium duties. I stumbled on this one sort of by accident. Another guy bought it because it was in such good shape, except he had plans to pull the cab and hood for a C10 project. He was selling the remainder of the truck when I came across the ad. It seemed to nice and complete to allow it to be parted out. I made a deal with the guy for the whole truck. I sort of felt like it needed to be saved. It only has 29,000 original miles, and worked at a flower nursery, so it never really got abused much.

I'm tracking down items I need for it. I have plans to fix the dent and pretty it up a bit. Just going to keep it all original. I just want to track down some spare parts for the front end. Seems like that's the hard to find part area on this one so far. Everything is good in it right now, but I want to have spares just in case.

[KQQL IT]

Neat save.