Last October, the Dutch branch of the Mack family held their yearly reunion. Junior arrived in style, chauffeured by a 1977 R 611 ST. From 1977 to 1992, the R-series 6×4 tractor worked for the US Army in the UK. In 2009, it crossed the North Sea and settled down in the Netherlands.
Meet junior, a very rare 1937 Mack Jr 1.5 ton stake body truck, imported by Mack specialist Martin Monné, back in 1994. The current owner bought it in 2010 and started a thorough restoration, with a marvellous end result.
This series of light Macks was built by the REO Motor Car Company, the trucks were powered by REO’s Gold Crown S 228 six-cylinder engine. A Speedwagon all the way.
1960 Mack N 68 4×2 dump truck.
1954 Mack LT ‘The Triple Stick Shifter’ 6×4 tractor.
1980 Mack F 786 ST 6×4 tractor (first registration in NL). More information and two videos right here.
1985 Mack Super-Liner 6×4 tractor, powered by the truck maker’s own E9 engine, a 16.4 liter V8. Better move over!
1989 Mack Ultra-Liner MH 613 6×4 tractor (first registration in NL). The Ultra-Liner, introduced in 1982, was Mack’s last big cabover model. Makes sense, what could possibly supersede an Ultra-Liner?
Here’s the same MH 613, towing an extendable semi-trailer (photo courtesy of Handels- en adviesbureau Monné).
Nothing to go on, but I guess this must be a Mack RD 800 series from the eighties. The tridem’s pusher axle does a push-up.
1978 Mack R 685 T 4×2 tractor (first registration in NL).
1961 Mack B 81 SX 6×4 dump truck. Anyone familiar with Millerick Trucking from East Boston?
2001 Mack CH 613 6×4 tractor (first registration in NL).
Other brands from the US and Europe also received a warm welcome.
Like this Cummins powered, 1954 Peterbilt 281 4×2 tractor.
What a special treat, a 1944 FWD model HAR-01 wrecker. FWD as in Four-Wheel-Drive, not Front-Wheel-Drive.
‘A handsome line of truly great trucks that haul longer for less’
1968 Autocar DC 9364 Construcktor 6×4 heavy haulage (ballast) tractor in Mammoet livery, powered by a 14 liter Cummins.
A Scania LKT 141 V8 6×4 tractor ‘Aussie-style’ from the late seventies (or maybe 1980/1981). Unlike the usual Euro-cabover Scanias, this heavy tractor has a set-forward front axle. A specialty for the South American and Australian market.
1977 (year-built) Volvo F-88 4×2 flatbed truck, pre-curtainsider era (the idea behind it is the same).
Its smaller brother, a 1971 Volvo F-86 4×2 tractor.
Today’s last guest star, a 1981 FTF FS-7.20.D 6×4 tractor, powered by a 6V92T Detroit Diesel two-stroke engine. The design of the Motor Panels tilt cab from the UK still looks remarkably fresh, 45 years after its introduction.
Some of the tractor’s other main components: a Kirkstall front axle, Steyr drive axles and an Eaton-Fuller transmission. Everything put together in the Netherlands, by the same company that previously imported and assembled….Macks.
Related articles:
Quarryside Classics: Mack R-Series – Rock Solid Since 1966 by PN
Curbside Classic: Mack RM-Series 4×4 – The Really Tough Mack by PN
Vintage Truck: Mack N-61 Thermodyne Diesel – It Only Looks Like A Ford C-Series by PN
Vintage Trucks: Mack LT – Mack’s Big And Burly West Coast Truck by PN
So funny and neat to see Macks in European livery. Thanks for bringing them to us! I didn’t realize that they used a Ford cab on some. My current company has fleet of Mack sleepers. Some new, some a few years old. Not as well liked as the ones from 10 years ago due to constant electrical issues and too many forced regen cycles.
These are lovey!!
What a great collection, with beautiful restorations. Such iconic designs. Thank you for sharing!
I had forgotten about the Mack N Series which used the Ford C Series cab. A quick refresher from Paul’s post last year about these trucks showed that fewer than 2000 were built by Mack. Quite long odds that one would exist in the Netherlands and still in the hands of a collector. Is the Ford version more common in Europe? I still see a few at work here occasionally. Of the other trucks, the FWD and the cabover Volvo’s and the Aussie-style Scania are very appealing. Thanks for sharing these!
The Mack N-series was actually assembled here by the Floor company (the first F in FTF, the article’s last tractor). Some got a custom built cab in NL, though these still resembled the US cab very much, naturally.
Google-image-search ‘floor mack n’ and you get multiple hits.
The Ford C-series was non existent, I never saw one. Not then, not now. Remember UK/Euro Ford trucks and tractors were built by Ford in the UK. Their Ford D-series -operating in the same segment as the C in North America- was a very common sight in NL and other countries on the continent.
Interesting, thanks for the quick reply. In some ways the later Ford Cargo that replaced the C Series here in the US was the inverse, a European design that came west over the Atlantic (though US Cargo’s were built in Brazil). It was very sophisticated looking when it arrived in 1986, though it was already 5 years old.
The Ford C series cab was made by Bud and in addition to Mack a slmilar version was used by GM for medium duty cabovers. In the opposite direction the Motor Panels cab on the FTF looks like the cab Foden in th UK was using in the 80s after being acquired by Paccar.
Once upon a time, Paccar had plans to enter the European (continental) market with Caterpillar powered Fodens. Bad idea. Historically, heavy UK trucks and the European market don’t go well together, mildly put.
Acquiring DAF in 1996 turned out to be a much better idea.
What a collection! Thanks for the trip! Attached is a 1941 Mack Fire Truck. I saw it in 2013. It is original to the North Adams (Massachusetts) Fire Department and has been restored.
I’ll try that again…
Thanks for posting!
Some very impressive trucks, thanks for posting. I always liked the Mack N, they were never common and seeing one was always a surprise as at first they appeared to be Fords. Speaking of the Ford C, no reason for Ford to sell them in Europe. The D series was designed for the European market and quite successful. Both were suppsoed to have been replaced by the Cargo series, but I can say that truck never had the following the C series did in the U.S. If anything the larger Isuzu, UD, and Hino cabovers took that market.
I have been getting lots of up close and personal time with some of Mack’s CH trucks. There is not a lot in the way of creature comforts, but I think they will be running long after many newer trucks have been scrapped.
Lots of nice trucks, the FWD is extra special. I think the last time an actual FWD truck was built (FWD bought Seagrave, and now the plant basically makes Seagrave Fire Trucks) was around 1991 or so, for snowplow service.