We’ve given the near-immortal Ford C-Series a lot of love here over the years; it was built in large quantities for 33 years. But it had a shy cousin, the Mack N-Series, which shared the same cab built by Budd, but was only built some five years, and only 1,945 times. Here’s one of the heavy-duty versions, an N-61 with a Thermodyne diesel.
For a frame of reference, here’s the Ford C-Series. Ford designed the cab, but outsourced the production to Budd. I don;t know the exact details of that arrangement, but apparently Ford okayed Budd selling it to a few other more minor players.
That included Mack, FWD and Walter; that’s a FWD 8×6 concrete mixer.
The Mack as well as the Ford found use as fire trucks, but of course Fords outnumbered them by a large margin.
There was also a medium-duty 40 series, available with both Mack gas or diesel engines, which were branded “Thermodyne”. That was Mack’s second generation diesels, after the indirect-injection Lenova diesels. The Thermodyne was replaced by the legendary Maxydine in 1966.
It appears that a number of the N Series were exported.
I remember seeing a few back east, and was surprised the first time I did. I though maybe someone had dressed up their Ford to look like a Mack. Then I saw a few more. If you’ve never seen one, as noted earlier, they were not common, with onl5 1,945 built between 1957 and 1962.
But I cannot remember seeing its predecessor, the D-Series.
It arrived in 1955, and was already replaced by the N Series in 1957, so maybe Mack wasn’t too happy with it. It did have a rather odd quirk:
Instead of tilting, the cab was raised vertically, via hand-pumped hydraulic cylinders. Seems a bit cumbersome and expensive, and probably explains why Mack wanted the Budd cab. Only 832 of these were built.
Related:
That D series cab looks straight up dangerous, one of the support rods broke it would crush you. Not to mention hitting your head constantly and it being dark under there.
The Dutch Haukes hauling company (“Internationale transporten”) was a loyal Mack customer in the sixties. That Mack N61S was assembled by Floor in the Netherlands (also known for their trailers, semi-trailers and heavy, Detroit Diesel powered FTF trucks and tractors).
The owner/creator of the Haukes-history website doesn’t allow to use pictures without permission, so here’s the link to an overview of Haukes’ Mack N-series by Floor:
http://haukeskekerdomnostalgie.nl/jaren-60/
Fast forward 20 years, to the early eighties. Exactly the same set-up as the Haukes N-series truck with the full trailer, built by the same company that assembled the Macks of yore. On the grille, the FTF nameplate.
Wow, more obscure history .
When I was a Fleet Mechanic I worked on a few tilt cabs that were missing the safety strut, scary .
-Nate
The Mack N’s cab was not exactly like the Ford C cab as most if not all the Mack’s had a large engine doghouse between the seats extending to the dash. This was necessary as the Mack N was powered by relatively large in-line gasoline and diesel engines, while the Ford C was designed around gasoline V-8’s and small in-line 6’s. The Ford C usually had a 3 man bench seat and an unobstructed floor in front of the seat as their (smaller) engines were mounted lower and rearward compared to the Mack. Although I can’t verify it, I have been told by Mack experts that Mack bought the exterior cab panels, doors and roof stamping from Budd (with Ford’s blessing) and assembled them to their own floor and under structure. This was supposedly done in Mack’s factory as well, not Budd’s.
A retired Pumper from a city of Brantford.
Photo taken in Etobicoke
February 28, 2018