Hay Strat!!!! Its a truck!!!!

[Todd Wilson]

The name Sterling will disappear along with the St. Thomas Ontario assembly plant in March 2009.

TORONTO - Daimler AG plans to shut down its Sterling Trucks factory in St. Thomas, Ont., next March as the German-based company eliminates the Sterling brand.
Daimler Trucks North America said Tuesday that a total of 2,300 workers will be affected in St. Thomas and at another Sterling plant being closed in Portland, Ore.
This total includes 720 workers in St. Thomas already scheduled to be laid off next month with the elimination of one of the plant's last two shifts. Daimler laid off 600 people at the St. Thomas facility last year when the first of three shifts was cut.
In addition to the production workforce cut, Daimler Trucks North America will reduce its salaried staff by about 1,200 positions, with over half directly related to the Sterling brand.
The March closure of the factory in southwestern Ontario, which produces a range of medium-and heavy-duty trucks, will coincide with the expiry of the plant's contract with the Canadian Auto Workers union.
Daimler blamed the decision on "continuing depressed demand across the industry and structural changes in the company's core markets."
The truck plant in Portland, Ore., will be shut in June 2010.
Meanwhile, production will start in February at Daimler's new truck plant in Saltillo, Mexico, making Freightliner's new flagship Cascadia model.
The changes are expected to cost US$600 million but improve annual earnings by $900 million by 2011.
With the elimination of the Sterling badge effective in March, some of its products will be added to Daimler's Freightliner and Western Star truck lines.
Focusing on two brands will "drive an even more attractive program of innovation in safety, environmental impact, and user productivity," the company stated.

Yup!  Lets keep closing plants and moving things out of the country. It wont be too much longer we wont have jobs to by the stuff they are making out of the country.


Todd

[bull]

http://portland.craigslist.org/wsc/cto/883563986.html

For Sale!!!

[charger490]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1akPA1BxSI

[Charger_Fan]

http://portland.craigslist.org/wsc/cto/883563986.html

For Sale!!!

That looks like FUN!

[charger490]

1926 dodge huckster

[moparstuart]

 

[TruckDriver]

Again, my 13yo had off school today, so he went along and took pictures. (I did take a few). Enjoy.


First daylight


This old R model tractor is now a yard plow for Central Redi-Mix in Butler, Wi.


Another nice working R model


Our reflection in the chromed windows of a store in Butler


The Redi-Mix plant we were delivering to.


Older Paystar 5000 plow for sale right down from the Redi-Mix plant.


The last remaining truck on the road for Fredrick Redi-Mix


When I stopped to fuel up, this brand new Peterbilt Waste Management truck came in. They recently bought several of these to replace their ageing Mack & White fleet.


Thought I'd swing by here after fueling (since it is by the fuel stop). The next 9 pictures, are of what is still left of the once glorified fleet that was FREDRICK REDI-MIX. If you collect "First Gear" models, then you might of seen or own the R model Mack they made for these guys. No one still knows why, but they closed up in the past 2 years except for the one quad axle Mack that hauls out of various gravel pits. (2 pics up) All these are for sale. They always had some of the nicest trucks around. Note the front discharge mixers are mid-engine Macks. The only ones I've seen that I can remember.





Eagle Waste has some nice looking trucks. All are silver & black, most with aluminum wheels. Pic would of been better if the road wasn't so choppy.







My son was actually trying to get a pic of the '77/'78 Firdbird Formula on our way home, but also caught a Volvo that was in a big hurry catching us headed up hwy41. I thought it turned out to be a cool pic.

[472 R/T SE]

When I moved up here I drove for these guys for a while.  I drove for the kid who run the show, Darin Olson, he had two trucks at the time.  I don't know how many he has now.
I got the truck new and pulled a 53' foot outside frame 4 axle.  A lot of guys' were POed cause the new guy got the new truck.  I had prior recommendations that helped.
With the Olsons, the nicer you kept your truck, the better loads you got.  Pay by percentage.

Darin's other truck had a V8 Cat in it.  When Darin was driving it, it had an Allison transmission.  They said when he pulled what we call "hills" out here, the truck only slowed down 5-10 mph.
My truck was a 379 Pete w/ an electronic 425 Cat, 18 speed.  We put the 8" stacks on and were the only gig in the NW running them.  Now they're a common sight.  I learned a lot of my anal cleaning ways from Darin, like Armor All on the insides of the tires. 

All my pictures are from back before the digital age so I swiped this from Hank's stash.

[TruckDriver]

Nice looking rig

[TruckDriver]

It has been sitting in the same spot for about 15 years now by a house building company. I know it ran when it was parked. I finally had my camera with me when I was coming home from my parents after work today. It is a gas engine, with a automatic trans (you can see the shift nob just towards the front of the seat), and a 2 speed rear end. That is the headliner hanging down. Anyone know what year this one is. I'm thinking a '70 or '71?

[1FastCharger]

I just got back from PA a week ago. While up there I saw a bunch of tri-axle coal trucks. That brought back a lot of childhood memories of my dad's R model Mack tri-ax he drove for Balzano Coal.

  When he would go to pick up a load of coal he had to drive up a narrow dirt road. The truck would leave a pretty big cloud of dust behind it. So after picking up a load he followed another truck down the hill. He stayed close enough to see the back of the truck in front of him. Another truck was coming up the hill to pick up a load. The uphill truck swung around the first truck and quickly swung back right in front of my dad. My dad said he saw the truck in time to push up out of his seat. The trucks hit almost head on. He went through the windshielf and he ended up laying over the crashed hood with his shattered legs in the cab. He was in the hospital for a month. My uncle and mom went to the yard to get my dad's CB and thermos out of the truck. The CB and thermos were crushed. The steering wheel was all the way into the seat. If he had stayed in the seat he would have been crushed.

    I looked through my old pictures, but could not find a pic of the truck. It is funny now in the age of digital cameras we have pictures of everything. Back in the 70's film and developing was not cheap so we did not take a lot of picture....too bad now the memories are fading.

   I did find a few wrecked trucks on the web. The trucks in the pictures all look like they were in similar accidents to each other.

[moparstuart]

http://kansascity.craigslist.org/cto/917876788.html

[Todd Wilson]

Lets do a little truckin with the cab over Freightliner.............

[Todd Wilson]

[Todd Wilson]

[Todd Wilson]

[TruckDriver]

Cool pics! Where did you find those?

[Todd Wilson]

[Todd Wilson]

[Todd Wilson]

[Todd Wilson]

[Todd Wilson]

[Todd Wilson]

[Todd Wilson]

[Todd Wilson]