Jeff,
"If I'D Shot Her When I Met Her (I'd Be Outta Jail By Now)" I gotta get that. No better title since "Green Snakes on the Ceiling."

Everybody here has mentioned my old favorites. I just hadn't noticed that they don't get on the radio anymore.

Webb,
I had no idea that trucking had gotten so bad. I know that rest areas are really dangerous now, and it's not just the pavement princess but also the pavement prince now (if you flash your lights they think that you want to flash yourself). But even way back, I didn't like cbs because you'd hear teenagers on there who thought four-letter-word breakers were knee-slapping hilarious. It must be hopeless now.

Webb (or anybody) can you tell me what kind of transmissions and rear ends they used on that incredible load, and what gear they were in at 7 mph?

I'm way behind the times. I remember when 40 feet was the longest trailer, and Cummins made a 220 horse engine. I suppose those 2-cycle V8 GMCs aren't made anymore. I hope not.

My first truck was a 64 Emeryville cabover with a 220 Cummins (Come-along. GM diesel became Detroit back in, ummm....I'm thinkin' early 70's. They almost went bankrupt until they came out with the 4 cycle engine back in the mid to late 80's. Now they have a good engine. I used to have a 2 cycle 238 hp 671 Detroit on my sawmill. Like all Detroits, it leaked oil so bad that I never had to buy oil to lubricate the mill--just kept a couple of cans under the engine.

Lem, you're right about the stepdeck and hotshots. Stepdecks are also called dropdecks. Double-drop means just that--the low deck is twice as low as a conventional stepdeck. SOme call it a lowboy, but some lowboys are RGN's which means removable gooseneck--the front part stays on the 5th wheel and you can drive equipment on the front of the trailer and then hook it back up again. All that stuff's too much work for me anymore.

[This message was edited by Webb Kline on 21 November 2006 at 02:07 PM.]

That sounds way to big. Maybe the safety records on the long trailers are ok. But 108 wide just doesn't sound right.

It's interesting to know that Detroit finally went to 4-cycle. I couldn't believe it ages ago when somebody told me that there was a V8 2-cycle diesel.

Are they all using that oil-against-the- flywheel engine brake that Cat invented? And what kind of mileage are they getting now? I remember when Cats got about 7 mpg, and Cummins and GMC about 4 mpg.

Consequently, because of the higher pay back then, trucking was able to attract a higher caliber individual. Also, after WWII and the Korean conflict, a lot of ex-service men went into trucking.

Nowadays, anyone can apply for and obtain (as long as you are fit) authority to haul anything anywhere.

Another thing that's different is that the trucks and roads are so much different now. Back in the 40's 50's and 60's trucks didn't have power steering, or A/C, or radial tires, or air-ride suspension or halogen headlights, or self-adjusting brakes, or 500 hp engines, or semi-automatic transmissions, or air-dryers, or other such features that make driving nowadays a cinch compared to what it used to be.

Also, roads, truckstops, regulations etc., were a lot different way back when. Driving from coast-to-coast on those old, narrow, twisting, steep two-lanes was a lot different than today's roads. Even the old, original interstate highways were a lot twistier, narrow and steeper than the newer rebuilt, regraded roads. In most areas of the country, truckstops were far and few between and those that were around were usually mom and pop types. Plus, with each state having its own set of laws, you pretty much had to have a law degree to figure out how to be legal. And, there were a lot more independent owner-operator truckers back then, both lease-operators and wildcatters. So, that's another reason why drivers used to be of a higher caliber individual.

Nowadays, the highways are so wide, straight and gradual that you can pretty much drive anywhere without so much as shifting gears and you only need one registration and one fuel tax sticker.

In other words, it was a lot more challenging than it is today.

Also, remember -- only 50 years ago, there were only half the number of of people there are now in the U.S., and there were correspondingly fewer trucks on the road. Most of the drivers were white males. I'm not being racist here -- I'm only stating the truth. It was very unusual 40 years ago to even meet someone from the middle east living in the US, let along a middle-eastern truck driver.

Now, as someone else stated above, there are a substantial number of foreign-born truckers out there on our roads. I have seen many eastern European drivers, middle eastern drivers, etc., who either didn't speak English or didn't want to speak English.

Yet another reason for the lack of truck driving songs is that the music is different today. I guess that pretty much goes without saying. "Country" music is marketed to a much broader segment of the population today, and that segment is made of a very different demographic than in the old days. Anyhow, just my two cents.