Autocars I drove

Tiny

Well-known member
No pics , But I drove two different " A Cars " 78 and a 76 . Some call them butterfly hoods and an all steel cab . Not very driver friendly but tough as nails . Both trucks had RO booms on them . There is no telling how many hours either of them had on them

78 had a 250 Cummins and a 6 speed Slooooow truck .

76 had a 350 cummins and a 13 , It would hold its own .

Both were hot in the summer and cold in the winter but rarely did you have any problems . Just hit the key and go to work
 

willie59

Administrator
Staff member
Why in the world did they put just a 6 speed tranny in that '78? That's just wrong for an Autocar.

I'd say that's when those truck were still being made by The White Motor Company. Old school trucks that didn't even know what fiberglass was.
 

td25c

Well-known member
Never did own an Autocar but understand Tiny's description of the cab ........ Hot in summer and cold in winter. My old 1973 White 4000 shared the same cab along with Diamond Reo,& Western Star. Pretty good old trucks.Not having the comforts of today's standards but were good "job getter donners". http://photogallery.aths.org#id=Autocar&num=0
 

Buckfever

Active member
That sounds like the 73 White Construcktor we use to own. 350 cummins, 5sp with deep reduction, and rubber block suspension. You could not kill those old trucks but you knew you worked ten ours at the end of the day.
 

Steve Frazier

Founder
Staff member
I drove a '73 Autocar 10 wheel dump for a year that had a 6/71 Detroit and 13 speed underdrive. I shifted that thing from the time I sat in the seat until I got out, it was never ending. I hauled 15 yards of material or 21 tons of asphalt. The interior was black, seemed like a dungeon in there.
 
White trucks purchased the Autocar brand back in the fifties. The Autocar cab design was superior to what White was using and was adopted for the White and Western Star brands. That basic design was used for quite a number of years. One of the guys I used to work with bought a '77 Autocar and installed a Western Star tilt hood on it. We re-named it "Western Auto".
 
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norite

Member
Drove a 76 or 77 A-car for one guy. He had bought it well used, it had a 350 cummins with no power. It was a log truck with a self loader on it. It had a set back front axle and 72" spread rear axles and the truck was fairly long. It was really hard to turn a street corner and if you didn't plan it well you didn't make it.

I really liked the look of the old A-car but I don't miss sitting up on the log loader seat in the rain and snow.
 

Buckfever

Active member
I always thought of autocar as the twenty pound hammer of the truck world. Ugly and hard to use but last forever and get the job done.

Now in the year 2013 who would you say fills that market? With everything going in the direction of lighter and cheaper I don't see a setup that can stand the test of time like the old autocars and brockways.
 

Steve Frazier

Founder
Staff member
I think you're right Buckfever. With things switching to electronic controls and fiberglass and plastic everywhere, I don't see the new trucks holding up like the old ones. The fenders on the Autocar I drove were 1/4" steel, and the ones on the Mack DM600 were just a little thinner. The mechanical injection engines were easy to maintain and repair, and would run even if there was no electric in the truck whatsoever. In fact, the air system would function without power too and you could keep going if the alternator failed. Not so in today's trucks. Plus, the computers are forever changing, I don't think they will be supported after a period of time just like the computer industry itself and trucks will become obsolete due to the electronics in them.
 

chum duffy

New member
Herman

The first low boy tractor I drove was an old 1963 Auto Car with air assisted steering, air wipers, air brakes. you had better made up your mind whether you wanted to stop, steer or see it did not build air fast enough to them all. It came with a N/A 220 Cummins and a five speed main four speed aux transmission 20,000 lbs front axle 44,000 lbs rears. Nothing fancy about it but tough as nails. At that time we were moving 955, 977, D6,D7, D8,TD15, TD20. In lo lo you had to site over a fence post to see if it was moving .It did not have power enough to pull it self empty in its top two gears on a level road . sometimes on a hot summer day while pulling a hill I would pull the throttle out, open the door and stand on the running board and eat a sandwich. That should give you an idea of how much power it had! About the only problems it gave were air leaks, lights and flat tires. It was so ugly my dad said it looked a little like Herman Munster so it was named Herman. Chum
 
I drove a '73 Autocar log truck for 3 years. 335 Cummins with 5 speed/4 speed progressive transmissions and SQDD rear ends. It had air steering too, not really that bad once you got used to it.
 

LowBoy

Well-known member
1963 & 1972 Autocars.

I'm sure you've seen this '63 Autocar over on the other site recently, as I posted a couple pics already, but it seemed proper to do it in this thread as well.

63 Autocar and 73 Transtar 7-21-13 #2jpg.jpg
Ballston Spa ATHS Show, 9-21-13.jpg

It's an A64B, which the "A" stands for aluminum. Cab, nose, frame are all aluminum, fiberglass fenders.
Powered originally with a 220 Cummins and a 10 speed, repowered later with a 250 and a 13 speed. It's the nicest shifting truck I have ever driven, the clutch brake works better than the 2000 Pete I drive daily, the shift lever is tight and barely any swing from side to side.

No power steering, but that's normal. Definitely a man-killer in it's day. It is kind of funny really, how Autocar used such under-powered engines even after the "bigger" HP was beginning to come around. There were a limited amount of them built with 1693 TA Cat's...and then 335 and 350 Cummins became the norm.

The dash is all aluminum, as are the floor panels, doors, etc., so it's all rust free and amazing for a 50 year old rig. Fun to drive to the shows, even more fun to get out of at the end of the trip.


This one is the first one of the pair I brought home. It's a 1972 S64B, which means STEEL. The floor in this girl isn't in anywhere as good of shape as the A64, so I have the seats out and getting geared up to weld some patches in where needed. I'd love to find a nice cab someday, but for now, it's getting patched up to be useable.

1972 S64B.jpg4thofJuly13Autocars4.jpg


Powered by an 8v71 318 Detroit, 13 speed, 4:11's. (Both trucks have Hendrickson suspension of course.)


They both were sitting together at a place in Ludlow, Massachusetts near Springfield (kind of,) at a gentleman's yard that owns, runs and collects Autocars. He bought them from the orignal owners, Bellavance Trucking of Barre, Vt. a few years back with intentions of restoring them. Deciding he was done collecting and restoring, he placed them for sale on an antique truck website and I zero'd in on them one day.

I went down there and talked to him, fired them both up and drove them around his property, and decided they needed to be in my yard. I was more partial to the '72 with the Detroit for some reason at first, because of my memories as a kid of watching these with 318's screaming up the road with dump trailers in the area I grew up in. Always wanted one ever since.

I could only afford one at a time, so I took the Yamaha home first. The man that sold it to me held the '63 in good faith until I was ready 6 months later, which I appreciated. The stack/muffler was missing, so we cobbed up 4" flex to 5" pipe with chicken wire and tape, and made exhaust go up instead of out the side of the cab corner. Threw a plate on off something and headed north on the 75 mile trip with my other truck behind me (Freightliner cabover,) in case I needed to tow the Acar off to safety for some reason. I was in my glory; hadn't heard a beautiful sounding Detroit in years, let alone be at the helm of one now. We took all the back roads home, through the corn fields and cow patties, and being a Sunday we attracted a ton of attention from farmers and truckers a mile before we got to them, hahahaha. I got more thumbs up and fist pumps that day than any other day of my career.

Made it home eventlessly. Started working immediately on it, but kind of came to a standstill as winter slammed me in the head and ended my outdoor activities. I have a focused plan for the 1972 as I go along. I plan on stretching it out, with an air ride cutoff I have off a Freightliner. The Hendrickson is all completely roached, it's crispy from years of northern Vt. winter running and not any good at all. The frame is good, so I'll mate the air ride to the frame and make a nice truck out of it. Will have a set of chrome dual exhaust, a visor, and some nice accessories when it's done. I found a chrome Luberfiner that will be on the drivers side of the cab, not hooked up, just dummied. The nice feature will be when I put the cutoff on, it will have aluminum Budds instead of the big honkin' iron wheels. Not that that's a bad thing to stay original either; but this one I wanted to make nice and keep the 63 original.

I was ready for the second one by May of 2013, called him up and made arrangements to go down and do some work to the '63 to make it worthy of the trip. I spent 6-7 hours one day on it, removing mouse debris, freeing up the brake pedal plunger, blocking off one maxi can line, and r&r'd a bad inside tire and singled it out to drive home on.

I actually registered the '63 before I drove it home...that felt better than the first one, lol. All I really did to it was more mouse removal work, slapped some paint on the rims, a new maxi can, and a severe cleaning, and brought it to it's first show in Bellows Falls, Vt. in July. It attracted a lot of attention there, being I left the Bellavance name on the doors for historical value (I got permission from them to do so with a phone call to the owner.) Bellavance is one of the biggest trucking companies in the state of Vermont now, if not the biggest. It wasn't a 1/2 hour before a guy walked up and said, "I used to drive that truck". That right there, made all my effort worth it hearing that, made my day. That's why I go through all this work with these, to preserve the history and prestige we once had, and to give the old timers something to enjoy, which is all the award I ever need. I love watching their expressions when they are checking the trucks out.

Barrington-Bow, NH 8-18-13.jpg

The picture above was coming back from a show over in Barrington, New Hampshire in August. I pulled the lowbed with the Transtar, my buddy Deni drove the 63 130 miles each way. He drove a 1964 Autocar 10 wheeler as a kid when the truck was almost new, so this was a memorable event for him to say the least. The beautiful Peterbilt cabover is a friend of ours, Mike Staats from Newfane, Vermont. It's a 1980 352 double bunk, original International Transport paint scheme...absolutely beautiful truck, with a 380 Cat and a 13 speed.

Hope I didn't make your eyes glaze over with all that, but that's the story anyways...stay tuned, more to follow, LOL.
 

RonG

Well-known member
My first Autocar had a 7cy concrete mixer on it,I am speculating that it was probably a 50's something truck but it had a big flathead 6cyl gas engine in it with a 4 barrel carburator and dual exhaust with a 5x4 transmission and it needed it.You talk about hot in the summer!!
I just happened to recall now,the sunvisors were plexiglass and dark green so you could see through them.We eventually made that truck into a dump truck and I had a dime taped to the sun visor,this was back in the day of phone booths and it got used and replaced occasionally. I used to enjoy the sound of that big six sucking air at high RPMs,those were the days when I still had "hotrod" in my veins.Ron G
 

Truck Shop

Well-known member
I'm sure you've seen this '63 Autocar over on the other site recently, as I posted a couple pics already, but it seemed proper to do it in this thread as well.

View attachment 317
View attachment 318

It's an A64B, which the "A" stands for aluminum. Cab, nose, frame are all aluminum, fiberglass fenders.
Powered originally with a 220 Cummins and a 10 speed, repowered later with a 250 and a 13 speed. It's the nicest shifting truck I have ever driven, the clutch brake works better than the 2000 Pete I drive daily, the shift lever is tight and barely any swing from side to side.

No power steering, but that's normal. Definitely a man-killer in it's day. It is kind of funny really, how Autocar used such under-powered engines even after the "bigger" HP was beginning to come around. There were a limited amount of them built with 1693 TA Cat's...and then 335 and 350 Cummins became the norm.

The dash is all aluminum, as are the floor panels, doors, etc., so it's all rust free and amazing for a 50 year old rig. Fun to drive to the shows, even more fun to get out of at the end of the trip.


This one is the first one of the pair I brought home. It's a 1972 S64B, which means STEEL. The floor in this girl isn't in anywhere as good of shape as the A64, so I have the seats out and getting geared up to weld some patches in where needed. I'd love to find a nice cab someday, but for now, it's getting patched up to be useable.

View attachment 319View attachment 320


Powered by an 8v71 318 Detroit, 13 speed, 4:11's. (Both trucks have Hendrickson suspension of course.)


They both were sitting together at a place in Ludlow, Massachusetts near Springfield (kind of,) at a gentleman's yard that owns, runs and collects Autocars. He bought them from the orignal owners, Bellavance Trucking of Barre, Vt. a few years back with intentions of restoring them. Deciding he was done collecting and restoring, he placed them for sale on an antique truck website and I zero'd in on them one day.

I went down there and talked to him, fired them both up and drove them around his property, and decided they needed to be in my yard. I was more partial to the '72 with the Detroit for some reason at first, because of my memories as a kid of watching these with 318's screaming up the road with dump trailers in the area I grew up in. Always wanted one ever since.

I could only afford one at a time, so I took the Yamaha home first. The man that sold it to me held the '63 in good faith until I was ready 6 months later, which I appreciated. The stack/muffler was missing, so we cobbed up 4" flex to 5" pipe with chicken wire and tape, and made exhaust go up instead of out the side of the cab corner. Threw a plate on off something and headed north on the 75 mile trip with my other truck behind me (Freightliner cabover,) in case I needed to tow the Acar off to safety for some reason. I was in my glory; hadn't heard a beautiful sounding Detroit in years, let alone be at the helm of one now. We took all the back roads home, through the corn fields and cow patties, and being a Sunday we attracted a ton of attention from farmers and truckers a mile before we got to them, hahahaha. I got more thumbs up and fist pumps that day than any other day of my career.

Made it home eventlessly. Started working immediately on it, but kind of came to a standstill as winter slammed me in the head and ended my outdoor activities. I have a focused plan for the 1972 as I go along. I plan on stretching it out, with an air ride cutoff I have off a Freightliner. The Hendrickson is all completely roached, it's crispy from years of northern Vt. winter running and not any good at all. The frame is good, so I'll mate the air ride to the frame and make a nice truck out of it. Will have a set of chrome dual exhaust, a visor, and some nice accessories when it's done. I found a chrome Luberfiner that will be on the drivers side of the cab, not hooked up, just dummied. The nice feature will be when I put the cutoff on, it will have aluminum Budds instead of the big honkin' iron wheels. Not that that's a bad thing to stay original either; but this one I wanted to make nice and keep the 63 original.

I was ready for the second one by May of 2013, called him up and made arrangements to go down and do some work to the '63 to make it worthy of the trip. I spent 6-7 hours one day on it, removing mouse debris, freeing up the brake pedal plunger, blocking off one maxi can line, and r&r'd a bad inside tire and singled it out to drive home on.

I actually registered the '63 before I drove it home...that felt better than the first one, lol. All I really did to it was more mouse removal work, slapped some paint on the rims, a new maxi can, and a severe cleaning, and brought it to it's first show in Bellows Falls, Vt. in July. It attracted a lot of attention there, being I left the Bellavance name on the doors for historical value (I got permission from them to do so with a phone call to the owner.) Bellavance is one of the biggest trucking companies in the state of Vermont now, if not the biggest. It wasn't a 1/2 hour before a guy walked up and said, "I used to drive that truck". That right there, made all my effort worth it hearing that, made my day. That's why I go through all this work with these, to preserve the history and prestige we once had, and to give the old timers something to enjoy, which is all the award I ever need. I love watching their expressions when they are checking the trucks out.

View attachment 321

The picture above was coming back from a show over in Barrington, New Hampshire in August. I pulled the lowbed with the Transtar, my buddy Deni drove the 63 130 miles each way. He drove a 1964 Autocar 10 wheeler as a kid when the truck was almost new, so this was a memorable event for him to say the least. The beautiful Peterbilt cabover is a friend of ours, Mike Staats from Newfane, Vermont. It's a 1980 352 double bunk, original International Transport paint scheme...absolutely beautiful truck, with a 380 Cat and a 13 speed.

Hope I didn't make your eyes glaze over with all that, but that's the story anyways...stay tuned, more to follow, LOL.
That is a nice A-car
 
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