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.
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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.
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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.
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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.