ACtion Magazine - January/February 2014 - (Page 42)

A rare ﬁnd in the woods By Steve Schaeber can remember a time when it was not uncommon to go for a walk or hike in the woods and stumble upon some old abandoned rust bucket car or truck nestled deep in the woods, left there long ago and forgotten. Perhaps it was placed there years before by some kids who broke down after a joy-ride, or someone who didn't want to pay for removal, or maybe thieves left their getaway car. Could it be our new sense of environmental responsibility, or maybe the price of scrap, that has caused people to clean up these old junk piles? Either way, they don't seem to be as common as they once were. That's why I was surprised to see what we came upon this past fall when riding enduro motorcycles in the New Jersey Pine Barrens. Max, the leader of our ride this day, took us to a place where he remembered seeing two old trucks, so of course we had to stop and check them out. Since that day I've had a chance to go online and do some research about these trucks. Neither truck had a frame, engine, or any drive train components, and while it would have been great to see them too, the fact they were missing did not detract from the intrigue of these antiques. One was a Ford, built somewhere between 1942 and 1947. This was by far in the worst condition of the two, as most of the passenger side was rusted away. Now of course being an HVAC guy, I looked all over this truck for any remnants of climate controls, but there were none to be found. The most noteworthy ﬁnds were the Ford nameplate across the nose of the hood, the Ford logo stamped into the side of the hood, and the remains of the instrument cluster found on the ﬂoor boards. Did you know they used to call it a distometer? There is a nameplate near the driver's door which reads "TRANSPORT, Model I 1950 Dodge to ﬁnd the controls I was looking for. Four knobs mounted right on the center of the dash read, from left to right, HEAD, PANEL, CHOKE, and THROTTLE. An auxiliary panel held two more knobs labeled HEATER and DEFROST. The identiﬁcation plate attached to the Dodge panel control knobs 1947 Ford 158-1314, Transport Equipment Co., Philadelphia." This was a truck body company on Race Street in downtown Philly. I can just imagine the mechanic at the plant, screwing this identiﬁcation plate onto a newly completed cargo truck. Very cool. The second truck was a 1950 Dodge. Unlike the Ford, this truck was missing its bonnet but still had most of the cab intact. I think this may have helped me, because when I peeked inside, it wasn't difﬁcult 42 ACTION * January/February 2014 driver's door jam indicates a Model B-2-G152. What's that mean? B-2 trucks were made between 1949 and 1951. The "G" indicates a 1-½ ton chassis, and the 152 is the wheelbase in inches. Can't wait to see what I ﬁnd the next time we go out riding! ❆ Steve Schaeber Service Training Specialist You can reach Steve at Steve@macsw.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of ACtion Magazine - January/February 2014

ACtion Magazine - January/February 2014
Table of Contents
Compressor installation
Meet the newest pioneers
Outlook
Freeze Frame
Leonard’s Law
Virtual View
Service Port
Last Watch
By The Numbers
Cooling Corner
Industry News
Association News
New Products & Services

ACtion Magazine - January/February 2014