anyone else dig heavy truck wreckers? Drew?

[danny_galaga]

that is, the tow trucks for trucks? coming from a smaller city, i had never seen anything like these. then i saw the movie 'Heat' and i thought 'wow, that's bad-ass'.

edit: heres that bad boy in the movie:

[youtube]http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=_8Mz3StoA-g&feature=related[/youtube]

a good article about 'raja the wrecker'

http://www.salisburypost.com/2001june/062501a.htm


 now i live in a much larger city and i see some pretty cool tow truck-trucks around. peterbilt seems to be a popular choice in the US when i was looking for pics, and from my non-trucking perspective, they do seem to have that old fashioned 'toughness' about them. in brisbane, i havent noticed a trend in which ones are popular, but i know the council have/lease scanias to tow their buses. but whatever type, cab over or traditional, they are teh kewl and id love to drive one around (",)


heres a damn cool pic, another peterbilt

[protokatie]

Hmm, never would I have thought a tough trucker-type guy would be into rugrats... Both Chucky and Algelica on the side of that one. Dunno if I would trust my truck to be towed by it....


http://www.bobsgarageandtowing.com/images/towing%20pics%20002.jpg   closeup pic of what I mean.

[SavannahLion]

I see trucks (a truck?) similar that one on a regular basis. I don't really know if it's as big as that one with three axles or if it's the smaller style with the two axles. If there's only a few made, I suppose it's not the bigger three axle truck. Never really occurred to me that they wouldn't be seen in smaller towns.

and from my non-trucking perspective, they do seem to have that old fashioned 'toughness' about them. in brisbane,

I saw a special on TV about Australian long haul truckers and they showed this lady with her truck with the biggest Bull Bars (Down there, they're 'Roo Bars I think) I have ever seen... ever. If I recall, they're five point bars with teeth so big, there probably wouldn't be any kangaroo gibs remaining on impact. I tried Googling for them, and all I turned up was this pretty cool Dragon Truck in Russia.

I've always had a particular fondness for the LeTourneau Alaska snowtrain (LCC-1). I read somewhere that it was still operational up until about four years ago and it's now sitting there rusting away waiting for a buyer. I believe eight of the tires were sold to Big Foot for one of their trucks so I assume it's operational status was only for the main engine car and a few cars. Still, I love those old time big ass snow machines.

[DrewKaree]

I got to see one pick out my BIL when I used to plow.  They're actually pretty commonplace to see in the past two jobs I've had, so I guess I've kinda become immune to them. 

[danny_galaga]

Never really occurred to me that they wouldn't be seen in smaller towns.

yeah, seems funny now i think about it. especially since there is a lot of trucking going up to darwin. but then, there is a lot of room. i remember we often would fix electrical faults on trucks where they had broken down by the side of the road. might be the same for most other things. also, maybe there is ONE truck wrecker and i just never saw it.

I saw a special on TV about Australian long haul truckers and they showed this lady with her truck with the biggest Bull Bars (Down there, they're 'Roo Bars I think) I have ever seen... ever. If I recall, they're five point bars with teeth so big, there probably wouldn't be any kangaroo gibs remaining on impact. I tried Googling for them, and all I turned up was this pretty cool Dragon Truck in Russia.

no, they are bull bars in Oz. roo bars are for cars. a roo bar on a prime mover would be a bit ghey 

did they show the road trains? a tad alarming overtaking one of those on a two lane road 

heres one with bull bar. actually, googling for road trains gets you trucks with bull bars

I've always had a particular fondness for the LeTourneau Alaska snowtrain (LCC-1). I read somewhere that it was still operational up until about four years ago and it's now sitting there rusting away waiting for a buyer. I believe eight of the tires were sold to Big Foot for one of their trucks so I assume it's operational status was only for the main engine car and a few cars. Still, I love those old time big ass snow machines.

that looks cool! ill check the vids later. now see, Drew. this is the sort of thing im talkin 'bout. some of us just never outgrew our tonka toys 

i mean, check this out:

http://www.etftrucks.nl/00004/  (which i found when googling for road trains)

TONKA FTW!

[SavannahLion]

I did Google for it, but didn't find the specific one. I first saw it as a special on Australian truckers and their road trains. The show interviewed this big butch chick with each arm bigger than both my legs combined. She drove around in this huge truck with bull bars so huge they reminded me of a toon bulldog with a big ass teeth and a serious under bite. The bars weren't just big (I grew up around the rail), they were scary big.

Never could find that show though. I did have a picture of her with her truck at one point but I've since lost it.