My father was the Eskimo you saw in this documentary at 21:13 He was given the Bulldog hood emblem once the filming was finished, as a souvenir. I still have it
That's an amazing story. Would you be willing to share more details with the Mack Trucks Design Team? We'd love to connect and see where our roads can meet. If so, let's find a way to connect.
@Aaron Cubitt I see that history soars far above your grasp. I am afraid that what would be painfully obvious to any reader of average intelligence would be sure to cruise blindly right over your head like a ballistic missile armed with an obtusity warhead in the middle of a moonless fog laden October night.
At 11:00 min to 11:13 min into the movie there are two men standing and talking. The man on the left the taller of the two is Earl Wesley Herning my father. I am Mark Richard Herning
Damn boy your pops was a hell of a man as were all of them. these were the good ol days when men could call themselves men and be damn proud of it. what happened to this world?
I grew up with three of these guys - the youngest of them is about 80 now, he was about 18 when he went on this trip. A really good book for anyone interested is Cliff Bishop's "Eighteen Wheels North To Alaska". He has a section in the book devoted to this trip with photos of the huge Macks. Its a good read and I encourage anyone interested in trucks and history to check it out, I believe the book can still be purchased on-line. Cliff would be in his 90s now and the guy trucked all over Alaska until he was about 80.
I have never seen one - ever. I would guess there are still a few here and there working on a gold claim someplace up north. When I was a kid there were a few of the Tundra Trains wagons here in Anchorage. Interestingly the guy that owns the Big Foot ford came up and bought all of them for the tires and wheels. The Big Foot that you see on TV with the 12 foot tires uses tires from the Tundra Train.
AlaskaTrucker I've seen that pick up in I believe it was St Louis. Yes. He has told the story about the tires also. He's. Got all sorts of trucks named Bigfoot. His wife got the name Monster truck going. He was the first one to drive over cars just goof'n round. And that's all it took to get that sport off and running. He had some kind of dealership. And he used the big trucks to bring people in to watch the show and hopefully buy something.... I think it was a Ford dealership. I was unlucky enough to be stationed at Fort Leonard Wood Missouri. When all that started.
@Don Olypopper I saw one of them trains down in White Horse at the transport museum. They said that they got it from Fairbanks. That was a couple of years ago..
I don't think there will ever be another truck like a pre 2000 Mack Truck. Mack made amazing trucks for decades. The same RDs that hauled coal on the big jobs around here, are still hauling coal to this day. DMs too.
My great uncle drove a old mack like those in the late 60s and early 70s around the James and Hudson Bay in Northern Quebec. He still talks about them with passion. He's 83 now and still tells his tales.
These guys were the trail blazers, the real men. 1956 that equipment is amazing. I love seeing videos like this, makes you realize how easy we have it now a days.
Taiwan92Abarth And the people will Byers hook, line, and sinker.even our fellow citizens of America where they preach it in schools that Americans have done nothing wonderful in the world
The early cold war era of the US army and military videos like this one are so cool and are really exciting to watch. I wish there were more movies that would incorporate that style of filming and commenting in an adventure movie or something. Indiana jones and the crystal skull did this a bit and that is actually the one part I like about it.
@@beckywatt5048 some of the other commenters mentioned that they reverse the engine fan and tarp the engine sides so it blows warm air back, apparently it works very well (I wouldn't know since I never done it)
@@jamiebutcher8833 morning love Cummins but new diesels are half of what they used to be with the new emission regulations. Weak aluminum blocks, bad electronics, etc. where’s the 7.3 powerstroke?
For anyone wondering, i found out these are Mack lrvsw (A variant of the lrsw) with a v12 cummins, supposedly two nh220s sharing a crank. Two seperate injector pumps, pretty cool
I figured they'd be V 12 Cummins. The power plants on the Dew Line where powered by Cummins L,'s or K's ( not to be confused with the "KT's of the 70's ) these engines had separate cylinder heads about the size of two cases of 24 tall boys stacked on top of each other. The V-12's had compression release which would have aided in starting. My truck bay foreman back in the 70's was denied security clearance to fly in to do service work because his last name was Jensen. Talk about the red scare. Frank ran a woodworking shop out of his garage into his 80's. No threat there. Thanks for the movie. It must have been tough on everyone who took part in building this defence system that would be obsolete not too long after its completion. Those engines must have been running on jet fuel ?
“Mack Tough” for sure. Late ‘70s-early ‘80s I did hazmat tank haul, mostly in northern New England and eastern Canada. Power was R-Model Macks: 300 Maxidyne, 9-speed Fuller, manual steering, leaf-spring suspension. The Mack was bullet proof, for sure, but beat a driver up unmercifully, especially on some of the rough-ass roads I was traveling. My winter driving experiences paled in comparison to what these guys dealt with day after day, but give me some understanding of what they endured. They were the best of the best. My hat is off to them.
Mack trucks 60 years old or even more , are working today and I see them every day carrying steel bars to our construction place . They are cheap and easy to maintanance and almost immortal !we love them.
The History of the DEW Line was nothing short of Amazing, yes American Build, be proud. I personally worked the DEW Line from 1989 to 1993, all 35 sights from east to west, + 1 in Alaska, Barter Island. As a Project Coordinator, responsible for site closure of the DEW Line stations, I have seen these trucks on a few occasions. Buried in hillside, washed up on shore after storms. I had the pleasure of driving some that still stood time. I always wanted to view the videos of building of the DEW line. Each sight was to have a real-to-real film copy of it. Unfortunately at the time as I traveled and worked every site, the films were always missing? Thank you for those that have preserved and posted them.
When This president commented offhandedly about 'buying' Greenland, he knew that the USA already had saved it from the Third Reich [that ate Denmark during lunch break] and protected the free world from the Russian bear... by building defense infrastructure on it. Denmark's current 'twit in chief', including leftist's MSM, knows absolutely nothing of history. Thank you for your service..
Film quality is really good for the mid 1950s and the custom made trucks were very impressive as they managed to travel the snow and ice covered roads. The narrator did a fine job explaining what the early warning military bases were for on this Dewline project. I bet those truck drivers got paid very high wages for that time period.
Probably $5-8 an hour or $800-1,000 month. Up to 1960 in Northern California, minimum wage was less than $1.00 per hour. Gas was 24.9 cents gal,1qt of milk 22 cents, white bread [24oz] 25 cents. A union plumber brought home just over $100 a week, a tract house $7-8k, an American sedan under $3k. A doctor's visit $15, a burger, fries and shake 50 cents. I don't miss it, I was 11 yrs old.
@@lifuranph.d.9440 Thank you for the information about wages of the Truck Drivers in the Arctic plus the low wages and cost of many goods which seem hard to believe looking at today's prices of all we consume.
@@fasx56 Hello Friend. The reason for this is simply Inflation. Originally the USD [US$] was backed by Gold. With inflation i.e. just printing money without backing it with something of actual value. Now the inflated USD is only backed by the US Military alone. Oil from the mid-East was originally paid for with Gold. Now it is paid for in inflated USD. Take payment for your Oil in USD or else the US Military will darken your doorstep...or worse. Spend and Tax. The Democrat way. Taxes too high? Inflation? Start a war. Read History...or be doomed by repeating it. Where are you, @fasx56 and how old are you? I'm 75 and in San Francisco...after midnight.
@@lifuranph.d.9440 even the bulldog isn’t the same- he’s owned by VOLVO (perish the thought) ironically in the 1950s Mack had to go to Sweden to show scania vabis how to build a bevy full sized transit bus (Mack c50)
What a movie! When winter was WINTER and the ice could carry 165 tons- wow. But that poor slob who had to ride the open dozer- aaaawful. It freezes me only looking at him. "Well how was it?" "Oh, quite nice. just two toes less, now. A good trip" Brrr.
My grandfather was the foreman. He was only 30. I spent every summer with him in his 70s and 80s. He was born in the middle of no where Montana. His first 7 children were born in Alaska and the other 6 were born Montana. He operated a ranch in one of the harshest areas of Montana. He was quite, kind and patient with me. He taught me to shoot, to ride a horse and most importantly how to work hard. He had a bulldog tattoo on his shoulder. He also served in WW11 in the Maritime Service bringing supplies and troops to the Pacific Islands. He passed away at the age of 75. He had over 30 grandchildren and 5 great grand children when he passed. Thank you for sharing. Remarkable to think of what they accomplished!!
Thanks alot Mister................ Spit my coffee all over the screen............. Dammmitt........... Just had a thought tooo Can remember when there was only one hole on the NE extension........ And how long a trip it was across the east west with 44thou in the box...... With a sick 270 in a 68 frieghtliner COE....... Thanks for the memories
@@wilburshuman sorry about your coffee,,, I do remember the pain going across the bottom with a good jag in my old RIO cab over, it had a great big 290 in it though. I could eat my whole lunchbox empty going up the blue ridge tunnel hill and still have time for a smoke before I got to the top. Good old days my ass,,,,, lol
My father spent many field seasons, decades in fact, conducting research on Bowhead whales. These men and those like them played a part in making that research and so much more possible.
@@randyd9414 You must hate every country on the planet for expanding their territory. But it don't count if Israel and China do it. #amIright? Or does this guy just hate white people.
another 12 yr old who's grandpa did this lol. Think you'll get more "friends" junior? go make some real friends and you wont need to make up interesting lies to tell your "e-friends"
My father worked on the dew line repairing generators for the radar stations from 58 to 63. I have pictures of construction machines and supplies being unloaded from Navy ships on shore.
My dad and grandfather worked on the Alaska Pipeline in the 60s and 70s. Men were men. Grandpa was a Foreman, always had his .357 on his side for protection from wolves and bears.
my mum worked there at "Mack Trucks" in Montreal and we all knew "Mack's" were great but never thought how until this video and those men are so tough to handle this freezing place!!
In scotland we don't have mac trucks but I can still admire the brute strength of these awesome truck's and these pioneer truckers what a job what a beautiful office nature at its most beautiful
I have been driving for 45yrs, and have driven everything from Diamond Rio, Pete and of course Mack, the bull the best truck for local work ,from garbage trucks to construction sites quarry anything u need a bull for except over the road. Great truck even though they were sold.
50 mph wind is insane. I was walking around in 22 mph wind the other day at 6F and it totally overwhelmed my mittens. Can't imagine the clothing you'd have to wear to not die in that.
@@dynamo3059 yep .I go with under armour base,cotton Carhartt long johns,carhartt jeans,then the insulated Carhartt bibs with matching Arctic coat. Same on top,base, johns,thick hoodie. Danner snow boots have become my favorites over the years. I don't like to freeze,I work outside.
@@larryteague871 with all those cloths you would freeze from sweating! Here its -25 right now and on my un-shielded skidsteer to move snow i will wear a longsleeve shirt, Tshirt and a hooded sweatshirt, jeans, stocking cap,steel-toe boots and 'off the shelf insulated gloves.if the wind starts howlin i MAY put on a second sweatshirt you must be a pooosie that works in a warm valley
I'd bet you my left arm there isn't any parts on those trucks stamped "made in China". Nope 100% made in America back then. Sad we cannot produce stuff like this today. Man have we fallen.
Right. You can tell by watching all these old videos. The can do spirit of getting things done and going places that was post war america. Things have sure changed.
Not at all. We can produce it, just not as cheaply as can be done elsewhere. We have the ingenuity, other countries have the cheap labor. So, we design it, they build it.
These Macks had particular issues with their axles, there was a book written by a guy who was really close friends of the drivers in this particular convoy and discussed this and many other issues. I think the book was called 18 Wheels North to Alaska.
The trucks stayed there.. offering up themselves to become parts for generators temp homes for some of the crew..a few lasted as transportation years after..
Mac Trucks did much to further the development and security of this country. I do not deny their day in the sun. They have it. Can you just imagine 600hp at that time?
Totally outta this world, You have to have live near the arctic circle for two years or more to appreciate this video and what these PIONERS did. I lived just below the Arctic Circle for two years and it was awesome life. BRAVO ZULU
Well written, well filmed, music is classic 50's, this had to be a tough job for all the WHOLE crew/workers/drivers to do. The temps are cold!!!! When you see the "snowflakes" whining about how life is to tough... they wouldn't last 15 minutes doing this job. To fly in those conditions too! As a former pilot, tv producer and a current truck driver this was a great video to watch.
When you see the condensation cloud from the exhaust drifting 50 yards away from the truck and still not dissipating as it goes off screen, that means it is COLD!!
When men were made of steel, loved GOD, and clacked their giant brass balls together to stay warm. It's a "Murican fucking miracle. Pure 50's promotional excess. Good shit.
Totally awesome truck documentary! (Rates way more than to be called a video.) The style of the photography and the the narrator's voice takes me back to watching Walt Disney documentaries in the 60's when I was a kid. As some others have said, I too am surprised there weren't any 6 X 6's. However it appears a couple of them were. Maybe the planners decided with just a couple of 6 X 6s and the dozer, if any of the other trucks got stuck, there would be sufficient equipment on hand to get going again? I'm also surprised only one set of tires were chained up instead of all of them. It would be interesting to see a companion documentary on the building of the road to begin with.
Big Enos and little Enos Burdette were waiting at the end of the trail to pay them off. Double or nuthin, go back to Valdez and get some pizza and wings!
I was up there for a year about 20 years after this film for the army. Even then, soon as you got an hour or two above Fairbanks, you got almost "a spooky, other world feeling," like you were more like a million or so miles away on Mars or something, though it really was the adventure of a lifetime (worst part, though, we had to pay for our own beer, something like 20 dollars a bottle in today's dollars to truck it all the way up there.)
i used to drive a 1973 Mack concrete mixer , was a old Roadway mack long haul semi , was converted and frame lengthened to be able to mount the mixer set up as a tandom axel straight truck . this thing would go through anything ... was a two stick hi/lo , had 8 reverse gears , they sent it out on muddy jobs , wasnt much it couldnt do
Shameless promotion for Mack trucks. But hey - those beasts were well deserving of their awesome reputation. And so were the men that drove them into sheer madness.
I wouldn't a put one nickel on any type of truck without tracks making it and as a kid growing up then and riding in some of them that made other corners of the map. I didn't know that they were anywhere near that power range then. I am not sure they make a truck today that will match that. Truly a testament to the "Break your back Mack truck". I'n 1958, I bought a truck, my first real truck.. a B 52 which was a 51 model truck that was no where near these trucks. I hauled logs to a saw mill in the Skagit Valley and that truck paid for itself many times over. Over five hundred thousand miles on that Thermodyne engine and transmission which was three transmissions hooked together to be called a triplex. Three levers and most the time only need two of them but when you dropped into the deep hole, she would move and she did till it broke into many pieces like a broken glass and gears laid on the ground but by then I could afford a better 5 an 4 transmission set up and the drive lines were the deal breaker almost. Those were the days
Anyone who drives for a living knows what an adrenaline rush it was to make these runs. Though some drivers won’t admit it that’s why they do what they do.
For few years, Mack worked with Saurer Switzerland, buying then the Saurer USA department. Saurer was also an amazing brand of quality, trucks from the '70 are still around working none too gently with the same pieces that they came out from factory. I'm glad that Mack is still around making quality machines at least.
@@nutmagnet22 I wouldn’t say Volvo is the mindless trucking factorypumping company. It’s the foreign, Euro company making it as comfy as possible. Modern day Mack and Freightliner are the cheap highway trucks.
@@coledavis5212 Volvo owns mack. Volvo motors etc. I don't remember calling them anything other than a Volvo with a bull dog on the hood. I've owned some volvos. Ride good. Plastics suck on them. Motors prior to emissions were long life motors.volvo was to mack what AMF was to Harley Davidson,a life line to a failing company.
Yeah they really earned their pay. My Grandpa use to plow snow with a open cab loader. He had to do like a 30mile route in sub zero temps plowing power sub stations. The old timers were tough that for sure.
My dad drove off-hiway-only Kenworth log trucks very similar to these, 300,000+ lb triples. 12V-71s, 600hp, top speed loaded, 45mph. For flat ground only!
My father was the Eskimo you saw in this documentary at 21:13 He was given the Bulldog hood emblem once the filming was finished, as a souvenir. I still have it
Thats terrific!
That's an amazing story. Would you be willing to share more details with the Mack Trucks Design Team? We'd love to connect and see where our roads can meet. If so, let's find a way to connect.
This is how my dad describes getting to school in the 60s
And up hill both ways with worn out sneakers with cardboard inside
@@wizardman42 They had sneakers? Wow you come from a rich family.
@Aaron Cubitt I see that history soars far above your grasp. I am afraid that what would be painfully obvious to any reader of average intelligence would be sure to cruise blindly right over your head like a ballistic missile armed with an obtusity warhead in the middle of a moonless fog laden October night.
Lol
Hahaha
At 11:00 min to 11:13 min into the movie there are two men standing and talking. The man on the left the taller of the two is Earl Wesley Herning my father. I am Mark Richard Herning
How long did it take them to get there?
How long did the trip take?
too cool!!!
Damn boy your pops was a hell of a man as were all of them.
these were the good ol days when men could call themselves men and be damn proud of it.
what happened to this world?
What happened to the trucks
the unprotected dozer operator is the hero
Vanessa Maggard sooo true
I was wondering how long that bungey cord was going to last. Lol
Can't imagine catting a dozer that far...guy prolly never walked again
C Alspaugh Definitely have some callousess on them ass cheeks.
Reverse the engine fan and tarp it in and you'd be surprised how warm you stay.
I grew up with three of these guys - the youngest of them is about 80 now, he was about 18 when he went on this trip.
A really good book for anyone interested is Cliff Bishop's "Eighteen Wheels North To Alaska". He has a section in the book devoted to this trip with photos of the huge Macks.
Its a good read and I encourage anyone interested in trucks and history to check it out, I believe the book can still be purchased on-line.
Cliff would be in his 90s now and the guy trucked all over Alaska until he was about 80.
So what happened to the trucks; were they just left up there?
I have never seen one - ever. I would guess there are still a few here and there working on a gold claim someplace up north.
When I was a kid there were a few of the Tundra Trains wagons here in Anchorage. Interestingly the guy that owns the Big Foot ford came up and bought all of them for the tires and wheels. The Big Foot that you see on TV with the 12 foot tires uses tires from the Tundra Train.
AlaskaTrucker
I've seen that pick up in I believe it was St Louis. Yes. He has told the story about the tires also. He's. Got all sorts of trucks named Bigfoot. His wife got the name Monster truck going. He was the first one to drive over cars just goof'n round. And that's all it took to get that sport off and running. He had some kind of dealership. And he used the big trucks to bring people in to watch the show and hopefully buy something.... I think it was a Ford dealership. I was unlucky enough to be stationed at Fort Leonard Wood Missouri. When all that started.
AlaskaTrucker the book is available on Amazon, I'm definitely getting a copy, thanks for the info.
@Don Olypopper I saw one of them trains down in White Horse at the transport museum. They said that they got it from Fairbanks. That was a couple of years ago..
makes ice road truckers look like cub scouts.
NORMAN OTT ice truckers still are hardcore. These old school ice road truckers were the pioneers that’s for sure
or beavers!
If it's like the ones on TV, It's a soap opera
I drove Macks and Western Stars for RTL Robinson hauling fuel to Ekati diamond mine the first year they started production .
NORMAN OTT Pete Deal Live in Pa.
Boy, Mack was really proud of those trucks weren't they? I mean, rightfully so; they are incredible machines (especially for 1956).
600 hp to for way back in the day ffs
I don't think there will ever be another truck like a pre 2000 Mack Truck. Mack made amazing trucks for decades. The same RDs that hauled coal on the big jobs around here, are still hauling coal to this day. DMs too.
Articulated rear axles along with trailers is a really nice feature to have.
Didn't they have Cummins engines in them?
@@MrThenry1988 Cummings did not made 600hp engins that i know of . But Caterpillar and Case did
My great uncle drove a old mack like those in the late 60s and early 70s around the James and Hudson Bay in Northern Quebec. He still talks about them with passion. He's 83 now and still tells his tales.
These guys were the trail blazers, the real men. 1956 that equipment is amazing. I love seeing videos like this, makes you realize how easy we have it now a days.
Taiwan92Abarth And the people will Byers hook, line, and sinker.even our fellow citizens of America where they preach it in schools that Americans have done nothing wonderful in the world
the real men? Like all about destruction of the natural world with no regard for the inevitable consequences.
The early cold war era of the US army and military videos like this one are so cool and are really exciting to watch. I wish there were more movies that would incorporate that style of filming and commenting in an adventure movie or something. Indiana jones and the crystal skull did this a bit and that is actually the one part I like about it.
I can watch anything with this type of narration. Wish i had lived in this era
the guy in the unprotected dozer must've lost a pretty intense game of rock paper scissors
Conrad Metcalfe I can't believe they didn't at least have a heat -houser to block the wind .
Those are hard men. He probably just did it because its his job. With minimal complaint
@@beckywatt5048 some of the other commenters mentioned that they reverse the engine fan and tarp the engine sides so it blows warm air back, apparently it works very well (I wouldn't know since I never done it)
It wasn't that long ago that road machinery and farm tractors did not know what a cab was.
Hello how are you doing today ?
These trucks really paved the way for modern trucks in many design elements
Hello how are you doing today ?
Reminds me of walking into class in high school and happy to see a film projector.
Back when machines were hard like the men that drove them...
Boyce Lawrence Back when this country had balls...
Back when America was Murica
+CEOkiller yup now we have idiots in fools running this country it's truly sad to see what it's become
+Boyce Lawrence you mean when truck drivers killed their lower back and when drivers lost limbs left and right.
+Boyce Lawrence And back when stuff was made to last, not designed to fall apart after a certain period of time
like it is today.
It's a shame that America's quality is not like this anymore.
Templar Knight Cummins baby
@@jamiebutcher8833 morning love Cummins but new diesels are half of what they used to be with the new emission regulations. Weak aluminum blocks, bad electronics, etc. where’s the 7.3 powerstroke?
For anyone wondering, i found out these are Mack lrvsw (A variant of the lrsw) with a v12 cummins, supposedly two nh220s sharing a crank. Two seperate injector pumps, pretty cool
I thought these may be a type of M model.
Riley Kirk : MONSTERS!
Actually V12 Cummins engines have a common block and crank.
I figured they'd be V 12 Cummins. The power plants on the Dew Line where powered by Cummins L,'s or K's ( not to be confused with the "KT's
of the 70's ) these engines had separate cylinder heads about the size of two cases of 24 tall boys stacked on top of each other.
The V-12's had compression release which would have aided in starting. My truck bay foreman back in the 70's was denied security clearance
to fly in to do service work because his last name was Jensen. Talk about the red scare. Frank ran a woodworking shop out of his garage into
his 80's. No threat there. Thanks for the movie. It must have been tough on everyone who took part in building this defence system that would
be obsolete not too long after its completion. Those engines must have been running on jet fuel ?
yeah, well cool...
“Mack Tough” for sure. Late ‘70s-early ‘80s I did hazmat tank haul, mostly in northern New England and eastern Canada. Power was R-Model Macks: 300 Maxidyne, 9-speed Fuller, manual steering, leaf-spring suspension. The Mack was bullet proof, for sure, but beat a driver up unmercifully, especially on some of the rough-ass roads I was traveling. My winter driving experiences paled in comparison to what these guys dealt with day after day, but give me some understanding of what they endured. They were the best of the best. My hat is off to them.
Hello how are you doing today?
Mack trucks 60 years old or even more , are working today and I see them every day carrying steel bars to our construction place . They are cheap and easy to maintanance and almost immortal !we love them.
Hello how are you doing today ?
The History of the DEW Line was nothing short of Amazing, yes American Build, be proud.
I personally worked the DEW Line from 1989 to 1993, all 35 sights from east to west, + 1 in Alaska, Barter Island.
As a Project Coordinator, responsible for site closure of the DEW Line stations, I have seen these trucks on a few occasions. Buried in hillside, washed up on shore after storms. I had the pleasure of driving some that still stood time.
I always wanted to view the videos of building of the DEW line. Each sight was to have a real-to-real film copy of it. Unfortunately at the time as I traveled and worked every site, the films were always missing?
Thank you for those that have preserved and posted them.
When This president commented offhandedly about 'buying' Greenland, he knew that the USA already had saved it from the Third Reich [that ate Denmark during lunch break] and protected the free world from the Russian bear... by building defense infrastructure on it.
Denmark's current 'twit in chief', including leftist's MSM, knows absolutely nothing of history. Thank you for your service..
I drove a mixer truck for 6 years. The only problem I had is changing rear bulbs lights.
Mack Truck made my day easier.
1995.
Yeah Mack is the way
Hello
Hi how are you doing today?
@@franceliakarle_1
No complaints ,
God is good.
@@Amarillobymorning777 hallelujah.
@@Amarillobymorning777 that’s really good. Hope all is well with you?
None of us living today will ever be as tough as those guys. God bless em.
Hello billy how are you doing today?
yes
come home and beat wifess and kidss
One of the best selling trucks in America for nearly half a century.
They still make the best trucks IMO. I’ve driven Freightliner, KW, and Mack. The MP8 engine is creamy smooth and has heavy balls
Film quality is really good for the mid 1950s and the custom made trucks were very impressive as they managed to travel the snow and ice covered roads. The narrator did a fine job explaining what the early warning military bases were for on this Dewline project. I bet those truck drivers got paid very high wages for that time period.
Probably $5-8 an hour or $800-1,000 month. Up to 1960 in Northern California, minimum wage was less than $1.00 per hour. Gas was 24.9 cents gal,1qt of milk 22 cents, white bread [24oz] 25 cents. A union plumber brought home just over $100 a week, a tract house $7-8k, an American sedan under $3k. A doctor's visit $15, a burger, fries and shake 50 cents. I don't miss it, I was 11 yrs old.
@@lifuranph.d.9440 Thank you for the information about wages of the Truck Drivers in the Arctic plus the low wages and cost of many goods which seem hard to believe looking at today's prices of all we consume.
@@fasx56 Hello Friend. The reason for this is simply Inflation.
Originally the USD [US$] was backed by Gold. With inflation i.e. just printing money without backing it with something of actual value. Now the inflated USD is only backed by the US Military alone.
Oil from the mid-East was originally paid for with Gold. Now it is paid for in inflated USD. Take payment for your Oil in USD or else the US Military will darken your doorstep...or worse.
Spend and Tax. The Democrat way. Taxes too high? Inflation? Start a war.
Read History...or be doomed by repeating it.
Where are you, @fasx56 and how old are you?
I'm 75 and in San Francisco...after midnight.
@@lifuranph.d.9440 thank you!
@@lifuranph.d.9440 even the bulldog isn’t the same- he’s owned by VOLVO (perish the thought) ironically in the 1950s Mack had to go to Sweden to show scania vabis how to build a bevy full sized transit bus (Mack c50)
What a movie! When winter was WINTER and the ice could carry 165 tons- wow. But that poor slob who had to ride the open dozer- aaaawful. It freezes me only looking at him. "Well how was it?" "Oh, quite nice. just two toes less, now. A good trip" Brrr.
My grandfather was the foreman. He was only 30. I spent every summer with him in his 70s and 80s. He was born in the middle of no where Montana. His first 7 children were born in Alaska and the other 6 were born Montana. He operated a ranch in one of the harshest areas of Montana. He was quite, kind and patient with me. He taught me to shoot, to ride a horse and most importantly how to work hard. He had a bulldog tattoo on his shoulder. He also served in WW11 in the Maritime Service bringing supplies and troops to the Pacific Islands. He passed away at the age of 75. He had over 30 grandchildren and 5 great grand children when he passed. Thank you for sharing. Remarkable to think of what they accomplished!!
C.W Mcall said it best! Looks like we got ourselves a convoy!
Hello James how are you doing today?
Fast forward to 2021 and it looks just like a trip across the Pennsylvania turnpike in January.
Thanks alot Mister................
Spit my coffee all over the screen.............
Dammmitt........... Just had a thought tooo
Can remember when there was only one hole on the NE extension........
And how long a trip it was across the east west with 44thou in the box......
With a sick 270 in a 68 frieghtliner COE.......
Thanks for the memories
@@wilburshuman sorry about your coffee,,, I do remember the pain going across the bottom with a good jag in my old RIO cab over, it had a great big 290 in it though. I could eat my whole lunchbox empty going up the blue ridge tunnel hill and still have time for a smoke before I got to the top. Good old days my ass,,,,, lol
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Very interesting. Giant trucks breaking through ice and mud all the time. Really quite an experience. Nice to watch. Thanks for sharing.
7:12 "give those driving wheels a grip and you're moving" don't forget the winches!
My father spent many field seasons, decades in fact, conducting research on Bowhead whales. These men and those like them played a part in making that research and so much more possible.
Love the sound of those old air starters!
Unless you were in the bunk asleep next to it.
@@nutmagnet22 lmao
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I love the air Starter
Cranky MotorSports That’s the best part of the video!😁
Immediately made me think of Mad Max 2 or Maximum Overdrive :D
Also the camera operator is my hero! Making movie in such cold, windy place.
I imagine that the Eskimo was thinking "There goes the neighborhood"
rob greene , HAAAAAAAAAAA
Well, looks like we found the Democrat.
@@mtusarmy1 and looks like we found the colonizer
@@randyd9414 You must hate every country on the planet for expanding their territory. But it don't count if Israel and China do it. #amIright?
Or does this guy just hate white people.
And the Eskimo was right!
My Grandpa was in this convoy
hell yeah man!
bad ass!!
NOPE
Is this a lie or is it real
another 12 yr old who's grandpa did this lol. Think you'll get more "friends" junior? go make some real friends and you wont need to make up interesting lies to tell your "e-friends"
I've always loved Pacific Trucks and these old Mack prime movers.
My father worked on the dew line repairing generators for the radar stations from 58 to 63. I have pictures of construction machines and supplies being unloaded from Navy ships on shore.
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My dad and grandfather worked on the Alaska Pipeline in the 60s and 70s. Men were men. Grandpa was a Foreman, always had his .357 on his side for protection from wolves and bears.
You'd want a 44mag for bears at least...a .357 will barely stop a "bike thief" ;) hyped up on crack cocaine in the act of a crime.
my mum worked there at "Mack Trucks" in Montreal and we all knew "Mack's" were great but never thought how until this video and those men are so tough to handle this freezing place!!
The music makes me feel like I'm watching an episode of Bonanza with grampa 😂
I'm old but this music makes me feel even older
tam tara taram taramram.
In scotland we don't have mac trucks but I can still admire the brute strength of these awesome truck's and these pioneer truckers what a job what a beautiful office nature at its most beautiful
Amazing feat of endurance on the part of the men and the trucks. Love these old school films.
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I have been driving for 45yrs, and have driven everything from Diamond Rio, Pete and of course Mack, the bull the best truck for local work ,from garbage trucks to construction sites quarry anything u need a bull for except over the road. Great truck even though they were sold.
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4:27 "unnamed mountainscapes" insane, imagine being right in the middle of that frame, alone,
yup
50 mph wind is insane. I was walking around in 22 mph wind the other day at 6F and it totally overwhelmed my mittens. Can't imagine the clothing you'd have to wear to not die in that.
Here in South Western Montana we get 70 MPH often it's rough when it's below zero. At least when it's 40 below the wind isn't usually as strong.
@@larryteague871 finally bought some good ole gore tex shell mittens for the wind. wool is just useless in the wind, even boiled wool.
@@dynamo3059 yep .I go with under armour base,cotton Carhartt long johns,carhartt jeans,then the insulated Carhartt bibs with matching Arctic coat. Same on top,base, johns,thick hoodie. Danner snow boots have become my favorites over the years. I don't like to freeze,I work outside.
@@larryteague871 with all those cloths you would freeze from sweating! Here its -25 right now and on my un-shielded skidsteer to move snow i will wear a longsleeve shirt, Tshirt and a hooded sweatshirt, jeans, stocking cap,steel-toe boots and 'off the shelf insulated gloves.if the wind starts howlin i MAY put on a second sweatshirt
you must be a pooosie that works in a warm valley
@@Dozerguy .you must be a fat pig. All that lard does help with the cold. I'm in excellent physical condition. Not a lot of extra white muscle
I'd bet you my left arm there isn't any parts on those trucks stamped "made in China". Nope 100% made in America back then. Sad we cannot produce stuff like this today. Man have we fallen.
Right. You can tell by watching all these old videos. The can do spirit of getting things done and going places that was post war america. Things have sure changed.
Not at all. We can produce it, just not as cheaply as can be done elsewhere. We have the ingenuity, other countries have the cheap labor. So, we design it, they build it.
Onward and upward... that spirit died with JFK...
@@DonTruman the metal and parts are not made near as good in china
www.history.com/this-day-in-history/mack-truck-founder-killed-in-car-crash
Those old macks, really tough and reliable trucks...
+Tottex I've heard that these particular Macks had trouble with their axles, would snap in the bitter cold.
+trashguy679 any metal snaps in the bitter cold buddy it is due to fatigue
These Macks had particular issues with their axles, there was a book written by a guy who was really close friends of the drivers in this particular convoy and discussed this and many other issues. I think the book was called 18 Wheels North to Alaska.
Ok i am just saying that metal is very brittle in extreme cold
Special steel and iron is and was available for very low temperature conditions.
The trucks stayed there.. offering up themselves to become parts for generators temp homes for some of the crew..a few lasted as transportation years after..
@GT Classic Plastic I doubt it it would have cost too much to bring them back they probably stayed there for parts like the other guy said
@GT Classic Plastic they were used for a military project so it is 1000% possible they were only used once because that’s the way our military works
@GT Classic Plastic of course they leaved those trucks there it was a part of the idea
Golly, When i first saw this Video, Those Macks were HUGE!
Gotta love when he says "or light up a smoke " lol
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Mac Trucks did much to further the development and security of this country. I do not deny their day in the sun. They have it. Can you just imagine 600hp at that time?
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When men were men, and Diesel motors were Diesel motors
could you imagine taking one of these men in a time machine to 2019 and explaining trucks have exhaust fluid and boys are girls if they want to be
@@jasonhunt19201 i had to laugh when i read your comment. So totally true its a shame
Where if you said you was a vegetarian, and don't eat anything with eyes, you starved to death.
Men were men and trucks had diesel engines big enough to power ships.
jason hunt
I don’t think they’d really give a shit about sexuality stuff. They’d be more into the modern day trucks
The world's first infomercial! Mack Trucks!
The true ice road truckers
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Gr8 footage!!!! Love these old videos. Very well done. Hope you can find more b4 these are forgotten forever. God Bless 🙏.
Totally outta this world, You have to have live near the arctic circle for two years or more to appreciate this video and what these PIONERS did. I lived just below the Arctic Circle for two years and it was awesome life. BRAVO ZULU
+J. Pierre Malette I was up there for 21 months in the US Army at Ft Wainwright in the Infantry.
It was something else, that is for sure.
+J. Pierre Malette
If they were pioneers, who built that road?
+Land Cruiser the bull dozers in front of the Mack dogs were building the roads
Bulldozers , guided by markers dropped from ski equipped Cessna 180 . The route did not exist prior to Alaska Frieghtlines taking on this contract .
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Love these old vids and resoursefulness
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Truly remarkable -- and almost unimaginable.
Well written, well filmed, music is classic 50's, this had to be a tough job for all the WHOLE crew/workers/drivers to do. The temps are cold!!!! When you see the "snowflakes" whining about how life is to tough... they wouldn't last 15 minutes doing this job. To fly in those conditions too! As a former pilot, tv producer and a current truck driver this was a great video to watch.
Ok boomer.
When you see the condensation cloud from the exhaust drifting 50 yards away from the truck and still not dissipating as it goes off screen, that means it is COLD!!
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Brave drivers. Thanks for posting this.
Hello James how are you doing today?
I love listening to the narration and music of old movies like these, so nostalgic, reminds me of my childhood.
Love these old films.
Hello Jason how are you doing today?
When men were made of steel, loved GOD, and clacked their giant brass balls together to stay warm. It's a "Murican fucking miracle. Pure 50's promotional excess. Good shit.
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Totally awesome truck documentary! (Rates way more than to be called a video.) The style of the photography and the the narrator's voice takes me back to watching Walt Disney documentaries in the 60's when I was a kid.
As some others have said, I too am surprised there weren't any 6 X 6's. However it appears a couple of them were. Maybe the planners decided with just a couple of 6 X 6s and the dozer, if any of the other trucks got stuck, there would be sufficient equipment on hand to get going again?
I'm also surprised only one set of tires were chained up instead of all of them.
It would be interesting to see a companion documentary on the building of the road to begin with.
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It’s cool how the stack goes right through the middle of the hood
So sad . Our politicians can't work that hard. 15 politicians couldn't re Place 1 dog
Truer words have not been spoken #facts
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The Ice road truckers are rookies compared to these old timers, they never had it so good!!
Big Enos and little Enos Burdette were waiting at the end of the trail to pay them off.
Double or nuthin, go back to Valdez and get some pizza and wings!
East bound and down son 😎😂
Top video 👍
These trip was a real adventure. Trucks without electronic and assistencesystems. Only truck, driver and the track.
The original ice road truckers .
Real man and they are not even rolling coal
I was up there for a year about 20 years after this film for the army. Even then, soon as you got an hour or two above Fairbanks, you got almost "a spooky, other world feeling," like you were more like a million or so miles away on Mars or something, though it really was the adventure of a lifetime (worst part, though, we had to pay for our own beer, something like 20 dollars a bottle in today's dollars to truck it all the way up there.)
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i used to drive a 1973 Mack concrete mixer , was a old Roadway mack long haul semi , was converted and frame lengthened to be able to mount the mixer set up as a tandom axel straight truck . this thing would go through anything ... was a two stick hi/lo , had 8 reverse gears , they sent it out on muddy jobs , wasnt much it couldnt do
Damn I love stuff like this
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Thank you for uploading this piece of history,
Magnificent thank you sir
When that logo represented something.
I love Mack trucks...💪💪💪💪
7:19 This is how you win a Darwin Award.
Health & Safety was not a thing back then🤣
Shameless promotion for Mack trucks. But hey - those beasts were well deserving of their awesome reputation. And so were the men that drove them into sheer madness.
IMO they earned that promotion.
This was a Mack advertising film .
This truck that Mack built was also used in many quarry applications. I thought the engine almost sounded more like a Detroit.
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I wouldn't a put one nickel on any type of truck without tracks making it and as a kid growing up then and riding in some of them that made other corners of the map. I didn't know that they were anywhere near that power range then. I am not sure they make a truck today that will match that. Truly a testament to the "Break your back Mack truck". I'n 1958, I bought a truck, my first real truck.. a B 52 which was a 51 model truck that was no where near these trucks. I hauled logs to a saw mill in the Skagit Valley and that truck paid for itself many times over. Over five hundred thousand miles on that Thermodyne engine and transmission which was three transmissions hooked together to be called a triplex. Three levers and most the time only need two of them but when you dropped into the deep hole, she would move and she did till it broke into many pieces like a broken glass and gears laid on the ground but by then I could afford a better 5 an 4 transmission set up and the drive lines were the deal breaker almost. Those were the days
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Damn, Those trucks had some flex!
So good to see the hard work that was needed to build our modern world #grateful!
Still a one stack Mack wit a window in the back! lol!
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The trailblazers, no doubt about it. Brilliant film.
Anyone who drives for a living knows what an adrenaline rush it was to make these runs. Though some drivers won’t admit it that’s why they do what they do.
For few years, Mack worked with Saurer Switzerland, buying then the Saurer USA department.
Saurer was also an amazing brand of quality, trucks from the '70 are still around working none too gently with the same pieces that they came out from factory.
I'm glad that Mack is still around making quality machines at least.
Since Renault and Volvo got into Mack’s there’s no quality or reliability in Mack’s today
Ahh that for sure, well, volvo is now using Renault engines, in short renault is buying everything@@stevel1451
Back when Mac was a strong and proud company that stood behind their products... now they've jumped on the cookie cutting production line..
volvo with a bulldog on the hood
@@nutmagnet22 I wouldn’t say Volvo is the mindless trucking factorypumping company. It’s the foreign, Euro company making it as comfy as possible. Modern day Mack and Freightliner are the cheap highway trucks.
@@coledavis5212 Volvo owns mack. Volvo motors etc. I don't remember calling them anything other than a Volvo with a bull dog on the hood. I've owned some volvos. Ride good. Plastics suck on them. Motors prior to emissions were long life motors.volvo was to mack what AMF was to Harley Davidson,a life line to a failing company.
@@nutmagnet22 Ah. I never knew Volvo owned Mack. Thanks
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Unprotected CAT Driver ... got the stink end of the stick! Wow! That was amazing. Thanks.
I’ve always wanted a old Mack truck now I want one even more
Cool old video thanks for posting.
Guess the operator of the caterpillar without the enclosed cab lost the coin toss.
Yeah they really earned their pay. My Grandpa use to plow snow with a open cab loader. He had to do like a 30mile route in sub zero temps plowing power sub stations. The old timers were tough that for sure.
I heard he actually won it
My dad drove off-hiway-only Kenworth log trucks very similar to these, 300,000+ lb triples. 12V-71s, 600hp, top speed loaded, 45mph. For flat ground only!
Thats a great video! Thank you for sharing it with us.
Their are very little drivers that can do this today all steering wheel holders. These where real men god bless our truckers.
I'm surprised they didnt have a front drive axle.
These guys busted their asses. Now. You can't get people off their asses to work.
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Back when men were men and trucks were badass.
this was such a good documentary
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Amazing trucks mack