  Another view of the featured PDE-Dempster with one of its stablemates UPDATE FOR FALL 2007 (9/21/07) Of course, the time off was actually a blessing as well. Writing and maintaining this web page is an enormous task, as I discovered when I began the process of moving it to Hostmonster in late August. Over the years it has accumulated a lot of pages, almost all of which had to be re-formated and edited to streamline the task of maintaining CRT. The better part of a three-day holiday weekend was spent poring over HTML code until my eyes almost quit. And that was just the existing photo album sections. Many more weekday evenings were required just to restore "what was" before I could even think about an update. Additionally, some photos were temporarily lost and had to be retrieved from old back-up discs and the Internet Archive Wayback Machine! Fortunately, all has gone well and we are up and running again. I have even invested in a new computer system which will help streamline the creation and maintenance of CRT. I am happy to report that everything ever published here is still available in the Archives, and this practice will continue (The exception is the first news update from 2004 which was omitted because it was merely a list with dates when new photos were added to the site). Additionally, I have restored the first three issues of CRT Collectors Corner, humble though they may be, which had been previously been removed for space considerations. All of the hyperlinks in past news updates have been corrected and updated. As a running change, many of your YouTube videos have been embedded at strategic places throughout the site when they can help illustrate how a particular truck works. I will do my best to keep the site updated on a regular basis, and try to finally get some new material posted. Meanwhile, there is a lot of catching up to do, so I will get on to your submissions sent in over the spring and summer, for which I am am eternally grateful. I would like to also thank all of you for your encouragement and interest in this site. And a special thanks to Bill Wood who hosted CRT on his servers, free of charge, for nearly three years as I learned how to do this. I should mention that this edition marks CRT's third anniversary, having signed on the worldwide web in September 2004. The earliest editions were published at MSN Groups which was quickly outgrown, but now serves as the Members Area. I hope you have enjoyed this site and I hope for many more years of Classic Refuse Trucks. And now on to the update... MICRO BUILDERS Although until recently presumed to be out of the industry, it turns out that legendary California builder Bowles is still making truck bodies, only under a new name: Compaction Control Industries. They are still at the same location in Bloomington (Riverside County) and producing a front loader. We learn this by way of Kathleen of Local Rubbish in Los Angeles. She and her father, who founded Local are longtime Bowles/CCI customers, and currently have a 2000 Volvo front loader built by CCI, which looks just like the old Bowles design of the 1970's. It would appear that many of these trucks, which are sometimes sighted in Los Angeles area, may be a lot newer than previously believed. Local Rubbish is operating a front loader on a 1977 International which defies most notions of life expectancy for refuse trucks. The truck body was purchased used, and no one seems to know exactly what it is. Check out the Truck #5 photo album posted by Bill Tetreault and see if you know might know who made this tough top-packer. And if you're traveling the freeways of southern California and Bill is in front of you, be prepared to stop, because he may have to take evasive maneuvers if he spots a vintage truck. Bill ran across a real find recently, one of two languishing in a yard in Los Angeles: 
Meanwhile, all the way back in Florida, Walter Lewellen sent in some materials which contained information on two more California builders from the past. The most interesting was a builder called Pico who built a top-pack front loader that might be confused with a Western body at a distance: 
The truck pictured above was one of at least two Picos owned in 1964 by Alladin Sanitation of Santa Monica. It is a White chassis and is equipped with an Allison automatic transmission. Alladin operated a fleet of 18 trucks with 300 containers at the time, though little else is known about these Picos. Just when I thought these were the first Picos I had ever seen, I remembered a photo of the Criterion Rubbish yard taken in the 1970's that was posted by CRT member westernwaste at the members area many months ago. The photo was of another truck, but behind it sat a derelict front loader which looked like it had long ago been retired from duty. The theory at the time was that this was on old Western Top-Pack, and it is similar with respect to the packer. In fact, I now believe that truck, show at right, is indeed a Pico based on the top-pack guide tubes, body brace pattern and straight-arrow lift arms which are identical to the Alladin Picos above. For that matter, this may actually be one of those old Alladin trucks, picked up by Criterion, because what we see of the cab looks like a White. And by the way, how about those old triple forks!
This intriguing 1964 classified ad for a 1959 "A & P Fist Packer" may be all we will ever know about this make. We don't have a picture to go with it, but based on the description it would most likely seem to describe a top-pack type front loader. The unknown seller in Northridge was also parting with a Bowles 22' front loader of the same vintage. If any of this sounds familiar and you can shed more light on this truck, please contact CRT.
I ran across another small builder in Mississippi, via an Ebay auction for one of the their rear loaders; Pac-Mac division of Hol-Mac Industries has now been added to the Industry Links Page at CRT. The firm has been building refuse bodies since 1990, and the current lineup includes side and rear load models. 
Also added to the list is Petersen Industries which is celebrating the 50th anniversary of their Lightning Loader, a mechanical grapple arm first designed for bulk loading fruit crops for shipment. By the early seventies, the company was marketing a loader designed for bulk refuse handling which has now become a common weapon found in most in municipal sanitation arsenals. Gulf Oil Company even attempted to incorporate a grapple arm on an automated side loader in the 1970's, with their short-lived Mechanical Bag Retriever, or MBR, which was featured here at CRT in April 2006. Blair Petersen was kind enough to pass along a vintage photo shown here of a Lightning Loader feeding a Ford F-Series dump truck. PRESERVED TRUCKS AND TRUCKS FOR SALE Many more vintage trucks have come to my attention over the past months, and none were more striking than Lou Carollo's lovingly restored 1948 Gar Wood Load-Packer. This is to my knowledge the oldest working rear load packer in existence in the United States. This truck was known in the slang of its day as a "slam-door" Gar Wood, since the early models required manually closing the hopper hatch prior to starting the pack cycle. 
Yet another classic is for sale in the New York metro area; a vintage 1941 Leach Refuse Getter body sent in by Katherine Ferraro. This is a project truck being sold unmounted with a 1939 Chevrolet truck, which would make an outstanding combination. Anyone interested in this truck may see it also at the CRT-MSN Archive A somewhat newer but no less striking classic which has been featured on ebay recently, is this 1974 Gar Wood LP-720-9 which is located in the Phoenix area. I have not had contact with the owner, but CRT member Ron Keshishian has seen this truck before. It looks quite nice in the pictures, probably well preserved in the arid environment of Arizona. The last auction listing can be seen at Ebay.  Ronnie also sent in this picture a while back, showing a vintage Roto-Pac fueling up at a New Jersey gas station. This sight would cause most of us to do an abrupt u-turn to get a closer look. This was in use on a farm, which is not surprising since these trucks have been known to be used hauling feedstuffs. May have originally been from any number of east coast private or municipal fleets which once used Rotos. Current whereabouts of this truck are unknown, so if your driving through Jersey, keep your eyes peeled.
A while back, CRT featured the restoration projects at CWR in Canton, Michigan, which included an ultra-rare, narrow-hopper Leach Packmaster. This was the first Leach hydraulic packer, and was in regular production from 1949 until 1955 when the second generation Packmaster was introduced. After 1955, it was likely produced on a limited basis with smallest bodies in the Packmaster lineup. Happily, another example of this historic design has surfaced and can be seen at Anthony Ricchio's Garbage Guru site. The Guru found a 9-yard Packmaster at Ankeny Sanitation in Ankeny, Iowa. This is a working example, and the Guru has done an excellent job documenting this truck, posting many high-resolution images of the packer...inside and out! There are tons of pictures at this site, and the Ankeny pictures can be seen in the Site Photos of Locals album, starting on page 5. 
In interesting junkyard photo was submitted by Jeff Alterman who found this old body in Dobbs Ferry, New York in 2006. What you see is all that remains of a once great packer, a Gar Wood LP-510
which was one of the shortest-lived models in the companies history. The 500 series was announced in June 1957, but was replaced in mid-1959 by the similar LP-600 series, and eventually became the LP-700 through the 1970's. This particular body was a ten yard, which was the smallest of the line, and had a smaller hopper than the 13,16 and 20 yard versions. These were probably the trucks after which the Japanese-built Fuji Mighty was based. Sadly, this is probably the only 500 series most of us will ever get to see
INDUSTRY NEWS In May, I received an e-mail fron Johnny Gregory in North Carolina, who had recently bought an old Diamond Reo equipped with a Dempster Dinosaur container handling system. In our correspondence, I mentioned that Dempster was out of business, having folded in 2003. As it turns out, this is fortunately not quite accurate: Bill Dempster has brought the famous name back to Knoxville, Tennessee: Dempster Sales builds the original LFW and GRD container lift systems as well as support for older models. There are no packer trucks offered, but it's good to see the Dempster name restored again, and their website has been added to the CRT Industry Links page.  Also back is E-Z Pack, actually for some time now, and their website is up and running again as well. Brad Newsome is Parts Manager for the Cynthianna, Kentucky firm, and also a member of CRT. He sent along some photos including their awesome GL370 Goliath rear loader. We're glad to see the 'Pack is back !
Also noted have been increased sightings of the Leach 2R-III Packmaster. And for the first time in quite awhile, Labrie Environmental, new owners of the Leach line have published a full page ad for the famous rear loader in The Hauler magazine. We're happy to see the full-court press on the 2R-III from Labrie, who are giving this legendary packer a second life after it nearly vanished under Federal Signal.  CRT is also pleased to have with us Scott Mattson, who is Fleet Sales Manager for AMREP Inc. of Ontario, California. Long known for their famous octagonal bodied refuse trucks, they are making a big splash again with their new elliptical models, such as this striking HX-450 ASL which has been turning heads in southern California.
CRT MEMBERS AREA The CRT Members Area at MSN Groups remains our bulletin board and free picture hosting area, now boasting over 2,200 images sent in by our members. There have been some problems with the site, particularly related to signing in to the sight which have unfortunately plagued some members. I am unfortunately powerless with regards to the "mechanics" of MSN Groups, which is the host. However, I would like to point out that in most cases you must "sign in" to the group using the email you had when you first joined. Even if you changed your email address, MSN still recognizes the original as your username, which is mated to your password. If you experience persistent problems and can get no resolution from MSN, I can easily assign you a new membership. However, this usually requires supplying a different email address, since MSN still considers the old account valid even if it is removed from the CRT member list. Despite this, there has been no groundswell of opposition to MSN, so I have no intention of moving the group at this time. There is no charge for membership, and you do not have to publicly divulge any personal information. However, you must apply to join and, that application must include a brief explanation of your interest in our group. This is to weed out the e-mail collector/spammers who try to gain access to the group. You need only write something as simple as "I like refuse trucks" or "Garbage truck enthusiast" to let me know you are legitimate. Also, if you sign up and choose an industry-related username (such as LeachFanatic221) that in itself will suffice. Additionally, I no longer have time to send 'second-chance' emails to applicants who do not meet the above requirements. In the future, applications with no comment or vague comments (such as "I like car") will be rejected without notice. If you made a legitimate error, you can always re-apply or email me direct through any of the three CRT websites. CONTACTING CRT Speaking of email, if you tried to get a hold of me using the "Contact CRT" button on the menu bar at CRT, you may have been unable to get through. I don't know how long it has been down, perhaps for months, and I apologize to anyone who was unable to get through. I have now restored email service through the website, but this address will change from time to time due to the large amount of spam emails. You will still be able to make contact using the button, but do not save the address in your email program since it will be temporary. The temporary emails will always end with "@classicrefusetrucks.com". I have several permanent and unpublished addresses, and I always try and remember to reply to your emails using these. Many of you already have these addresses , which always end with "@verizon.net" CRT VIDEOS AT YOU TUBE The Classic Refuse Trucks group at YouTube has seen phenomenal growth occur this summer. In January of this year, shortly after its founding by Scott Watson, there were 178 videos in the group, and now that number exceeds 600! This group is a actually a "video pool" where members can add videos from their own respective YouTube accounts. Even better, members can add any video of a trash truck that is publicly posted on YouTube, even if the person who actually created it is not a group member. As most of you know there is a wide variety of material at the group, documenting "in-service" refuse equipment around the world, as well as a few classics films. Some of you, such as MitchellM5 from Australia have even begun to produce still-picture slideshows of specific models as an alternative to using the (limited space) MSN Group. Once you have a You Tube account, you may join the CRT YouTube Group and then transfer any of your refuse-related videos to the group. Transfering your videos to the CRT Video Group does not require uploading them a second time. It takes only a mouse click to to add any posted YouTube video to the group. Any of your own videos will still remain on your perrsonal page, but an alias is effectively created at the CRT Video Group so that all group videos are available at that location. Of course, your personal You Tube page may contain videos related to any subject you wish to post. However, please only add those videos to the CRT Video Group which are refuse truck related. REFUSE TRUCKS ON FILM A big update to the films page this month from Travis Giles who contributed new videos to go with many existing titles and higher quality replacements for some of the earlier videos I had posted. He also added several new titles including The A-Team/Waste 'Em, Boneyard/Garbage, Exit Wounds, Malcolm in the Middle, Modern Marvels/EnviroTech and Smokey and the Bandit II. Many of you may have seen these when the list was posted at MSN this summer, but those videos got pulled and the URLs are no good anymore. Thankfully, Travis has reloaded them and they are now linked to their titles at the CRT Films Page. New videos will have the NEW icon next to the VIDEO button, and there a lot of them. New titles will have the NEW icon next to the title itself. Also contributing was Bruce Polit who noted extensive shots of Leach Packmasters in operation in the 1978 movie King. No film yet on this one, but bruce was kind enough to send along a photo which has been linked to the title. Also, Ralph Driscoll reports that a 1974 music video by the Dutch rock band Golden Earring features what appear to be Schorling 2R and other refuse trucks. The video for Instant Poetry was apparently filmed at a landfill! Fortunately, we found the film of this one on YouTube and have linked to it. Your editor personally saw two more classic trucks show up on classic TV shows, which I have added to the list with links to YouTube video clips. Both are notable for illustrating the dilemma faced by directors, who often must depict specific cities across the USA, while they are in reality (usually) filming in southern California. For example, a scene that is supposed to be taking place in Chicago will feature mountains in the background, or even better palm trees! The 1973 Kojak episode does a pretty good job of hiding the obvious; the white-colored Heil Mark III shown was actually a type of packer used by the City of New York at that time, but here it is badged as a private hauler. Most private sanitation trucks in New York are painted dark green. An authentic city truck should have been easy to corral if they had been filming the scene in the Big Apple, but this 25-yarder on an International DCO tandem looks suspiciously like trucks used by the City of Los Angeles. The next sighting was at the beginning of a 1968 episode of The FBI ("The Ninth Man") which marks the fourth appearance by a Bowles front loader noted in these pages. This is one I hadn't seen yet, either; a 1960 International single-axle (with the cab doors removed) and curved lift arms. These were a common sight in Los Angeles in the 1960's, but not so in Baltimore where the scene supposedly takes place (Baltimore was a Gar Wood Load-Packer town at this time). Most amazing however, is that the truck is not a Ford. I have seen almost every episode of this series, and its longtime sponsor, the Ford Motor Company, was very vigilant about making sure that virtually every car and truck used was a Ford, Lincoln or Mercury. This edict was enforced to the point of riduclousness, since even the beat-up heaps in background were almost always Fords! The sponsor was obviously unable to procure a Ford refuse truck for this particular scene, and had to settle for this International. Nevertheless, three episodes later in the "The Tunnel", it appears that the sponsor did find them a Ford-powered front loader to film that episodes refuse truck scene. COLLECTORS CORNER Collectors Corner is a kind of website-within-a-website covering model and replica trash trucks and other memorabilia. It returns again now with a look at some of Tim Byrne's latest Alan Smith models, and Ray DeNicolo's custom Roto-Pacs. Also, a roundup of some interesting Ebay auction highlights over the summer. As mentioned above, all past issues of Collectors Corner have been restored and are available for viewing, along with the most current issue at the Collectors Corner Gallery here at CRT. 
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© 2007 Eric Voytko All Rights Reserved Logos shown are the trademarks of respective manufacturers Photos from factory brochures/trade advertisements except as noted |