Classic Refuse Trucks NEWS

CRT News Update, Winter 2008 (Page 2)
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PRESERVED GAR WOOD LOAD-PACKER

While poring through the phots on Flickr, I ran across this gem, evidently standing guard over the the yard of Allied Waste of Salt Lake City, Utah. This is a Gar Wood Load-Packer (B/C series, 1940-51, as best I can tell) which looks to be in pretty darned good condition! If anyone is ever in Salt Lake City, this looks like a good opportunity to see a classic truck on display.

FROM ARMENIA TO ARIZONA

If you happen to be in Yerevan, Armenia, you might might see this fellow (above, left), who is proudly displaying his clamshell packer truck. Though not particularly common in North America, this style of body seems to be more popular in Europe and Asia, as a satellite truck, bin loader or hand loader. Light weight, simplicity, easy maintenance and low initial cost are the obvious advantages.

At right is an early Mack truck with dump body restored by Allied Waste, which normally resides at their Phoenix, Arizona headquarters. Ronnie Keshishian (who sent in the above photos) photographed the Allied truck on tour at Waste Expo 2005 in Las Vegas. This truck probably pre-dates the packer era, though many cities used dump trucks for garbage collection well after the second world war. Ronnie tells us that this truck came from Dooley Brothers of Boston, and still bears a 1986 Massachusetts license plate. It has also been reproduced in miniature by First Gear, maker of dieacast models.

RESTORED 1960 ROTO-PAC

This one got missed during CRT's hiatus during the summer of 2006. It is a wonderfully restored 1960 International R-190 which was originally a fire truck, now fitted with a big Roto-Pac body. This truck had been sighted at truck shows in Connecticut, and then appeared on Ebay and was sold in September, 2006. Be on the lookout for this one; trucks this nice invariably appear at a show at some point.

I have added an album for this one here at CRT, pending better photos. Click for Here for more images

There was yet another working Roto-Pac spotted by Ray DeNicolo on the Schuylkill Expressway this past September, possibly headed into New Jersey. This one was on a later model International. No pictures unfortunately, but be on the lookout in the metro Philadelphia area where this truck may be doing garbage runs for some hog farm. For details, see the thread on the CRT discussion board.

THE MEMPHIS MARK III's
Last month's films page featured a docudrama called ("King") which covered the events surrounding the assasination of Martin Luther King, Jr. in Memphis, Tennessee in 1968. It is believed that the 1978 movie incorrectly portrayed the Memphis sanitation trucks as being Leach Packmasters, and the general consensus is that they were actually Heil Mark III Colectomatics. Bruce Polit sent in these stills from news footage of the 1968 Sanitation Workers strike that would seem to support that they were indeed Mark III's.

The story from the movie goes like this: that two workers were killed by the packer mechanism while they were inside the hopper, seeking shelter from the rain. Supposedly the electric packer controls shorted out (from the rain) completing the start circuit. I don't have positive confirmation that this actually happened. It is not disputed that King was in Memphis to support the strike action, which by most accounts was over workers rights and their ability to unionize.

Personally, I find the details of the packer story (as I understand it) to be suspicious. If (and this is a big "if") the truck was a Mark III, and two adult men were standing in the hopper when the cycle started, the advancing packer panel would tend to push their upper bodies out of the tailgate. Assuming that a person would not just stand there, or duck under the advancing panel, it would seem that the worst case scenario would be that they might get a leg caught between the bucket and the packer panel on their way out. In my opinion, one would have to be laying down in the hopper to be in serious danger of being unable to escape in this situation. But I find it hard to believe that the men would have been lying down in the bucket, when standing up would be the most likely thing to do to keep dry.

Of course, there are a lot of variables, and I don't have an eyewitness or accident report to work with. Furthermore, I do not posit this thought out of disrespect for the dead, and I am well aware of the appalling number of men killed by, or working on refuse equipment. It is more a matter of curiosity, based on a knowledge of how these trucks work, that leads me to these questions, and the fact that legends often sprout up from fact. This is especially true when the events surrounding an incident has such emotional pull and historic ramifications, as was the case with the murder of King in 1968.

Meanwhile, it has been reported by TruckFixer591 on the Message Board that one of these trucks might currently reside in a museum in Memphis. If so, this might be one of the few remaining Colectomatics left in the USA, as the model was phased out circa 1980. If I get confirmation of this, I will add it to the preserved trucks list here at CRT.

RETIRED GAR WOOD LP-720
We have some more great pictures from Zach Geroux, who found this classic 1966-71 series Gar Wood LP-720 rear loader, which is slowly being returned to the earth in the Pacific Northwest. Gar Wood had a plant in Richmond, California, which produced refuse bodies for the west coast, and their product was well represented on that side of the country. I love these 700's, and love junkyard pics too...thanks Zach!

Side loading door...useful when the sweep panel chain breaks!
And is that a Gar Wood LP-900 in the background, or a later Heil 5000?

This truck was fitted with a kick bar for 1-3 yard containers

Sweep panel locked, packer panel ready to push load into body

GMC steel tilt cab was a popular refuse truck with its short 72" BBC

The famous Gar Wood emblem

This next truck probably qualifies as a classic, though it's a lot newer than the Gar Wood shown above. This is a 1980's era Centurion with an E-Z Pack side loader, equipped with a cart dumper...

Nice shot of the hopper, with crusher panel extended

Finally from Zach, one of the mammoth STS K7000 front loaders from his shop. This independent builder from Moreno Valley, California is believed to be out of business, and the website went dark months ago. Whenever more details surface, they will be published by CRT at that time.

Continued...

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