Brockway truck !

ricb · Aug 9, 2013

not sure how familiar everyone is with Brockway trucks. They were manufactured in Cortland N.Y. which is about 25 miles from me. They closed up shop in 1977 and all that was left was an empty building and the workhorses that ran the roads. The combination of N.Y. roads heavily salted and questionable metal alloys of the time left many of these trucks unsalvageable. I have always had a fascination with the brockways and even own two. Both are still farmworkers and are far from show trucks. We happened to be going by the museum this afternoon and the trucks had started to gather for the show tomorrow so.....we stopped. It sure is a sight to see these beauties fixed to the point of pre-new as I'm sure much of the chrome is an addition to make the sparkle & shine pop that much more. I love the straight from the road look but you can tell how much care and dedication was put into many of these trucks. I hope maybe some of the yters will like these as much as I.

Hay hay hay · Aug 9, 2013

They were very good trucks, truely hand made, one at a time. The old front end sheet metal hinged as I recall. Only built about 2000/year. Most were dumps and local semi's. Tough old horses in a tough market, just north of Mack territory.

The big truck market has been completely changed in the last 40 years. No more over the road GMC's or Fords.

Bob M · Aug 9, 2013

Brockway may be gone but they are not forgotten!

Here's a pair of late model Brock's (a 776 and a 351) at the Pageant of Steam in Canandaigua yesterday.

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Incidentally the Brockway Tractor Co was in no related to Brockway Motor Co (trucks). Rather Brockway Trucks forced Brockway Tractor to change its name to the Leader Tractor Co.

Dick W. · Aug 9, 2013

Or Dodge.

ShadetreeRet · Aug 9, 2013

Yep, I remember those, along with REO, OshKosh,and a few other dinosaurs. Thanks for the photos.

Billy NY · Aug 9, 2013

Local excavation outfit, just a father and son now, still has a Brockway tractor on the road, with a lowboy to move his equipment to jobs, he used to move our D7 with it, it looks exactly the same as it did in the mid 70's, just well taken care of. I know of another that was a tandem dump, he used to run it when we were hauling, nice shape but not on the road. One truck I never drove, used to see a fair amount of them around too, even with the long time mack dealer in the area. I like the old AutoCars, those were all truck, drove a '68 and a '72, with fuller 13 speed road rangers.

dustycoal · Aug 10, 2013

Worked at the Brockway truck dealer in Clearwater Fl. in the early 70's just before they merged with Mack trucks and started using a mack truck cab. Was a improvement as mack had a very strong made cab. Used a 15/16 wrench to remove one bolt on the front fenders and they were hinge on the front, so after lifting the butter fly hood and the bolt the fender just opened up to get in to fix. this is before the fiberglass flip forward hoods.Still was tight as with any truck repairs, but a lot better. 351's were popular model 16 speed air shift transmission were in most along with the husky drive 5 speeds with the two husky dogs on the hood. 16 speed air shift was big improvement over the older two stick models, Had to warm they up in the mornings so they would shift better by putting the main in gear and the aux in neutral. They were strong trucks, Drivers love them!

dustycoal · Aug 10, 2013

Liked the autocars trucks also, The one I like the most that I drove had a 6+1 transmission. Love it not having to shift your tail off all day, it would keep right up with the traffic. Called it an old man's truck. They were tri axle dumps so you were always maxed out on weight. My brother stills works for autocar trucks as a regional service manager and travels all over the US to help Fix problem trucks.

Billy NY · Aug 10, 2013

Good story, this was the beginning of the end for those style trucks, literally all steel in and out, I drove a few 5&4's, one 1961 B61 B model mack I recall, the first one I ever drove, they sure had small cabs ! It had 54,000 rears in it, but that manual steering and frozen ruts on a job was something to be careful with, finger twister !

I'll have to get a photo of Pete's ole brockway, that thing has been around forever it seems, he's the only one who ever drives it, always waved to me when I was coming the other way with my '64 F600, something about the old trucks and the people that run them.

Phil in Pa · Aug 10, 2013

I remember in 83 my 2nd year on the dairy farm there was a contractor that re-paved our corner of the county that ran a lot of Brockways.
His pickup fleet was all Internationals. I wish I had a video of that operation.

Brockway truck !

ricb

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Hay hay hay

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Bob M

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Dick W.

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ShadetreeRet

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Billy NY

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dustycoal

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dustycoal

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Billy NY

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Phil in Pa

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