"Good Morning Brian," says the 'Keeper of the Flame'.... "Something a little different this time!" I'll say Martin. Anyway he goes on to say: "You may recall the radically-different 'Paymaster' truck that appeared in the USA in the mid 1970s. This was the brain child of Dean Hobbensiefken from Portland, Oregon, who like many other owner-operators over the years felt that he could design and build a better mouse trap." Now click through here to read all about it...and what it was like on the road!
Martin continues: "I actually grabbed a ride in one back in about 1976 when Ryder Truck Rental was considering building the truck for use in its own hire fleet and one 4x2 example painted in the Ryder livery was touring all the Ryder depots in North America. As it happened the Ryder depot in Toronto was next door to Mack Trucks where I was working and during one lunch hour I managed to catch the rare machine and to grab a short ride in it."
"As I guess you will know, despite all the claimed advantages such as better aerodynamics and improved fuel efficiency the Paymaster was never adopted commercially. But Dean Hobbenseifken remained undeterred and built at least one 6x4 which I believe he operated himself in the Pacific North West."
"A few examples still exist and one custom-built machine nick-named Ye Old Dragon currently holds the world land speed record in the 'Highway Hauler 3-axle' Class having achieved an average speed in November 2008 of 178.152-mph over the Bonneville Salt Flats. This is obviously the white machine in the accompanying pictures."
And here's the same truck from behind...
Martin concludes: "Please credit the attached pictures to Hank Suderman of Hank's Truck Pictures and to Dean Hobbensiefken. Thank you both. Martin." And thanks from BLB too guys for the chance to share with your pictures ...I have a feeling TRUCK did something on this in an edition of SUPERTRUCK too.
Great stuff Martin...they definitely DON'T make them like that any more...or do they?.
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