Lady Godiva
07-27-2008, 10:22 PM
Good Ol’ Days
By Sandy Long
Fran Delorenzo aka Great Grand Hobo Duke of Cyber Space. has been many things in his long life; hobo, minstrel, town Selectman (councilman), construction worker, and trucker. At 75, Mr. Delorenzo is a charming man who is always willing to share his memories, stories and is involved in his hobo website, with his wife and family, posing for local art students, charity work and entertaining with his music. I found Mr. Delorenzo on the internet when I contacted him on his website to find the origins of the word ’hobo’. In the course of our correspondence, he has related interesting stories of his time as a trucker in the ’good ol’ days.”
Upon my telling him about the truck I drive, Mr. Delorenzo responded. “Wow! A freightliner with a 525 cummins makes my "Study" tractor look like a kiddie car. Strange, when you look at trucks today, to think that when Ford came out with their first 800 we thought it was one..modern truck. It did have quirks though. The first ones had a wrap around exhaust manifold and only one exhaust on the V eight engine. If you were going down a hill, loaded, and let off on the gas it would backfire and blow the manifold every time.”
“They made what they considered a big truck but kept the same brakes they had on the 600 and 700's. A friend of mine bought one and was hauling pig iron from Boston to Providence. He traveled route 1, which was quite hilly and had lots of traffic lights. What a shock he got when he topped a hill doing and saw a red light when he was half way down. He slammed on the ‘Whoas’ but, even with air, those 1 1/2” brake bands didn't even slow the thing down!”
Mr. Delorenzo tells of taking his son with him on a run, “Fran Jr. was one week old and my wife was feeling good so she thought she'd go on a run with me. We didn't even have seat belts back then so we just bundled the baby up and lay him on the seat of the F-800 between us. I hated the seats because that was when they came out with the zig zag springs and they bounced me so bad I had to make a pit stop every fifty miles. (In the International, I would only have to stop once.) They sure did rock the baby though and he slept right through the whole trip.”
“The old truck had a five speed with a three speed auxiliary tranny and the boss hated it. We were returning from Albany one day with both trucks and he told me that if he stopped I was to keep right on going. After we got on the NY Expressway, he pulled over and waved me on. He pulled in an hour after I did and was steaming. He said, "How long have you been home and how fast did you push that danged truck?" I told him that he knew that the truck wouldn't do over 60 and I made my time by shifting on the hills. Well, he thought his new Ford, with the two speed electric shift, was the greatest thing in the world and said for years I must have cheated or done something crazy to have outrun it.”
“Even more interesting was when the Maxis (brakes) came out, about 1959 or ‘60. From Albany, NY to Boston we used to travel route 20 because the Mass Pike hadn't been built yet. In Pittsfield, MA there was a hill called Jacob's ladder, four miles up and down and one heck of a grade. The jockeys used to come off the hill trying to watch that their air pressure didn't get below sixty but when the Maxi came out it would lock you up...there were quite a few rear enders until the drivers got used to them. Imagine being on a curvey two lane and your rig comes to a sudden stop at fifty and the guy behind you doesn't even see a flash of brake lights.”
Asked why Mr. Delorenzo quit driving, he said, “Actually it was that hill, that got me off the road driving. I was heading back from Albany, in a snow storm and having problems. Trying to figure my time when I went through Pittsfield to judge when I might get in, nothing looked as it should, when I saw a familiar landmark I was 50 mile(s) past where I should of been. That made me very nervous so I went driving local and then went back into construction. If you fall asleep on the seat of a D8 (dozer) you're not going fast enough to kill yourself when you hit an immovable object.”
Mr. Delorenzo proves that the ‘good ol’ days’ live on in the memories of the senior drivers who drove before us. The equipment and roads may change, but once a driver always a driver, being a trucker never really gets out of one’s heart. Thanks for the memories Fran...long life to you.
By Sandy Long
Fran Delorenzo aka Great Grand Hobo Duke of Cyber Space. has been many things in his long life; hobo, minstrel, town Selectman (councilman), construction worker, and trucker. At 75, Mr. Delorenzo is a charming man who is always willing to share his memories, stories and is involved in his hobo website, with his wife and family, posing for local art students, charity work and entertaining with his music. I found Mr. Delorenzo on the internet when I contacted him on his website to find the origins of the word ’hobo’. In the course of our correspondence, he has related interesting stories of his time as a trucker in the ’good ol’ days.”
Upon my telling him about the truck I drive, Mr. Delorenzo responded. “Wow! A freightliner with a 525 cummins makes my "Study" tractor look like a kiddie car. Strange, when you look at trucks today, to think that when Ford came out with their first 800 we thought it was one..modern truck. It did have quirks though. The first ones had a wrap around exhaust manifold and only one exhaust on the V eight engine. If you were going down a hill, loaded, and let off on the gas it would backfire and blow the manifold every time.”
“They made what they considered a big truck but kept the same brakes they had on the 600 and 700's. A friend of mine bought one and was hauling pig iron from Boston to Providence. He traveled route 1, which was quite hilly and had lots of traffic lights. What a shock he got when he topped a hill doing and saw a red light when he was half way down. He slammed on the ‘Whoas’ but, even with air, those 1 1/2” brake bands didn't even slow the thing down!”
Mr. Delorenzo tells of taking his son with him on a run, “Fran Jr. was one week old and my wife was feeling good so she thought she'd go on a run with me. We didn't even have seat belts back then so we just bundled the baby up and lay him on the seat of the F-800 between us. I hated the seats because that was when they came out with the zig zag springs and they bounced me so bad I had to make a pit stop every fifty miles. (In the International, I would only have to stop once.) They sure did rock the baby though and he slept right through the whole trip.”
“The old truck had a five speed with a three speed auxiliary tranny and the boss hated it. We were returning from Albany one day with both trucks and he told me that if he stopped I was to keep right on going. After we got on the NY Expressway, he pulled over and waved me on. He pulled in an hour after I did and was steaming. He said, "How long have you been home and how fast did you push that danged truck?" I told him that he knew that the truck wouldn't do over 60 and I made my time by shifting on the hills. Well, he thought his new Ford, with the two speed electric shift, was the greatest thing in the world and said for years I must have cheated or done something crazy to have outrun it.”
“Even more interesting was when the Maxis (brakes) came out, about 1959 or ‘60. From Albany, NY to Boston we used to travel route 20 because the Mass Pike hadn't been built yet. In Pittsfield, MA there was a hill called Jacob's ladder, four miles up and down and one heck of a grade. The jockeys used to come off the hill trying to watch that their air pressure didn't get below sixty but when the Maxi came out it would lock you up...there were quite a few rear enders until the drivers got used to them. Imagine being on a curvey two lane and your rig comes to a sudden stop at fifty and the guy behind you doesn't even see a flash of brake lights.”
Asked why Mr. Delorenzo quit driving, he said, “Actually it was that hill, that got me off the road driving. I was heading back from Albany, in a snow storm and having problems. Trying to figure my time when I went through Pittsfield to judge when I might get in, nothing looked as it should, when I saw a familiar landmark I was 50 mile(s) past where I should of been. That made me very nervous so I went driving local and then went back into construction. If you fall asleep on the seat of a D8 (dozer) you're not going fast enough to kill yourself when you hit an immovable object.”
Mr. Delorenzo proves that the ‘good ol’ days’ live on in the memories of the senior drivers who drove before us. The equipment and roads may change, but once a driver always a driver, being a trucker never really gets out of one’s heart. Thanks for the memories Fran...long life to you.