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Posted by John Waak on Monday, December 08, 2008 at 20:27:55 :
In Reply to: Re:Well David you asked for Biggest posted by Mike Stone on Monday, December 08, 2008 at 19:53:55 :
The picture brought back memories of an email I received a few years ago. I may have posted it here before. Regardless, I'll repost for your enjoyment. The writer worked for a company (now absorbed into Halliburton) that had Power Wagons outfitted for oil exploration use in the Middle East. Here it is:
Just a short trivia incident(s) with the power wagon(s).
Back in 1950-53, when I was going to school, I used to drive these to the docks on the Houston ship channel for overseas work. My father was purchasing agent for Ray Geophysical back in those days and we used those trucks for geophysical work. Some of them went over with large tires (DC-3 aircraft tires) for desert work. Of course the fenders and wheels were modified.
We used to convoy these from the Ray Geophysical property with a police escort.
Since I am short, I could barely see over the steering wheel. No power steering of course and the seat wouldn't adjust. Everytime I pushed the clutch in, I would slide back, hardly ever getting out of 1st gear and barely out of second. Needless to say I was always tailend charlie on those trips, usually by myself, without an escort. We also had cosmoline all over the truck, including the windshield, causing me more grief. I remember them well.
Incidentally, during the Christmas holiday season I would drive one of those (sitting on books, pillows) downtown to pick up stuff for the company. We did not have shopping malls in those days. Only buses would win out on lane changes as cars moved out of the way...