Date: Tue, 6 Feb 2001 12:07:40 -0800
Reply-To: Zach Kaplan <zakaplan@EARTHLINK.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Zach Kaplan <zakaplan@EARTHLINK.NET>
Subject: Re: Off topic VW LT/Mercedes Sprinter question
In-Reply-To: <200102061144.DAA29910@hummingbird.prod.itd.earthlink.net>
Content-type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
> Karl,
> Try and follow this -----
> Consolidated Freightway's contracted White Motor Co, in the late 40's
> early fifties, to build a cabover semi, which they designed.
> The contract with White ran out in the mid 70's, and Freightliner went
> off on their own.
> MB purchase Freightliner about 5-6 years ago.
> Volvo purchased GMC class 8 vehicles in the 80's, and then they gobbled
> up White Motor Co. a couple of years later.
> Now Volvo has just purchased Mack, the last bastion of durability, in
> the truck world.
> Sad.:>(
> A guy needs a scorecard just to keep up!!
>
> Later,
>
> ______________
> |[ ] [ ] [ ]\
> | | | |
> ||-(())----(())-|
>
> Terry 85 GL
Renault had owned a controlling interest in Mack for many years. The Mack
Midliner medium weight cabover trucks which came out in the early 1980s are
totally Renault: engine, chassis and cab. Incidentally this is the last
truck to still be produced using the "club of four" cab which was an early
1980s joint venture cab design used by Renault, Volvo, Magirus Deutz and
DAF. In the 1980s the Volvo and Magirus branded versions of this cab were
sold in the US. Volvo eventually replaced their "club of four" cab with one
of their own design which is sold in the US and Magirus was absorbed by
Iveco which left the US market around the beginning of the 1990s.
If you go to the Mack Australia web page you will see the conventional Macks
sold there are US designs but the cabover highway tractors are Renault
designs. Now that Volvo owns them I wonder what will happen with these.
In another odd twist, the medium weight PACCAR (Kenworth and Peterbilt)
cabover trucks sold in the US from the late 1980's to early 1990's were
actually VW do Brazil trucks using a Brazilian chassis with VW LT cab and
Cummins engine.
If you go to the Kenworth or Peterbilt web page you will see a new medium
duty cabover truck which I haven't seen on the street yet. It has a European
looking cab and I believe this is a DAF cab and that they own DAF.
Back when PACCAR was selling the Brazilian VW trucks I wanted them to also
import the LT vans and trucks to compete against Ford and GM in the full
size van market. Now my dream is coming true in an indirect way in the form
of the Mercedes Sprinter (joint design with second generation VW LT) being
sold by Freightliner in the US later this year. Now I just need to figure
out how to register one in CA before they have a CA legal version in 2004.
Zach Kaplan
zakaplan@earthlink.net
Carfree 27 September 1990 to ?? October 2001
