That's a great story Jerry!
I worked on and drove farm trucks for a while around 1980 and even with V-8s it was hard to get 18,000 to 20,000 pounds up to the speed limit. The boss once told me to not worry about the speed limit, when loaded you'll never get one of these trucks to go that fast.
Most of that fleet were F-600 or F-700 Fords with 330s and 4- or 5-speeds and 2-speed rears. There were a couple of Internationals, one was a '53 with a six that was rarely used and the other was a tandem axle with a 394 and a 5+4 setup. That tandem was the fastest truck in the bunch.
Except for the old International they were all V-8 powered and still relatively slow compared to the cars and pickups I was driving at the time. The '53 International was the slowest and carried the smallest payload.
This was an agricultural operation and they paid almost nothing by the hour. Back then they ran a dozen gas powered trucks. Today that same operation has three or four Diesel powered trucks that are lengthened semi tractors with grain beds added. As it became practical to haul larger loads with a single truck the cost of labor was also going up.
Back in the day equipment was expensive and labor was cheap. Today equipment is expensive, but not so much when compared to the cost of labor. Last time I talked to them trucks were actually costing them about the same 25 years later as they did when I was working there. Today's labor cost creates demand for trucks that can do the job with fewer people on the payroll.
Or at least that's my analysis of the situation... I left the trucking operation at the end of 1981 so its not like I'm close to it any more. The boss remains a good friend whom I see only once every five years or so.
