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Back in the fifties, I don't think there was such a thing as I-81 and 460 from Christiansburg, VA to Princeton, WV/Bluefield was only two lanes. I lived 21 miles west of Covington, VA on Rt. 311. The majority of truck freight came from Staunton, Virgnia to Covington, then Rt. 60 5-miles to Callaghan, 159 12 miles to Crows, 311 8 miles to Sweet Springs, Rt. 3 20-miles to Union, WV; then 219 down to 460 at Rich Creek and then on west.

There were three noted trouble spots on this route; two turns that trucks often failed to negotiate traveling east the the hill at our house when traveling west when it snowed. If you missed the turn 1/2-mile above our house you took a dip in a large pond right at the edge of the road. The hill at our house was steep with a bad curve with too much banking and if you started spinning, you'd end in the ditch on the opposite side of the road. Then the solution was to call Buddy White from Covington and he would arrive in a beautiful yellow Autocar tow truck and take you over the hill.

One morning a bright red GMC hit the hill and wound up in the ditch. We had a 1951 Studebaker we hauled logs on. The straight-six that came in the truck was totally incompetent so we installed a 259-inch V-8. This dude told my brother that if he'd pull him over the hill, he would pay him well. Well, my brother bit. He hooked to him and pulled over but in doing so twisted the truck and put the fan through the radiator. The trucker paid him by telling him he didn't have any money but would give him a 50-# sack of potatoes, poor reimbursement for a ruined radiator.

That Jimmy was running a straight-six that I believe was gas-powered. It was just about the loudest and best sounding truck I ever heard. A mile down the road from our house was a long straight hill that required several shifts to get over. We'd be sitting on the front porch and I'd hear the Jimmy coming. "There comes the tater truck," I'd announce and my dad would always doubt me. He insist I couldn't recognize a truck by its sound that far away but I would never wrong. In about 2-minutes here would come the red GMC pulling a stainless trailer and up the hill he would go shifting about 5 more times. I loved to see and hear that truck even if he did hoodoo my brother but I guess he learned a good lesson. I thought you guys might enjoy reading this. By the way, who's going to Hershey from Virginia/West Virginia. I got room in the car for a couple.

Jay 1124

Jay, Great little story, you should send it to Inliner's Int. for the Newsletter, well done.

At an Inliner's meet a couple weeks ago and the 302 GMC had the best sound of all that attended.
Thanks
Jim

JiMerit: Send address and website for Inliner's Int and will get the article to them; maybe expanded.

Jay 1124

I'm familiar with Rt 311 as we take that way to get to the West Virginia State Fair. It is an interesting road. Back in the 50's it was probably a lot rougher.

I also like the sound of a straight 6 Chevy/GMC. My 6-292 in my '64 C-30 also sounded real good. But I didn't have the stock exhaust. I used the smaller and shorter 305 V-6 straight thru muffler and with no tail pipe. It also sounded the best fully loaded and going up hill to boot.

When I was a boy, Rt 311 was the main route from White Sulphur Springs to Roanoke and went right by our house so I got to see some pretty rare cars pass by. Buick used to run Peters Mountain and Potts Mountain doing brake test. Five to seven new Buicks would pass by about 11:00 am and return about 4-5:00pm. Saw lots of new Cadillacs, Chryslers, Lincolns and every once in a while a Rolls-Royce. Someone traveled that road regularly in a '53 Packard Caribbean. I often travel that road back and forth to Roanoke. One of my friends had a '50 Chevrolet 4-Door with a GMC straight-six and split manifolds and dual glasspacks. That car also sounded good but it was very loud. The only time I ever got a Chevy to be that loud was when I burst a muffler going to Williamsburg, Kentucky one evening in a Chevy Celebrity. By the time I returned home around midnight that thing was really sounding off. It got so loud that I began to wonder if I was going to get home without getting a ticket but I did. Don't know why the picture didn't come through with the email but I will print it out and mail it soon.

Jay 1124

Good story Jay;
It reminded me of the summer nights in Barstow, CA when my friends and I would "sleep out" (too hot in the house)in the back yard. We lived a couple of blocks from a Shell station on Route 66 that was open all night. Every so often a dual-stack Jimmy would pull out and rap through the gears. Oh man! I loved that sound, still do!

I sat right beside that awful noise for 3 years. Still have the 30% hearing loss in my left ear to prove it. But I still like the noise, too.