DOTS: Mopar or No Car Edition! UPDATED with Storytime Twice!

"Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available" (whoistheleader2)
07/26/2020 at 14:25 • Filed to: Dots

Yesterday was a good day for car spotting. The best thing I saw was probably this big old Plymouth. For the life of me, I can’t remember the model name on this one.

EDIT: Thanks Dash-Doorhandle-and-Bondo for pointing out the Plymouth as a ‘72 Satellite with stripes from a Road Runner.

But this thing was just mean looking. The characteristic side stripe looks pretty cool on the roof and contrasts nicely with the dark olive colored paint. The matching steelies are a nice touch too.

The front end on these cars is just fantastic. The recessed quad headlights really complete the look. I wonder what those orange lights in the middle are. Blinkers?

The rear end continues the look. I’m curious as to why it is not registered as an antique collector vehicle, since it has the standard issue Georgia plates on it.

The car is a manual, but it had a strange looking shift knob that seemed to evoke the T handle style that you might find on automatics of the era.

Continuing the Mopar theme is this Dodge Ram van, Mark III ! I took the picture because those louvres are kind of funny and kind of creepy all at once.

Speaking of vans, this Ford Econoline had been very sloppily spray painted not quite enough coats to be offensively pink. And yes, the windshield is duct taped all around. It also seemed to have been very poorly repaired. I don’t know what is going on here, but it isn’t good.

Why are there so many International Harvester Loadstars around? This makes the third I’ve seen in as many months.

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Hey look, the logo looks like a tractor! Thanks, errr, who posted about this recently?

EDIT: Just Jeepin is responsible for enlightening us. Thank you.

Finally, one asymmetric boi. I don’t see them very often, but a few companies operate these. There are also a few Macks with the standard sized cab mounted way off to the side to allow the engine not to reduce the driver’s footwell size.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that I saw a heavily modified Beetle doing stoplight pulls alongside me. I had trouble keeping up, which prompted me to ask the guy what he had in it. He said 5200 CC. 5200 CC! Does that mean he Subaru swapped it? That’s double the displacement of the stock engine. But it still sounded like an air cooled VW. Help me, I have no idea how that is possible.

EDIT 2: I was in a parking lot following someone in front of me when they pulled across into a roundabout and stopped. Naturally, I had been following them and was then stuck blocking traffic. An old couple in a black C Class were mouthing off in an entirely disgraceful way while I waited for pedestrians to clear and leave me free to back up. I couldn’t hear a word, but they were shouting, pointing, making faces, just an absolute caricature of righteous indignation. I just gave them a big whoopsie shrug and backed up, but they continued to make the most vile gestures as they passed while the car in front of me stayed stopped for absolutely no reason. I just laughed, but I wonder what happened to put them in such a bad humor. It left a most unpleasant impression in my mind. It was childish in a way entirely unbefitting of their age.

DISCUSSION (30)

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available
07/26/2020 at 12:51

I used to see those a symmetric trucks around LAX all the time. FedEx had a major hub at the airport, but the warehouses were off-site, no more than a mile or two away with some being just a block of two from the field. That vehicle was perfect for their operation.

Dash-doorhandle-6 cyl none the richer > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available
07/26/2020 at 12:53

I see those asymmetrical trucks all the time but never on the street, I work in various fleet/commercial settings and they’re generally used to move and park trailers in transport hubs . They’re single drive axle and probably not suited to high speeds. That groovy car be a 72 Satellite, 71 had fancier side markers and 73 is a different style. The stripes are Road Runner.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
07/26/2020 at 12:54

I have seen a few around more built up industrial areas south of Atlanta but this was taken a little further out than you might expect to see them in Newnan. I don’t know what it was doing out there, but a shipping distribution facility isn’t a bad guess.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > Dash-doorhandle-6 cyl none the richer
07/26/2020 at 12:57

This truck was somewhat far from Hartsfield Jackson for it travel and not particularly close to any distribution facility I know of. I was deeply puzzled, since it wasn’t even in a particularly industrial area. Just endless office parks off of long somewhat twisty roads. Pretty much worse case scenario for the truck.

Thanks, I forgot about the Satell ite. Interesting.

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available
07/26/2020 at 13:02

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terminal tractor

One cool thing on those that I never knew about - rear sliding door to allow the driver easy access to the connections to the trailer. That should speed things up considerably, and reduce injuries/accidents. Being able to lift and move the trailer without retracting the trailer legs probably saves a ton of time as well.

Dash-doorhandle-6 cyl none the richer > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available
07/26/2020 at 13:05

There’s a rust p.o.s. orange one with police wheels in my ‘hood. It’s awesome.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
07/26/2020 at 13:12

There is a lot to unpack in that Wiki. But this:

“ A terminal tractor , known in the United States as a shunt truck , spotter truck , spotting tractor , yard truck , yard shifter , yard dog , yard goat , yard horse , yard bird , yard jockey , or mule , is a semi-tractor ”

Hahahahahahaha we do love overcomplicating naming schemes.

I also didn't know they don't retract the trailer legs. Huh. I could do a whole article on these.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > Dash-doorhandle-6 cyl none the richer
07/26/2020 at 13:15

That front end is just so great. I love them.

ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available
07/26/2020 at 13:57

That Plymouth...hnnnnngggggg

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability
07/26/2020 at 14:04

Indeed.

shop-teacher > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available
07/26/2020 at 14:38

There used to be a crappy roofing company around Chicagoland, that painted all of their trucks pink.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > shop-teacher
07/26/2020 at 14:41

I think this was someone's daily, judging by the Xtreme shoddiness of the paint job and the color matched steering cover along with some, let's call it unprofessional, attire.

Just Jeepin' > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available
07/26/2020 at 14:53

Thanks, errr, who posted about this recently?

You’re welcome.

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available
07/26/2020 at 14:54

That funky assymetric tractor trailer is usually used as a yard switcher. I’ve never seen one out on the road.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > Just Jeepin'
07/26/2020 at 14:58

Aha! I'll credit you in the post.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent
07/26/2020 at 15:00

Which is why I took a picture of it. I’ve seen a few on the roadways but they aren’t very useful outside of self contained industrial or distribution facilities. There are some at the airport and shipping facilities, but this was in a random low density office park in a sea of low dens ity office parks. Strange.

Michael > Dash-doorhandle-6 cyl none the richer
07/26/2020 at 15:05

I saw a yard dog like that doing 45 on I85 SB towards Newnan, yard dogs don't give a f*ck

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > Michael
07/26/2020 at 17:10

That is very very close to where I saw this. A random office park in Newnan near I85. Woah, are you kinda local?

Dead_Elvis, Inc. > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available
07/26/2020 at 17:26

I think you must have mis-heard the VW dude, and he was rocking a well-built 2200* cc mill. There’s no way to build up a flat four - VW, Subaru, or other - to 5.2L, AFAIK.

(Porsche people will probably be along immediately to prove me wrong. Hopefully, because I want there to be a giant fucking boxer motor in the back of a Beetle.)

*2276? it’s been more than 20 years since my last ACVW, and I don’t remember what some of the common sizes for larger- than- stock performance motors are.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > Dead_Elvis, Inc.
07/26/2020 at 17:36

He definitely said 5200 CCs, so maybe he just doesn't know what he is talking about. It sounded air cooled, so maybe he had two of them under there IDK. I was so confused. A 5.2 L beetle would sight to behold. It was pretty quick but not that quick.

Dead_Elvis, Inc. > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available
07/26/2020 at 17:39

I’m leaning towards “full of shit”. (Not you, obv.)

Michael > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available
07/26/2020 at 17:54

Used to live in Newnan and work for Yamaha. Up in Minnesota now, working for the competitor that's based here

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > Michael
07/26/2020 at 18:04

There is a good chance that it was the same route we saw that for some reason required a yard dog to drive on the road. Why I have no idea. Huh.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > Dead_Elvis, Inc.
07/26/2020 at 18:05

I was about to ask just how many flat 4s he had before he drove away faster than I could keep up. Yeah I was just confused not impressed.

barnie > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available
07/26/2020 at 19:27

Yup. These things have the half cab so the driver can just climb out the back to hook up the hoses without climbing down and back up. And, the 5th wheel lifts hydraulically so the driver doesn’t have to screw the trailer stands at each end of a short move.. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terminal_tractor

Edit: and the part I forgot to add... They can be street legal for delivery of storage trailers and such. May be the case here.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > barnie
07/26/2020 at 19:33

Yes, but they sure aren’t fast. At all. Another Oppo observed one in the same area actually on the interstate going h alf the speed of traffic so maybe this one random distribution facility needs to deliver stuff somewhere off site regularly. I just don't understand why they wouldn't have a regular semi to take over driving in such large fast twisty roads.

barnie > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available
07/26/2020 at 22:29

This one is towing a longhaul refer so maybe time sensitive. I don’t know but they are cool trucks.

zipfuel > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available
07/26/2020 at 23:17

I was gonna say, that there's a shunt truck but yard goat will be my go to from now on....

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > zipfuel
07/26/2020 at 23:33

Yard Goat? Yard Jockey? All are great.

KnowsAboutCars > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available
07/29/2020 at 17:35

That Plymouth is nice. For some reason it r eminded me of the fact that some Plymouth designers made this thing out of one of those.

Kinja'd!!!