Driving a truck in old-time Phoenix

Although I've never been a truck-driving man, I have tremendous respect for people who manage to operate these gigantic machines, squeezing them through lanes, backing up to loading docks, that sort of thing. I've always driven little tiny vehicles, and the thought of managing something as big as even a pickup truck just boggles my mind.

Of course nowadays driving a big truck is as easy as flying a 747. That is, you need expertise, and all of that, but you don't need muscle, which is what you needed to drive the truck at the top of this post.

I'm no expert on trucks, but I gotta tell ya, I know that this truck didn't have power steering, or power brakes, or even an automatic transmission. I drove an old van that a friend lent to me back in the 1980s, and it didn't have any of those things, and even as a strong and healthy man I found it to be quite a workout! 

The more I look at the pic, the more respect I have for the people who drove them. I can't imagine that it had air conditioning, and Phoenix has been very hot for a very long time.

I've known people who could do this kind of stuff, but it was never me. In my mind, I picture the driver of this truck chompin' a big see-gar, and built like a football player. He would have been the kind of tough guy that laughed at people in their comfortable little cars, with their plush seats. Maybe he's a veteran of World War I, or II, and has seen a lot of tough situations in his life. And he could back that sucker up to within inches of the loading dock, and never knock the ash off of his cigar!

Thank you for driving a truck with me in old-time Phoenix!

Image from the McColluch Brothers Collection at ASU.

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