Merbein VIC sale

Few interesting bit's and pieces for those around.

www.mgs.net.au/auctions/collectables03_12/details.html

One of the sale items is a 1990 Mack Valuliner, with nil kms and never been on the road?? Must be some story behind that one??

That reminds me of an auction I went to about 1990, where a new, 1978 model, 6.354 Perkins-powered Dodge 760, 8 tonne tipper, was put up for sale with something like 78 kms on the clock.
The bloke had bought two at the same time .. put one to work .. and put the other in storage in a shed. It was a real time warp machine, and did the buyers go mad over it!
A Bobcat man bought it for $12,000, which was still a good buy, because a new Jap 8 tonner back then, was around $30,000 to buy new.

Merbein sale pics .. www.mgs.net.au/auctions/collectables03_12/pictures/index.html

Up near Mildura, that Valueliner looks to have Rockwell 6 rod suspension, so maybe Rockwell axles? 10 speed Mack box and 4 valve motor, they havn't even put turn table angles on it. You'd think they would get it out of the shed, give it a wash, and get some decent pictures.

If ya look real close big cam, you can see it has Rockwell's in it,whats the go with inside the door pillar near the hinge??? don't think there usually that ruff?? why no shot off the front? HMMMMMM been bent maybe?? could be wrong duno,

cheers Adam

You might be right, though it does say never on the road in the catalogue. I can't see what advantage there is in Rockwell 6 rod ove Mack Camelback, unless the customer wanted Rockwell diffs.
I also saw on the catalogue that the vendor is a member of the Hall of Fame, I was wondering the relevence to the auction. The Mack Fire Engines, was there 6 of them in total? I know of 2 in Queensland. They all seemed to have survived the test of time.

A lot of people don't like mack diffs,ive had 3 macks, a value-liner likes yours [mack diffs]
91 CHR [mack diffs]
2000 CH [ROCKWELL] Never had a problem with any of them mate! 6 rod is considered heavy suspension,so is camelback, must just be personal preference, in my experience they both ride ruff as guts in tippers ,still reckon that door jam is ruff mate! is yours like that?

cheers Adam

Just my thoughts, looks like 6 rod added after purchase,tryes for nil kilometres look a little worn :

Maybe the speedo cable broke as soon as it left the gate.

Where was the AC compressor?

The compressor should be back a little towards the flywheel just out of shot

I'll wager that that truck isn't "new-ex-factory" .. but has been built up using a glider kit and reconditioned parts.
There's too much about it that doesn't look right. Why has it got "spare parts" written on the front section of the intake manifold?
Why are there unpainted sections of the chassis rails (and chassis bolts) between the rear axles?

I reckon that cab is a rebuild. The "rough" section in the drivers door pillar in the cab, that Adam is querying, appears to be a repair patch.
The Mack cabs always crack through the pillars, right at that point, and need to be patched fairly regularly.

My 1990 Valuliner was cracked right through both door pillars when I bought it, and Peter Anderson told me it was a fault that needed regular repair.
He had my Valuliner cab repaired as part of the purchase deal .. but the repairer did a bodgy job, and only sweated some bronze weld into the cracks .. and they cracked again, within 12 mths after I bought it .. >

If the truck has nil kms and has never been on the road, or registered .. well, yes .. I guess they could pass it off as "new" .. :
However .. note that the description doesn't mention the word "new" .. just "nil kms and never been on the road" ..