Herrett-54 Pete

[Truck Shop]

When I was a kid living in the little place called Whitstrand outside of Prosser Wa I would see Herrett trucks all the time. I could see them
in the distance with cheap binoculars climbing the Horse Heaven Grade outside Prosser at a snails pace. There trucks were cream colored
with a black stripe. Herrett also had another line called GEM. Alot of their trucks were rebuilt at least two times in their life. At one time
Herrett was the largest refrigerated truck line west of the Mississippi. There office and yard was up the road from Prosser, In Sunnyside Wa.

Note the fuel tank location on this 54 Pete, behind the sleeper. It was pretty common in those days for Pete, Kenworth and some other makes
to mount the fuel tank behind the cab. But I think that was mainly a west coast thing.

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[rzucker]

I may be wrong, but I think the Pete is older than 1954. The front bumper and headlight placement says 47 or so to me.

 

[Truck Shop]

Was seeing who was paying attention. Your right 46 thru 49 or so. The truck number?

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[rzucker]

I think, (not sure) it was about 1950 when Peterbilt lowered the bumper to just below the radiator. I remember Gramp's '52 Pete had a solid, low mount bumper. Gave the radiator a "tall" appearance. It also had the vertical shutters.

 

[Truck Shop]

1950 was the overlap year for Pete conventionals. 50 was the first year for the 350 model COE. In those days companies kept building models of
trucks till they ran out of parts.

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[JasonG]

Awesome stuff there.
What transmission was used back then, something like a 5x4?
Armstrong steering of course.
Really, doesn't look much different than a modern long nose Pete from the side.

 

[rzucker]

1950 was the overlap year for Pete conventionals. 50 was the first year for the 350 model COE. In those days companies kept building models of
trucks till they ran out of parts.

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Never been close to a Pete Bubblenose, But I did the overhead on a 220 Cummins in a '49 White Freightliner once. What a PITA to get to the engine.

 

[rzucker]

Awesome stuff there.
What transmission was used back then, something like a 5x4?
Armstrong steering of course.
Really, doesn't look much different than a modern long nose Pete from the side.

I've been around quite a few trucks of that vintage, 4x3, 4x4, 5x3, 5x4, and even a few early 8 and 10 spd Roadrangers with the external shift cylinder were pretty common. The early Roadrangers were a lot of fun when the pivot pin on the hi-lo shift lever fell out.

 

[rzucker]

Been looking at the pics a bit more and those trailers in all 3 pics look like they were built by Brown Trailers in Spokane Wa. I had a jobsite junk trailer nearly identical to the one on the top, and it was a Brown, the center pic you can almost make out the "Brown" emblem at top center.
The bottom trailer is very interesting... high side hopper with an open top? or a van with slope doors for the hoppers? Looks like a blower under the sleeper on the KW. That could explain the large hose on the trailer.

 

[Truck Shop]

Brown was pretty common in those days. I have a Brown badge with others on my tool boxes. And that hopper looks like a converted dry van to me.
You probably already seen this before when posted it. Setting in it with that conventional cab made a person look for the hood. They were horrible to
work on, just like all the COE's of that era with the stationary cab. The only thing you could see of the mechanic was the soles of his boots. To work
on one you put it on and wore it.

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[JNB]

Cool pics Truck Shop! Brings back a lot of memories.

 

[Truck Shop]

Cool pics Truck Shop! Brings back a lot of memories.

Welcome to HTF JNB. It's just too bad that trucks and trucking has made so many turns in these later years. When I was a kid people had respect
for those who drove but when crap movies came out in the late 70's and 80's depicting truckers in a bad light that didn't help. IMO. There are a few
good ones left though.

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[jumbo]

Looking at the photo in post #1; are you sure that is a fuel tank? Knowing the geography of the area, could it be a water tank for the brakes? It looks like the water tanks I had when I was a kid driving log trucks. Dunno, just looks too clean to be a fuel tank. Drifting down the Lewiston Grade would drink a lot of water on the brakes.....

 

[Truck Shop]

Looking at the photo in post #1; are you sure that is a fuel tank? Knowing the geography of the area, could it be a water tank for the brakes? It looks like the water tanks I had when I was a kid driving log trucks. Dunno, just looks too clean to be a fuel tank. Drifting down the Lewiston Grade would drink a lot of water on the brakes.....

Your correct on the use of water tanks for cooling brakes on loggers years ago. But on most highway trucks it was a fuel tank. I think It really depended on the
owner and what the truck was used for. The guy I work with had a 53 Pete years ago with the oval fuel tank behind the cab plus one square tank at the step.

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