Working Then & Today
 

I thought these where worth sharing…:metal:

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'63 Pontiac Catalina, 8 lug wheels.

K

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The top pic is so clean and the colors look so true that I thought it was a modern picture until I saw the surrounding cars!

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That panel is great! Someone did nice work on that wrap job :cool:

Just think. He'd come to your house in his shiny red repair truck and fix your washer for probably under $25

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The second pic with the yellow truck looks like it could have been taken in my neck of the woods. Except that's not a California license plate.

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That yellow truck. Are those exhaust stacks out of the hood? If not, then what could they be? I looked before but didn't realize those are in front of the cab. I guess it could be pipes up from the front bumper for something

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I thought they were covers for bipods or something sitting on top of the cab. Kinda looks like a Missouri license plate.

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I think that they are poles or something in the background.

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Think those are gun mounts attached to the roof. The guns in use are attached on mounts as well.

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I know it doesn't take as long for some people to rag out a truck as others, but the marksmen in the truck are wearing baseball caps. Seems like they became popular in the eighties. No tailgate protector left but evidence of one as well as bottom talgate trim holes.
Off to the front right of the truck looks like a guy setting up to shoot from the ground. Must be at a long range shooting facility, possibly an army base?

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Canned drinks for shooter re-hydration?

Another question from an inquiring mind: Who is in the cab with his/her foot on the brake?

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My best guess is that it’s a Washington state plate….

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I live in an area of grass seed and grain growers. They used to remove the exhaust systems from trucks used in the fields and ran straight pipes up thru the hoods to ward against starting fires under the trucks.

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It's likely they are the exhaust pipes. It used to be quite common in the rural Washington Idaho and Oregon arid farm and ranch country to remove the exhaust manifolds and reinstall them upside-down and have pipes going straight up through the hood. The local county mounties would allow them on the county highways but usually frowned on them in town especially if they were straight pipes without mufflers.

The idea being that when driving on unpaved roads or through fields there would be no hot exhaust under the truck to catch dry grass on fire.

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Is that practice still common? The reason I ask is due to my impression that the shooters in the back of the truck look “modern” (like within the last 10 years at max) both in how they’re dressed and the firearms they’re using….

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Could be the org poster was using the last picture as the "working today " reference. I like to see them on the road like we did everyday 30 years ago. That picture was taken much more recently. I hope he weighs in with answers. We have picked it to death. I love a good mystery.

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I figured we were looking at two pictures, one from yesterday and one from current times. No doubt that second picture is recent.

It seems the two "objects" are located just right to be exhaust. I don't think those are drinks unless they are thermoses and I also wondered if they were cases for the stands. If up-pipes are a thing in dry grassy areas I'm thinking that's probably it. I think it looks like an Idaho tag.

I wondered what that was up ahead. I was thinking another person as well.

Hah. Foot on brake! Good catch. Being curious is a good way to learn

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I think that the red you see at the top of the tag is a sticker (month, year, whatever)….

The blue on the bottom is much lighter than the blue on Idaho plates also….

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The guy in the foreground seems to be wearing a long sleeve shirt from a company with the name (unknown) action tactical. If you look that up, there is a well known group called direct action tactical. It was founded in 1990. Coupled with the afore mentioned comment about the modern rifles and given that the other guy looks to be sitting in a fold up chair with the carrying case draped over it. I'm guessing that photo is less than 10 years old. That old truck is probably still working today.

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I agree. That was the point of the thread. The other picture is obviously from "then" and the second from "today". Your eyes are better than mine. I'll have to take your word on the details. I can tell it's a human :lol:

I don't consider the second picture to be work. Here's a '72 still working

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I don't believe it's as common as it once was due to the complexity of modern engines. That being said turbo diesel trucks would lend themselves to this kind of modification.
As I recall this modification was usually only done on used trucks. So instead of trading the old truck in on the new one it got a second life in the fields.

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I'd think a truck would become specialized-use once the straight pipes are run through the hood. Not something you'd do to your driver.

This is a cool truck thing to learn that I never knew about. Back East the super dry conditions of the west are rarely seen. But we do get droughts. I remember a field fire we started when I was a kid. We had a Ford AA flatbed. It backfired and that started the fire.

More recently at this house, we had a field fire in the area that got started by sparks from a bush hog blade hitting a rock.

I also learned all about spark arrestors on dirt bikes when I lived in CA

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I tried to display the old days to today with the two photos , sorry for the confusion. Farmers still use the old truck from the 60/70’s for a lot of field work because the modern ones have catalytic converters that start fires quickly. The trucks get little actual use except for harvest time so still looking new. Mostly 3/4 and one ton stake beds.

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No need to be sorry for confusion. Its fun looking at photos to tell when they were taken. Enjoyed it.