Equipment trucks

[Martybucs]

Today's semi 18 wheelers that serve as equipment trucks are pretty cool.

For awhile (1965) our equipment truck was the back of our rented school buses. Then we had enough money to buy our first equipment truck a converted bread truck. It never needed pushing though.

The couple of tours we did, we rented an 18' U Haul.

I seem to remember one corps from our area using an old hearse. I thought it was pretty cool at the time.

[KeithHall]

One of our school busses had the last twoor three rows of seats taken out and it stored our drums. We also had a small bus, wasn't even a bus, it was the kind used to pick up special ed students (at least in our area). We later bought a large truck and a third bus.

[Donny Drum Corps]

Emerald Cadets form Rochester had an ambulance converted to an equipment vehicle, I remember that.

[JimF-LowBari]

And a beautiful looking hearse it was too Marty (saw the pic in History of Drum Corps Vol II). And that's coming from a card carrying member of the Antique Automobile Club of America.

Westshoremen from 74-early 80s had a old refridgerator truck (4 wheels only) that looked bigger than it really was due to the thick insulted walls. Truck carried all the drums, flags and podium somehow. Rode with that truck for five years so can see it in my sleep. :sshh: Before it was the quartermasters pickup truck.

Edit: Hmm, stated a thread years ago on Hearses as Equipment trucks... thanks for the reminder Marty

http://www.drumcorpsplanet.com/forums/inde...c=54129&hl=

Edited November 24, 2007 by JimF-3rdBari

[HornsUp]

The couple of tours we did, we rented an 18' U Haul.

Through the mid-70s, you could still see the U-Haul Cadets vehicle parked at every show.

[The Oz]

When I joined Reading, we used a Volkswagen van. For those of you too young to remember such a thing, check it out:

It carried all of the uniforms, flag poles, honor guard weapons, miscellaneous equipment, and, last but not least, two large coolers of Sunshine Premium Beer.

Edited November 24, 2007 by The Oz

[Martybucs]

When I joined Reading, we used a Volkswagen van. For those of you too young to remember such a thing, check it out:

It carried all of the uniforms, flag poles, honor guard weapons, miscellaneous equipment, and, last but not least, two large coolers of Sunshine Premium Beer.

I used to drive one of those. Gear shift was like a broom stick stuck in a bucket of marbles and it gave new meaning to the word s-l-o-w.

[BOBSMYTH]

We had a trailer that was attached to the back of a pick up truck.

Then, we got a brand new upgraded replacement built just for us - a bigger trailer attached to the back of that pick up truck.

[LancerLegend]

27th's early equipment truck was a retired post office truck. It was the short, panel type truck, where the driver could stand and drive, and the doors would slide open. There was no corps emblem or logo on the truck. The top half was white, the bottom half was blue.

The only things allowed in that truck were timps - in huge wood cases - and contras.

We did not get a legit truck until 1977. We leased a 5th wheel and we hired the owner's son to pull it around the country for us. We ended up buying it a few years later.

It was originally painted with a huge 27th in black letters on the sides and back. In the early 80's, DM Billy Kadra painted a fabulous emblem and great artwork on the sides and back.

[drmr27]

27th's early equipment truck was a retired post office truck. It was the short, panel type truck, where the driver could stand and drive, and the doors would slide open. There was no corps emblem or logo on the truck. The top half was white, the bottom half was blue.

At a Sunday night rehearsal in Commonwealth Armory someone asked why we didn't paint it up with a logo and everything. The answer was that it still looked enough like a postal truck to slip by the police on all the "Cars only" roads around Boston.