Travel the 1970s, what may have been the last great era of the big rigs, with the man who knows semi trucks better than anyone. Ron Adams, author of Big Rigs of the 1950s, Big Rigs of the 1960s, Mack Trucks, and 100 Years of Semi Trucks, takes readers through the decade, introducing the trucks that debuted or saw significant revamping, describing the quirks and innovations, and offering detailed information about the models, trailers, trucking companies, and various hauling configurations. Spotlighting manufacturers from Mack and Freightliner to White, Peterbilt, and Kenworth, and featuring Adams' fabulous photography, this is the 1970s on the highway. Looks like we got us a convoy, good buddy!

By 1972 there were nearly one million tractor-trailer rigs hauling every conceivable kind of cargo on America’s roads. Can you imagine the variety of trucks you would have seen at truck stops across the country? But the 1970s proved to be a decade of incredible change for the over-the-road trucking industry, and by 1980 fuel efficiency became a prime concern for companies. At this time, airfoils and other aerodynamic aids began to appear and trucks in general started to take on a similar look. In this picture-packed book, Ron Adams has pulled together a collection of over 300 images that traces the evolution of truck design and use back to the earliest horse-drawn units right up through the early 1980s. Short introductory chapters cover the earlier years of trucking and then Ron takes you on a coast-to-coast tour of the 1970s, showcasing the huge variety of big rigs working the roads and providing detailed information about the trucks, trailers, cargoes, and trucking companies. In addition to photos and detailed captions, there are period articles covering early aerodynamic testing and also on advancements in truck design in the 1970s. Semi Trucks of the 1970s features trucks from all makers, including International, Freightliner, Kenworth, Mack, White-Freightliner, Autocar, Brockway, Peterbilt, Ford, and Diamond Reo. This is a complete look at this evolutionary period in trucking history.

Travel the 1970s, what may have been the last great era of the big rigs, with the man who knows semi trucks better than anyone. Ron Adams, author of Big Rigs of the 1950s, Big Rigs of the 1960s, Mack Trucks, and 100 Years of Semi Trucks, takes readers through the decade, introducing the trucks that debuted or saw significant revamping, describing the quirks and innovations, and offering detailed information about the models, trailers, trucking companies, and various hauling configurations. Spotlighting manufacturers from Mack and Freightliner to White, Peterbilt, and Kenworth, and featuring Adams' fabulous photography, this is the 1970s on the highway. Looks like we got us a convoy, good buddy!

This book follows on the heels of Big Rigs of the 1950s (0-7603-0978-7), which has proven popular with vintage truck fans. This book tackles a new era, the 1960s, providing views of the trucks that traveled America's highways during that decade. Photography again comes from the enormous archive of Ron Adams, author of Big Rigs of the 1950s, Mack Trucks, and 100 Years of Semi Trucks. Each prominent manufacturer receives its own chapter, and less prominent brands are also covered. Adams provides detailed information about the truck models pictured, as well as the trailers, trucking companies, and hauling configurations seen in the photographs.

Long-haul trucks have been described as sweatshops on wheels. The typical long-haul trucker works the equivalent of two full-time jobs, often for little more than minimum wage. But it wasn’t always this way. Trucking used to be one of the best working-class jobs in the United States. The Big Rig explains how this massive degradation in the quality of work has occurred, and how companies achieve a compliant and dedicated workforce despite it. Drawing on more than 100 in-depth interviews and years of extensive observation, including six months training and working as a long-haul trucker, Viscelli explains in detail how labor is recruited, trained, and used in the industry. He then shows how inexperienced workers are convinced to lease a truck and to work as independent contractors. He explains how deregulation and collective action by employers transformed trucking’s labor markets--once dominated by the largest and most powerful union in US history--into an important example of the costs of contemporary labor markets for workers and the general public.

Prior to the 1970s, when length laws were written to allow longer configurations to run on the national interstate highway system, you would only see a lot of these trucks west of the Mississippi. Configurations such as the Rocky Mountain Double were not allowed in many states. Semi Trucks of the West is the first book to showcase the unique truck/trailer combos and companies that worked the roads in the American West from the early 1900s thru the 1970s. Ron Adams has pulled 375 images from his vast collection to feature companies and truck makers, such as Navajo Freight Lines Inc.; Denver-Chicago Trucking Co. Inc.; Braswell Motor Freight Lines Inc.; Western Truck Lines Inc.; I.M.L. Freight Inc.,; West Coast Fast Freight Inc.; Los Angeles-Seattle Motor Express Inc.; Garrett Freight Lines, Illinois-California Express Inc.; Ringsby Truck Lines Inc.; Watson Bros. Transportation Co. Inc.; Pacific Inter-Mountain Express; Transcon Lines Inc.; Big Sky Co-op of Montana; Garrison Fast Freight Inc.; Arrowhead Freight Lines Inc.; United Truck Lines Inc.; Strickland Transportation Co.; Peterbilt semi trucks; Sterling: International; Kenworth; White:Autocar trucks; GMC semi trucks; Fruehauf trailers; Mack semi trucks; Freightliner semi trucks. Trucks and companies from the following states are covered : California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Utah, Colorado, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Wyoming and Montana.

From the first turn-of-the-century haulers to the 18-wheelers truckin' down the nation's highways today, ten full decades of big rigs fill the pages of this hardbound chronological retrospective. Lengthy captions accompany each of more than 500 black-and-white photographs and a special section of 75 color photos featuring major manufacturers like Mack, Peterbilt, Ford, Freightliner, International, and GMC, along with trailer manufacturers and minor truckbuilders that have gone by the wayside. The main focus is on semis built from the 1940s through the 1970s.