Mack Puts Its RD Model Out to Pasture
The venerable truck had a run that lasted nearly four decades.
Jim Winsor
Executive Editor
I'm old. No question about that. Why, I even pre-date Mack Trucks' venerable R Series, which rumbled onto the scene in 1965. I'd already been working as a trucking journalist for seven years when I was invited to Allentown for the big R Series intro. I remember it well.
What a ride the R Series has had! At 38 years, it's had a longer run than Henry Ford's Model T and it's right up there with Ford Truck's C Series. But when it comes to heavy-truck numbers, The R's have it. No contest. The R's passed the 360,000 mark in May and might well pass 400,000 before it's all over. Only the RD (pictured here) is ending production. Others will continue. Mack says more than 200,000 R's are out there working every day.
The other models using the R cab — the RB (axle back) and DM (offset cab) — will continue for another year, maybe more. Mack's nearly new Granite family is replacing the RD, but it's not yet available in an axle-back version. And there are plenty of vocational fleets out there that still like the smaller cab.
If you've ever done dump truck work, and I have, nothing beats the DM's offset cab, which lines up with left side of a dump body. When you stick your head out the window, you look right down the body. And when going forward, you're tracking directly over the left front wheel. It's great at construction sites.
The RD's swan song is called the "R-Model Legend," and its being built this fall as long as orders last. The truck's tricked out with special limited-edition paint, badges, chrome and embroidered seats. It may, indeed, become a collector's item.
For those who are big fans of Mack, the following stats may prove interesting. (My thanks to Don Schumaker, co-curator of the Mack Museum, for digging up these figures.)
The R-model family of trucks began in 1965. However, a short 90-inch BBC version called the U-model came out a year earlier. Many states had 55-foot overall length laws back then, and it required a 90-inch conventional cab or a shorter BBC cabover to pull the 40-foot trailers. Mack built 29,464 of the U's between 1964 and 1989.
The R's and DM's started in 1965. The RD's came in a 600, 700 and 800 series. The RD800 and DM800 remain Mack's highest GVW-rated heavy haulers with front axles to 20,000 pounds and rear bogies to 80,000 pounds, making these models up to 100,000 pounds GVW on three axles. RD800 production has averaged 100 trucks per year from 1965 to present. Applications are mining, logging, oil fields and heavy construction.
Mack built 20,220 RW Superliners — a lesser known model with a wide front end and radiator — between 1977 and 1993. It was replaced by the CL model. The Superliner was Mack's competitive product for western markets and accommodated the industry's largest engine, Mack's 1,000-cubic-inch E9 500-hp V-8. About half were built in Mack's Hayward, Calif. plant, the rest at the Macungie, Pa. plant.
There were also the RS and RL models, built for the West in Hayward. The "L" was a lightweight version with lots of aluminum. A total of 8,376 RL's and 19,321 RS's were built between 1976 and 1987. All versions of the R's, DM's and U's shared the basic steel R cab, which in its early life seemed huge after the B-model cab. Today, the R is a bit cozy for us big guys.
So, adios to the RD Mack! What a reign it has had.
