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About "Bob"

Date of Birth: October 31st (Yes... that is Halloween)

Year: Somewhere in the mid 50's   ;-)

Birthplace: Angola, Indiana

High School: Perrysburg Sr. High School, in Perrysburg, Ohio

Cities and States lived in: Angola, IN., Hazel Park, MI., New Castle, IN., Trenton, MI., Toledo, OH., Perrysburg, OH., Whitehouse, OH., Maumee, OH., Middletown, OH., and West Elkton, OH.

Favorite car: 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T SE 4 Speed.... any motor!

Favorite music: 60's and mostly 70's Rock and Roll, or what they now call, "Classic Rock".... Aerosmith to ZZ Top, I love it all! I especially like music with a lot of horns in it. I've attended many live concerts in the 70's and early 80's. AC/DC, Aerosmith (at least 3 times in the 70's), Alice Cooper (cancelled the show midway through the 1st song when someone threw an M80 onto the stage... Police in Riot Gear!), Allman Brothers, Bad Co., Blue Oyster Cult, Boston, B.T.O., E.L.O., Foghat, Foreigner, Peter Frampton and Gary Wright (in Fl.), Golden Earring, Heart, J Giles Band, Jethro Tull, Journey, Kansas, Steve Miller Band, Nazareth, Ted Nugent, REO Speedwagon, Rolling Stones (3 times), Rush, Styx, Triumph (3+ times), Van Morrison, Yes, and I'm sure some others that I have forgot about by now. Even though I was lucky enough to see many great live concerts as a young man, there are SO many groups that I wished I could have seen, and didn't.

Favorite movie: Vanishing Point, for obvious reasons... and I like so many others.

Marital Status: 23+ years Living Together with my Girlfriend, Denise.

Children: JoAnne Marie (1974), Ryan Terrance (1984), Zachary Tyler  (1992...son to both Denise and I, and creator of  Artwork by Kamoku ), Joshua (2003... adopted by a great couple in the Kansas City, MO. area).

Past Jobs Held: Fast Food Worker, Machine Operator in a U.A.W. tank track factory.
Automotive Related: Auto Parts "counter person", Auto Parts Store Manager, Auto Dealership Parts Manager, Auto sales new/used, Auto Dealership (Dodge, Chrysler, Plymouth) New Car Sales Manager, Auto Dealership  Used Car Sales Manager, Auto Dealership Business Manager, Auto Dealership Vehicle Buyer/Seller (Auctions) for a large "multiple brands" dealership chain.
Driving Related: Towing/Rescue/Recovery Worker (with 2 1/2 years at Michigan International Speedway), Truck Driver-steel hauler/flatbed operations/over dimension/dry box/tanker/spotter/auto transporter.

Interests

Obviously, MoPars....... especially classic vehicles of the 60's and early 70's. My favorite year seems to be 1970. I seem to like almost any brand's design (appearance) for the model year 1970. For example, most people like 68 and 69 Roadrunners/GTX, but I think the looks of the 1970 models better. Even in NON Chrysler products, 1970's tend to be my favorite year for design (looks), such as the Camaro, GTO, Chevelle, Mustang, etc.. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I was 15 back then and looking at all of those cars with that anxious, waiting gleam in my eye! One reason for my interest and love of MoPars has to be the fact that my father was an executive for Chrysler Corporation (60's through the 90's) for almost 30 years during that era. Every late Summer he would bring in the "Order Information Bibles" for the new car lines, to order his next two cars... and I would study them cover to cover.

NASCAR.... I liked stock car racing long before I worked at M.I.S. (Michigan International Speedway). I attended my first "live" race there, when I won a pair of tickets in a Gabriel Shock Absorber sales contest. That race was the "Gabriel 400", on June 18th, 1978. It was won by  Cale Yarborough. I've seen many changes happen in the last 20 years of NASCAR competition, not all for the good in my opinion. Front Wheel Drive car nameplates, built as Rear Wheel Drive cars, restrictor plates, pit rood speed limits, green-white-checkered finishes, and the new system of ONLY the highest 12 in points, racing for the cup are a few examples. I would "try" to make the first race at M.I.S. in June every year (I think my record was 13 years in a row), but I stopped attending about 13 years ago. I have also held tickets every year (from the first race, until 2004) to the "Brickyard 400" at Indianapolis Motor Speedway... it's closer to home. With all of the "new" changes, I'm happy to just watch them on TV (when I feel like it).

Amateur Radio....   N8YVK F.C.C. Technician's license.
I'm not as active as I use to be, since most of my radio equipment was stolen out of my rig directly after my accidental fall. And to a large degree, computer's have "replaced" the radios in the "bid" for my spare time. I had (2) Alinco 50 watt mobile "dual bander" (2m/70cm) radios (stolen), and I still have a 70cm Icom hand held. I also have a RCI 2950 10m 25 watt mobile transceiver... but it was damaged being shipped back to me after my accident. I haven't been able to use the newly opened portion of 10 meters that have been opened up to technicians yet... because my radio was damaged. I have a 60' tower with a 2m Omni directional on the top, and a "dual band" 2m/70cm beam under it... with a CDE rotor to do the "twisting". I prefer simplex over "working the repeaters". The largest repeater in the area, and one of the largest systems in the country, is FARA.in Fairfield, Ohio. It is a 2m system on 145.190 (- offset) that covers the lower east end of Michigan, almost all of Ohio, central and south-eastern Indiana, much of Kentucky, and a piece of West Virginia and Tennessee. You now have to join their club to get a secret code sent to you that will "open" the repeater, so traffic on it has died down to "almost nothing". What a shame, considering the size of that system. I might try to upgrade my license soon, if I'm off of work much longer.

Computer(s)
 

I've been "fooling around" with computers for a while now, about 20 years or so. I've learned a lot about computers by "trial and error", and with some help of my best friend "Jerry", who lived in Perrysburg, OH. Sadly... Jerry passed away a number of years ago. I also had some help from few others.... like Denny Vane, a fellow "HAM" radio operator. My HTML and Web Design experience is completely self taught... so don't laugh too hard, at some of the amateurish looking pages! The end result of almost everything you see on these pages, including the animations and transparent .gif files, are of my own creation.

Past Machines...

I started learning about computers with Commodore 64's and 386's with "Jerry", and Apples (Macintosh) with "Denny".

Finally I started by tinkering around with an old IBM 386 of my own.

My first "real" computer was a brand new "486" Hewlett Packard Machine, 3.5" and 5" floppy drives, 9600 baud modem, running DOS and Windows 3.1.

My second brand new computer, a Toshiba Infinia 7160 "Pentium" 166Mhz. was the machine that my first website "Bob's MoPar Muscle Page" was created on.
Details of this classic PC, and of the original website "Bob's MoPar Muscle Page", can be found HERE!

I bought a "backup" machine many years later.. to run along with the Toshiba. This gave me a second machine for my new son Zach, and his mother to learn on. It was an IBM Server, Dual Pentium 90 Processors w/64 megs RAM, (2) 1.2 Gig hard drives, 56K v90 modem, 15" monitor, 2X CD ROM, Sound blaster sound card. It was OK for the $200.00 I paid for it... plus the "extras" I added to it out of the old 486 machine (CD ROM, sound card, etc..). It worked great for a year or so, then one of the hard drives went south. Still it was a great computer for the little bit of money it cost back then. It and my "Trusty Toshiba" got me through, until I could afford a "modern" machine.

Current Machines...
All of the computers in my home are on Time Warner's Road Runner. I average 6900 kb/s download and 490 kb/s upload speeds. I have a minimum of 3 machines connected at all times. Two are Ethernet hard wired, and the rest are wireless B/G connections. I am very happy with the internet service provided, not as happy about the cable service, NOT happy with their stupid digital phone service, and down right pi$$ed off at the price they charge.

Main System: (Bob's)

COMPAQ Presario P8656U (S6000V). Intel Pentium 4  2.5 GHz, 512 megs RAM, Western Digital 160 GB (Hard Drive 1), Seagate 80 GB (Hard Drive 2), Western Digital 80 GB USB External Hard Drive, 19" Proview WIDE SCREEN LCD Monitor, DVD-RW drive, DVD drive, upgraded video card, Hauppauge TV card, Creative Speaker System with Subwoofer, MS Windows XP Home Edition, Hewlett Packard HP PSC 1610 All-in-One printer/scanner/copier with FAX capability, Geek Squad® - 875VA UPS/Battery Back-Up System

Denise's Machine (actually, it's newer... and better than my machine in some ways)

Sony Vaio VGC-RB30   Intel Pentium 4 Processor 530J 3.0GHz, 512 megs RAM, 200 GB Hard Drive, Sony 17" LCD Monitor,  Dual Layer DVD+R / DVD±RW / CD-RW Drive, Card Readers: MS/PRO/DUO, CF, SM, SD/MMC, xD Picture, Creative Speaker System with Subwoofer, MS Windows XP Home Edition, APC BACK-UPS ES 350 Battery Back-Up System.

Zach's (Artwork by Kamoku) Machine: Compaq Presario Pentium IV 2.0 GHz, 512 megs RAM, 120 GB Hard Drive CD RW drive, CD Drive

we also run...
(2) Toshiba A105-S4397 Laptop(s)   Intel Core Duo Processor T2250 1.73 GHz, 1 GB RAM, 160 GB Hard Drive, DVD-RW, TruBrite 15.4" widescreen display, Intel Pro Wireless 3945ABG, Windows Vista (YUCK!!!!)  We use these when traveling or when I am "on the road"...

Trucking

I started out Truck Driving for Ohio Tool and Die Company, in Sylvania, Ohio. It was a U.A.W. factory that produced tank track. I was a forklift driver, and one day I was asked if I could drive a tractor trailer (when the regular driver didn't show up for work). I was only 20 years old and had never driven an 18 wheeler before, so of course I told them that I could do the job! The foreman told me, "If you can back that thing into the loading dock, we'll send you out in it". I had driven vehicles with trailers since I was 15, but never a Semi Tractor Trailer. So... after a quick glance at the shift pattern (13 speed) on the sun visor, I backed it into the loading dock. I only made a few trips for them when the regular driver was sick, or if they needed an extra hand... but I was now "bitten by the bug".

Throne Auto Service in Toledo, Ohio. I mostly drove a 1 ton wrecker, but did get to drive all four of the HD Class 8/7 Tractors in our fleet from time to time. This was the first time I drove a 16 speed "4X4 Twin Stick". Many of the longer trips I made somewhat regularly back then, were to Buffalo, NY. I towed Tractor units, to exchange for broken down Tractors. I also towed trailers, tractor and trailer combinations, and I even pulled a drop deck on a "Joe Dog" (dolly), to bring back 2 tractors at a time from Indianapolis, Indiana.

I did recovery work, and assisted with air bag rescue/recovery of tractor trailer wrecks (including overturned tankers full of fuel). I also learned how to use a brand new rescue tool, that was very much like the "Hurst Jaws of Life"... the Kinman rescue tool. It could do almost everything that the "jaws of life" could do, but was much lighter, quieter, and much easier to handle.

The best thing about this job, aside from the Tractor Trailer driving experience I gained, was that Throne Auto Service was the official towing company for M.I.S. Speedway in Brooklyn, Michigan.

M.I.S. held 4 races every year.  There were always 2 NASCAR races, and a variety of other types of racing (Indy, ARCA, etc.) for the other 2 events. I worked at M.I.S. for 2 1/2 years, as the "turn 4" tow truck/recovery unit. All of our work was strictly on a "volunteer" basis. We were not paid, and did not care. It was an honor to be chosen to serve there. The company did not receive compensation for the use of the trucks either, although fuel while at the track was furnished by M.I.S. We were eventually replaced by paid professionals that traveled to each race, and they used brand new equipment that was donated each year by the wrecker company.

   Myself, standing next to my regularly assigned truck, just before the start of the race.
     1978 Ford F-350 400 2bbl./4 Speed. Unit #782 I drove this truck for almost 3 years
(Photo taken by co-worker, with my equipment)

Here is the turn 4 "crew" (Fire, Ambulance, and Towing) watching and waiting for instructions to come over the radio.
It is very hot in mid June, so we stayed outside of the vehicles... but we were ready to go at a moments notice!

One of the benefits of working at the track, was being required to attend the
"Drivers Meeting" before every race. At this meeting you see I had a "front row
seat" (even though we stood for the meeting). Pictured are the speakers for this
Safety Meeting... (the late) Harold Kinder (Official Starter and Flagman of all
NASCAR races back then), and of course "The King" Richard Petty. They were
telling everybody about the new steering wheel set up that had a "pin" holding
the wheel in place, and how to remove the wheel if needed. Not every team was
using those at the time, since they had not been mandated yet. Richard Petty's
team used them, so that is why he was up front with Harold Kinder for this one
meeting. ALL of the drivers are required to be at the meeting, or they must start
the race at the back end of the lineup. BTW... Richard Petty won that race!

Here is the whole crew with 2 of our trucks on a practice day. I'm 5th from the left
Group picture taken by "Miss Winston 1981", with my equipment.

In 1981, hydraulic wreckers were very rare. And a Heavy Duty hydraulic wrecker
was even more rare. This 1978 Kenworth was the 1st one of it's kind in Toledo.
It was used at the track in case something very heavy needed to be lifted in an
emergency. The Silver 1981 Chevy was also one of our units, it was an official
"Indy 500" wrecker a couple of week earlier. We bought it to use at M.I.S.

In 1983 a "handful" of the Throne employees were asked to work at the second
running of the Detroit Grand Prix (Detroit Grand Prix II). It was a F1 (Formula
One) race. It was a Detroit "street circuit" (ran on closed downtown city streets)
encompassing the Renaissance Center area. The original circuit was 2.493 miles
with seventeen corners. The rough, demanding, course even included a railroad
track crossing and mimicked Monaco, with a tunnel on the main straight. I was
lucky enough to get the last (and one of the sharpest) turns before the cars went
under Cobo Hall and the Renaissance Center. What a view I had from inside of
the wrecker as the race took place. All of the trucks that were used were provided
by the wrecker manufacture, Holmes. A few of our employees were asked to help
because of our experience working the Indycar races at M.I.S.

I would tow my 1977 Dodge B100 to the track, and use it as a camper in the infield each night. There was nothing wrong
with my van, it ran fine... I just couldn't drive both of them at one time!

(Other than noted... Photos by R. Shinn)
I drove my truck home most of the time, so I could leave when "on call"

Wyckoff Trucking in Perrysburg, Ohio. My next driving job was one that I had for over 5 years, and was my first "serious" trucking job. Full time, flatbed/steel hauling. We hauled steel, and building materials (LOTS of drywall for C. J. Rogers) all over the Midwest. I ran as far west as Missouri and Iowa, and as far east as Pennsylvania. The first time I went into Canada to pickup a load (lumber) was for this company.

ALL of the trucks at Wyckoff Trucking were F model (Cabover) Macks. Almost all of them were completely stripped models, with no luxuries at all. Manual Steering and not even a radio. Some didn't even have an air ride driver's seat. They were very strong workhorses, but were slow as could be... and had the ride quality of a wagon being pulled behind a team of horses. All but about 8 of the 37 truck fleet were 237 Mack motors with straight 5 speed transmissions (except for 1 15 speed "triplex" twin stick). The other 8 or so were the twin turbo 300HP Mack motors, but still with 5 speeds. A handful had "air assist" steering, one had power steering, and one had A/C that worked. We pulled a fleet of Trailmobile 40' flatbeds with 8' spread axles. About 50% or more of the trailers had a 3rd 8' spread axle on an "air lift" system. We would drive them until the steel cabs would wear out (more like RUST out). Then they would rebuild the entire truck (including the powertrain), and give it new paint job. After they were completely rebuilt, they were put back on the road again...  and again... and again...

We hauled heavy loads. Many grossed from 80,000 to 100,000 lbs on the "22 Wheeler" triple spread axle trailers.

The last couple of years with Wyckoff Trucking I was in charge of the "over dimension" freight. I traded the 3 axle trailer for a tandem axle "stretch" trailer. This was in the days when 40' trailers were the "norm"... and this 45 footer would stretch to 70 feet. I hauled mostly over length structural steel, but I had a few wide loads as well. Almost all of the loads were required to have a permit to be moved, and only allowed to be moved during daylight hours. Now, 53 foot trailers are the "norm".

My 2nd truck at Wyckoff Trucking. '71 Mack F700 COE 237/5 Speed  
Trip Leased to C .J. Rogers in Melvindale, MI. My last truck working
for Wyckoff was a 300 Twin Turbo/5 Speed. All of their trucks were
"One Stack Macks, with a Shack in the Back"

Fast forward to 1998.

Home Run, Inc. is located in Xenia, Ohio. Flatbed operation, I worked for them when I returned to trucking (after 10 years in the Automobile Dealer business). I ran further than I had ever been before (in a tractor/trailer rig). West to Nebraska, and deeper into the south, southeast, and back into Canada again for more lumber loads.

1995 International Eagle with mid roof Pro Sleeper 3406 Cat/10 Speed

A load outbound to a Lowes Store. Building Materials (tarped to protect them from the weather)

Sandy's Towing. Dayton, Ohio. I worked for Sandy's for a very short period of time. I chose to drive the only Dodge Wrecker they owned, even thought it was older than most of their other trucks..

1994 Dodge BR3500 5.9 Cummins Diesel/Auto Century body with Wheel lift.
LOADED A/C, PW, PDL, TILT, CRUISE, SLT INTERIOR PACKAGE

June 2000-May 14th, 2007

Midwestern Car Carriers in Kansas City, MO. I worked for them (and still don't have an actual end of employment date) until the day of my accident. We hauled new and used vehicles. Much of our used vehicle work was hauling 1 year old Chrysler program cars (rentals) from auctions, to other auctions. Our new car contracts were with Mitsubishi and Hyundai.

I started off with Midwestern Car Carriers in this truck...  Truck 15

    1995 Volvo Detroit 60 Series 10 Speed. Rt. PW, P. Mirrors (R only), Cruise,
      A/C, AM/FM/TAPE, Jake Brake, Delayed Wipers, Drivers Air Ride Seat
11 Car set up. 4 car headrack/7car trailer. (shown with a Chrysler Program load)

After about 8 months of driving the 1995 Volvo, I was given the company's first brand new "lowered chassis" 2001 Volvo. #243 was a 10 car unit.

6 months later I would be trading that truck for another brand new Volvo (#245), but this time with a brand new trailer (#246).

2 years after that, I asked to be placed in a different 2001 Volvo (#247). Even though all of these new Volvo's were loaded from the factory, this special truck had even more equipment than the others.

Here is a large load, that included two Ford E450 cab/chassis untis that were going to OK. to be converted into buses.

    2001 Volvo Detroit Series 60 500HP/Eaton 10 Speed AutoShifter, PW (L&R), PDL, Tilt/Telescope, Cruise, P Heated Mirrors,
    Dual Air Ride Seats with multi Lumbar settings, AM/FM/CD w/6 Speakers (XM added), Delayed Wipers, 3 Stage Jake Brake.
 Rebuilt 3 car headrack with 7 car Cottrell trailer. (shown with a Chrysler Program car load, at Manheim Auto Auction. Dallas, TX.)
Pictured: A Dodge 4 dr. pickup, 3 Jeep Libertys, 2 Dodge Grand Caravans, a Durango, and a Neon... a pretty good size load for only
                           8 vehicles. This is was the last truck I drove for Midwestern Car Carriers. Unit #247

I worked for Midwestern Car Carriers for 7 years, until I was injured on the job. I traveled 45 of the 48 lower states.

On May 14th, 2007 I was injured, falling from the top of the truck while unloading a load of brand new Mitsubishis. I crushed my right heel, severely sprained my left ankle... and strained both of my knees, hips, etc. I had surgery where the doctor inserted plates, screws, and pins... to push the crushed parts of the heel together. Heels are not a good area of your body to break, they never heal well.

I could not walk at all for weeks, then I could walk with the aid of a walker. I finally advanced to using crutches... for a total of 9 months. Now, more than a year later and after more than 6 months of  rehabilitation... I can walk without any devices (walker/crutches). I'm working on getting my strength built back up. I can't walk well, or for very long periods of time... but soon I hope to be able to go back to work. I would love to go back to Midwestern Car Carriers, because they are a great employer and they treated me very fair. If I can't return to Midwestern Car Carriers, the doctors seem to think that I'll still be able to qualify to drive a truck... as long as it does not require me to load/unload the freight (box van/reefer/intermodal/bulk).

To be continued...

UPDATE Aug. 25, 2008   OK... now "the rest of the story"

After 3 days notice that I was not getting any more payments for my injury, even though my release from the doctor was highly "conditional"... I had to find another job, and fast! So, with no more crawling around on top of loads being allowed, I took a regular trucking job "swinging doors" on a van trailer. I took a job with Clayton Weaver Trucking in Fairfield, Ohio. They haul mostly paper products to the midwest, south, and southeast.

Here's a picture of the truck I was given. Being the "new" guy, it's on of their older units. 2004 Kenworth T800 AeroCab Condo Sleeper. Cat engine, 10 Speed transmission.

Original Copyright November 11,1997 R. Shinn Jr.
Last revised: September 07, 2008 05:59:06 PM -0400.