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Navistar Beats Fourth Quarter Earnings On Stronger Truck Sales by: Zacks.com December 28, 2009 Navistar International Corporation (NAV) showed a profit of $128 million or $1.77 per share, before special items, for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009 ended Oct 31, 2009. With this, the truck maker exceeded the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.53 per share. The company has also fared well compared to the year-ago profit of $42 million or 56 cents per share, before special items. Navistar credited the improvement in profit to the recouped commercial truck volume and sustained military sales. Nevertheless, total sales of $3.3 billion...

CLEVELAND, Ohio — A truck hauling beer flipped about 8 p.m. Sunday, tossing kegs and spewing beer across Interstate 90 west, under the West 110th Street bridge. The truck fell onto its side in the median. Police and a cleanup crew were still at the scene at 6:50 this morning. Police were requesting a salt truck to melt a sheet of frozen beer. A police dispatcher, speaking to a Plain Dealer reporter, quipped, "Bring the pretzels." All lanes of the highway were expected to be reopened by 7:15 a.m.

CHIBA — Police on Friday arrested a truck driver Friday on suspicion of property damage after he allegedly urinated on a towel at the entrance of the apartment belonging to a woman he liked. Police said that 22-year-old Yuuki Oshima, a resident of Noda Cioty, visited the woman’s apartment after midnight on Nov 19 and urinated through the mail slot in the door onto a towel that was hung inside to keep people from peeping into the apartment. Police said Oshima admits to the charges, and quoted him as saying, “I absolutely went crazy for her the first time I...

<p>A truck driver died early today after losing control on the Bay Bridge S-curve at high speed and plummeting 200 feet below to Yerba Buena Island, the most serious collision yet since the new detour was installed, the California Highway Patrol said.</p>

A local auto dealer announces opening of "truck season:! This is great news to see another business actually promoting the American hunting tradition.Tom Iepe of Milan.Indiana offers a voucher redeemable at sporting goods stores with purchase of American-made truck.

In a recent test at the White Sands Missile Range, a specially equipped C-130 plane fried a parked truck with a powerful laser. And while we still haven't seen evidence of the laser "defeating" a ground target, as Boeing puts it, a video of it scorching a direct hit on the hood of a truck is still pretty amazing.Click here for the video. As you can see, the laser beam burns right through the truck's hood, and then through the engine, "defeating" the vehicle. Called the "Advanced Tactical Laser" (ATL), this is the first time the megawatt-powered chemical laser has...

"Feds probe alleged terrorists who tried to rent giant truck in suspected Al Qaeda bomb plot" BY JAMES GORDON MEEK IN WASHINGTON, JUDITH CROSSON IN DENVER, KATE NOCERA, ROCCO PARASCANDOLA AND LARRY MCSHANE DAILY NEWS WRITERS Saturday, September 19th 2009, 4:00 AM Investigators probed a failed Queens truck rental for ties to a possible Al Qaeda bomb plot yesterday as a chief terror suspect tried making a deal to save his skin. The New York end of the expanding federal probe centered on seven Afghan men who tried to rent the biggest truck at a Queens U-Haul on Sept. 9,...

Unless you drive one of its tractors, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. is an unfamiliar name. That should change as the company enters the U.S. truck market by year’s end. Two Hampton Roads automobile dealers have bought territories: Beach Ford Lincoln Mercury for Suffolk and Cavalier Auto Group for Chesapeake, Norfolk, Portsmouth and Virginia Beach. "We really wanted it if we could get the entire market," said Steve Klimkiewicz, vice president of Cavalier Auto Group, which will open showrooms on the site of its wholesale used car store on Military Highway in Chesapeake and in Saturn of Virginia Beach's used car...

A toddler has miraculously survived after he drove his toy jeep into a river and then floated nearly eight miles downstream. Demetrius Jones, who turned three yesterday, let himself out of his grandmother's holiday trailer while his family slept and took his battery-operated truck down to the Peace River in British Columbia, where he was swept away by the current. The red miniature Chevrolet Silverado truck flipped over but the boy - who was only wearing a nappy and T-shirt - floated on it, along swirling waters. When his family woke up and realised he was missing police were called...

For those interested in such things. Freepers that have farm experience are aware of how efficient diesel tractors are. I put five gallons in mine and bush hog all summer. Here is a link to some guys that convert vehicles to tractor power and have gotten as much as 50mpg from a full size pickup! http://www.shadetreeconversions.com/

13-week moving averages are still moving lower, with no apparent end in sight. The first chart shows the one relatively bright spot is coal. I hear the same message about coal from trucker friends.

When Shane Amundson's girlfriend gave him a large Confederate flag decal for his pickup truck, he had no idea the image would cause a stir at Lakeville South High School.

BAGHDAD, April 27, 2009 – Not long ago, Army Pfc. Paul Henry was a car salesman in Marion, Ill., a divorced father of two children who was looking for something different in his life. So he decided to enlist in the Army. Army Pfc. Paul Henry, 42, was a car salesman before he decided to enlist in the Army and train with recruits who were half his age. U.S. Army Photo by 1st Lt. Christopher Gregg  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. “It’s something I’ve always wanted to do,” Henry said. “When I quit selling cars, I wanted to...

Picture taken Sunday, 22 Feb 2009 on I-40 near Memphis , TN. It's got North Carolina plates. http://www.notoriouslyconservative.com/2009/03/obama-truck-picture.html

Green trucking: State may consider diesel idling ban soon Mike Ivey — 3/03/2009 1:24 pm The rumble of idling diesel trucks at a highway rest stop is a familiar sound to many travelers. Truck and bus drivers routinely run their engines during breaks to provide heat or air conditioning in the cab and electrical power for the radio or refrigerator. Keeping the motor running also eliminates the need for a "cold start," which is hard on bearings, seals and other engine parts. But growing concerns over air pollution -- not to mention fuel costs -- have driven 21 states to...

LOS ANGELES, (AP) -- Traffic has backed up for miles on routes into the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach as a new automated container fee system has turned away hundreds of trucks not equipped with required electronic passes. The ports began on Wednesday to collect fees to help finance the Clean Trucks Program, which aims to reduce pollution from cargo-hauling trucks. The trucks must carry an electronic pass to get through terminal gates. The system charges fees up to $70 to cargo owners who use older trucks servicing the ports. The money will help pay for newer, cleaner-running...

WASHINGTON: A man who drove up to the US Capitol complex and told police he had a delivery for President Barack Obama was arrested by police after telling them he had a rifle in his truck, police said on Tuesday. The man "told officers that he had a delivery for President Obama so the officers began to question him further and he admitted to having a rifle in his truck," said Kimberly Schneider, a spokeswoman for the US Capitol Hill Police. The man, Alfred Brock, 64, of Winnfield, Louisiana, has been charged with possession of an unregistered firearm and possession...

"HAMAS AND THEIR SYSTEMATIC VIOLATION OF INTERNATIONAL LAWS (NOT TO MENTION BASIC HUMAN DECENCY)" "Video follows"

When a manufacturer expressly tells you that using certain types of fuel in a vehicle will cause damage and using said fuel will void the warranty, it's probably a good idea not to use the fuel in question. The city of Portland, Oregon certainly deserves credit for its aggressive use of biodiesel in its municipal truck fleet. However, if Portland or any other city is going to pursue such a program, they really should make sure the diesel engines in its vehicles are compatible with the fuel. Six of the 50 2008 Ford Super-Duty trucks purchased by Portland have suffered...

CITRA, Fla. -- A 13-year-old student was killed and eight others injured when a school bus crashed and caught fire, trapping the injured children in their seats. Officials said the bus carrying 21 students from North Marion Middle School and North Marion High School was struck by a big rig Tuesday afternoon on U.S. Highway 301 at 155th Street near Citra. As flames began to overwhelm the bus, four motorists stopped and began pulling the trapped students out of the flames. "They were heroes," Marion County School Superindent Jim Yancey said at the crash scene. "(The motorists) started pulling people...

The House has made it veto-proof clear: The controversial pilot program allowing big Mexican trucks to cross the U.S. border and travel into the country must end. The Senate has yet to act, though. And Mexico and its U.S. big-business allies are ramping up their efforts to block the repeal, including a renewed warning by Mexican officials to retaliate against U.S. exports if the program is abolished. Mexican Embassy officials say the year-old pilot program has been a positive development for both countries, allowing Mexican and American drivers to deliver goods across the border. Before, Mexican truckers were allowed to...

I've watched the prayer threads here on Freeper, I figured you might like to see a praise posting. While driving a short time ago, my brakes failed suddenly as I was approaching a stop sign. I tapped the brakes, there was a weird click, but the truck kept moving. I put all my weight on the brake pedal, even glanced down to make sure I was hitting the right one. The truck kept moving. I tried switching to park or reverse, the truck kept moving. I tried to reach the emergency brake, but its in a weird spot, and my...

Frisco man says HOA won't let him park pickup on driveway 01:32 PM CDT on Monday, August 18, 2008 By STEVE STOLER / WFAA-TV (Channel 8) sstoler@wfaa.com If there's one thing Texans are serious about, it's pickups. But a Frisco man says his truck is being targeted simply because his homeowners association doesn't think it's classy enough. Jim Greenwood said he never dreamed his HOA would have a problem with his new Ford F-150 pickup. Then he received the first of three notices threatening him with fines. "Mr. Greenwood, you're violating a subdivision rule that prohibits pickup trucks in your...

The Chevrolet Silverado is arguably the best half-ton truck for towing and the Two-Mode hybrid version is arguably the best half-ton Silverado for towing. It's absolutely amazing watching a Silverado pull a 5000 pound trailer and not hearing anything as the rig pulls away. If you're gentle with the gas, you could make it to 30 mph before the gasoline engine fires up. The silent operation is eerie, but the big news is how smooth this half-ton truck feels with a trailer in tow. Some may think of hybrid systems as being fragile or only useful for improving fuel...

Although it is the home of hulking C-130 cargo planes and scorching F-16 fighter jets, I headed out to the Selfridge Air National Guard Base in St. Clair, Michigan, for a drive in something more green than mean: electric Chevrolet S10 pickups. The transportation department at Selfridge has been constantly tinkering with alternative fuel vehicles (including a hybrid-electric tow tractor, CNG-fueled pickups and hydrogen fuel cell-powered SUVs), but the use of the electric S10s came by chance. When other military installations were finished with the trucks, they offered them up to Selfridge, who happily placed them on active duty around...

Excerpt - TOKYO, June 8 (AP) - (Kyodo)—(EDS: UPDATING WITH RISE IN DEATH TOLL) Seven people died and 11 others were injured after a man hit pedestrians with a truck and then stabbed people Sunday in broad daylight on a street in Tokyo's busy Akihabara district, a popular electronics area and a magnet for comic and animation fans. Police arrested the man, 25-year-old Tomohiro Kato from Susono, Shizuoka Prefecture, and seized a survival knife he was carrying. He admitted to stabbing all the people with the knife from around 12:30 p.m., the police said. The truck was rented in Shizuoka...

SAN BENITO - Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Inspector Patricia Baez reclined on a mechanical dolly and rolled herself under a parked tractor-trailer rig. Baez, a state trooper, was checking the 18-wheeler Thursday to see if it had any mechanical problems that could make it a safety hazard for other drivers on the road. She found "quite a few" violations on this vehicle, Baez said. Baez is one of dozens of Texas Department of Public Safety trooper-inspectors across the state participating in Roadcheck 2008, a 72-hour operation where troopers inspect all commercial vehicles to ensure the trucks meet safety requirements. The nationwide...

The California Air Resources Board has revised a draft regulation that will require retrofits and engine replacements for the estimated privately owned 300,000 diesel trucks and buses on California roadways beginning in 2012. The proposed regulation now calls for truckers to retrofit pre-2007 model year trucks with soot filters and then requires a gradual modernization of trucks beginning in 2012, so that ultimately all trucks are the cleanest, 2010 or newer models. Staff re-worked an earlier version of the draft regulation, presented in January, to eliminate the need for truckers to replace two trucks in a nine-year span, instead relying...

The Border Patrol has discovered 61 suspected illegal immigrants from Mexico inside a tractor-trailer on Interstate 8 near San Diego. Border Patrol agents discovered them inside the eastbound truck during a vehicle stop Saturday night, about 45 miles east of San Diego. They were hiding behind bales of cardboard. The agency said Monday that it arrested the driver, 29-year-old Jose Pina Flores, who will be charged with immigrant smuggling. The Border Patrol says the Mexican man admitted being in the U.S. illegally. No injuries were reported.

A tractor-trailer careened into a busy local train station here during the evening rush hour on Friday, killing two people and injuring nearly two dozen others just south of downtown in Chinatown. Witnesses described hearing a deafening screech then the tremendous roar of the truck slamming into the street-level waiting area of the elevated train station, a bustling stop on the Red Line which runs a north-south route through the downtown Loop. The truck crashed through the glass front of the station, Cermak-Chinatown, and caused the escalators to collapse. Eleven people, four of them children, were in critical condition...

Americans like the freedom to travel. That trait makes sense. This continent was settled by people who were willing to travel in order to make a better life. One could say that the association between freedom to travel and prosperity is in our genes. The old GM commercial said, "It's not just your car. It's your freedom." Movement has always been a defining part of our culture. Today, we have cars. In the past, we had horses. In either case, the means of travel was personal and represented a private possession. Our heritage and history are not oriented towards mass...

Creating an improved aerodynamic shape for heavy-duty truck trailers by mounting sideskirts can cut fuel consumption and emissions by up to 15%, according to road testing by the Dutch research partnership PART (Platform for Aerodynamic Road Transport). PART is a partnership between TU Delft, TNT, Scania Beers BV, FOCWA Carrosseriebouw, Ephicas, Kees Mulder Carrosserieën, Van Eck Carrosseriebouw, Syntens, Squarell Technology, Emons Group and NEA. Sideskirts are plates which are mounted on the sides of trailers, primarily with a view to underrun protection. The new aerodynamic design of the sideskirts substantially reduces the air currents alongside and under the trailer...

COLUMBUS, Ind., April 15, 2008 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- Cummins Inc. (NYSE: CMI) announced today that it has earned a prestigious 2008 Automotive News PACE Award for innovation demonstrated by the 6.7L [409 CID] turbo diesel engine. The PACE Award ceremony, held on April 14 in Detroit, Mich., honors superior innovation, technological advancement and business performance among automotive suppliers. Cummins has been recognized for the 6.7L Dodge Ram Turbo Diesel engine which debuted in January 2007 and is available in the Dodge Ram 2500 and 3500 models. The 6.7L diesel engine is the strongest, cleanest, quietest heavy-duty diesel pickup...

At last week's dealer show in Las Vegas, a picture of Ford's upcoming 4.4-liter V8 diesel powerplant was leaked to the Internet... ouch. The new powerplant is hardly a secret (we were reporting the first hints of it in June 2006, and the legal issues surrounding the engine in June 2007), but this is the first time the public has seen a photo of the new diesel in its metallic flesh. Designed to offer comparable acceleration to the current 5.4-liter gasoline Triton, the new engine should be rated at about 330 hp and 420 lb-ft of torque. Fuel economy...

Indian automaker Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. will shake up the U.S. truck market next year when it introduces a new midsize pickup called the Appalachian sporting a 2.2L four-cylinder diesel engine producing around 150 horsepower and 300 pound feet of torque. Speaking with Mike Levine from Pickuptruck.com, John Perez, the CEO of Atlanta-based importer Global Vehicles U.S.A. that's aiding Mahindra's entry into the U.S. market, revealed that the truck will deliver 30 to 35 miles per gallon and cost in the mid-$20,000 range. It will be paired with a six-speed automatic that's controlled via a floor-mounted shifter or paddle...

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican soldiers looking for drug traffickers found $6 million in cash inside a truck near the U.S. border and arrested five men at the scene, the army said on Friday. Army drug squads in the northern state of Tamaulipas, a smuggling hot spot over the border from Texas, found the U.S. currency stuffed into eight suitcases as they inspected a tractor trailer and smaller truck parked along a highway. They also found four pistols, the army said in a statement. Army and federal police units deployed in President Felipe Calderon's 15-month-old crackdown on drug cartels are...

Mahindra, the Indian automaker, is planning to introduce a 2.2-liter 4 cylinder diesel pickup in the USA in the summer of 2009. The engine numbers are not yet final but it is expected to produce 150 horsepower and 300 foot pounds of torque for 28 to 35 miles per gallon plus it will have a standard six-speed automatic transmission, a floor mounted console shifter, and steering wheel mounted paddles to manually shift the gearbox. It will be available in 2 and 4 wheel drive versions, plus have a U.S. exclusive interior that’s been designed to American tastes (and sizes)...

WASHINGTON – In her first public statements on the Mexican trucking controversy, U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters defended yesterday the pilot program that allows Mexican trucks to travel throughout the United States in defiance of a congressional order. U.S. officials also responded to complaints that a Mexican carrier that withdrew from the program several days ago never should have qualified because of an allegedly poor safety record. Peters got an earful of criticism from several lawmakers during a House appropriations transportation subcommittee hearing on President Bush's proposed budget. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, accused Peters of being in violation of the...

YUMA, Ariz. - A Border Patrol agent trying to stop a vehicle that had illegally entered the U.S. was struck and killed Saturday in southeastern California, agency officials said. The agent was killed about 20 miles west of Yuma in the Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area, a spot along the border that is popular with off-road vehicle enthusiasts and frequently used by smugglers. The agent attempted to impede the vehicle's progress before he was hit, but the Border Patrol did not immediately have more information, said agent Eric Anderson, a spokesman for the agency's Yuma sector. The name of the...

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration is going ahead with a controversial pilot program giving Mexican trucks greater access to U.S. highways despite a new law by Congress against it. The decision to proceed with the four-month-old program, which allows participating Mexican trucking companies to send loads throughout the United States, comes despite language in the recently signed catchall spending bill aimed at blocking it. But the Department of Transportation is taking advantage of a loophole in the new law, which prohibits the government from spending any money to "establish" the program. The government says the new rules don't apply to...

PAW PAW TOWNSHIP, Mich. - Having live electrical wires fall on her truck and set it on fire wasn't enough to slow a motorist in southwest Michigan. State police say the unnamed woman ran a stop sign Monday night in Van Buren County's Paw Paw Township and hit a cable supporting a utility pole. The pole came down and the wires fell onto the truck, but the woman backed onto the roadway and resumed driving. Trooper Rick Carlson said the driver kept going until flames engulfed the truck and she had to jump out. An ambulance caught up to her...

Paul Brant calls himself a "penny pincher." People who know him - including the staff at Mike Raisor Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep - might agree. Accompanied by a police escort from the Clinton County Sheriff's Office, Friday he drove his old diesel pickup into the Raisor parking lot and bought himself a brand new, 2008 half-ton, shiny red Dodge Ram truck. What made the $26,670 purchase even more interesting was the manner in which he paid for it. Brant's payment was made up entirely of quarters and gold dollars he'd been saving since 1994 - the last time he traded enough of his...

At the Los Angeles Auto Show, Chevrolet rolled out the Chevrolet Fuel Solutions initiative designed to aggressively promote the fuel-saving technologies available in the brand’s current and future lineups. An accompanying parade of vehicles included a gasoline-powered subcompact (Aveo); a hydrogen fuel cell crossover (Equinox fuel cell electric vehicle); extended-range electric vehicle (Volt); and three hybrids. The event included the world premiere of the Chevrolet Silverado Hybrid pickup truck, which will go on sale in North America later next year as a 2009 model. Chevrolet also revealed the all-new Malibu Hybrid sedan, arriving in North American dealerships this month....

A pair of Australian inventors have developed a concept for a retrofitted electric drive unit to convert conventional heavy-duty transport vehicles to plug-in hybrids. The retrofit concept uses a bogie axle drive to create a through-the-road hybrid drive that can reduce fuel consumption up to 25%, by the inventors’s estimates. This would fast track the introduction of hybrid vehicles onto our roads by utilizing the existing fleet...We expect the conversion unit to pay for itself in the first year of use by way of the reduced fuel consumption. We have secured a patent pending to entice investors so as to...

GRASS LAKE TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) - State police say they found about 1,200 pounds of marijuana in a tractor-trailer they were inspecting near Grass Lake.

Two tractor trailers crashed and exploded into a ball of fire on Route 78 in Springfield, New Jersey Monday afternoon. The New Jersey State Police report that both drivers were trapped in their trucks. There are unconfirmed reports that both drivers died in the accident. Flaming debris was spread across the express and local lanes. The incident happened in the eastbound local lanes near Route 124 at mile marker 50. All Eastbound lanes are closed. The fire department expects a lengthy clean-up that will affect the evening rush hour. The Star-Ledger reports that traffic is being diverted off the road...

(WSBT) A wounded Iraqi war veteran is working on a rolling memorial to a fellow soldier killed in the Iraq war. A local company is lending a hand to make that dream come true. Indiana Custom Truck Company in LaGrange is working with Sean LaGrange, a Texas truck driver. “On April 9, 2004, I was wounded over in Iraq. I took a direct blast from an I.E.D. and got shot," said Sean McEndree, an Iraq war veteran. While recovering he received a lot of help and encouragement from Sergeant Barry Meza who was in his unit. Meza was later killed...

More than a half-million overweight trucks are allowed onto the nation's roads and bridges — an increasingly routine practice that some officials say is putting dangerous wear and tear on an already groaning infrastructure. In interviews with The Associated Press, some experts warned that the practice of issuing state permits that allow trucks to exceed the usual weight limits can weaken steel and concrete, something that investigators say may have contributed to the Minneapolis bridge collapse Aug. 1 that killed 13 people. "We talk about this all the time and the fear that we have is that we're going to...

Plan to Allow Some Mexican Trucks Full U.S. Highway Access Nears Approval Friday , August 17, 2007 AP WASHINGTON — Some Mexican trucks will be allowed to carry cargo anywhere in the United States as soon as a federal inspector general certifies safety and inspection plans, the Bush administration announced Friday. The latest step toward implementing a controversial provision of the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement drew instant condemnation from labor and driver-owner groups that fear the program will erode highway safety and eliminate U.S. jobs. The decision was announced by a Transportation Department notice in the Federal Register,...

ROCHELLE — While family, friends and collegues struggle to cope with the untimely death of Marian Beguin on Tuesday afternoon, they are also remembering her as a fun-loving individual who cherished her relationships and lived life to the fullest, both personally and professionally. Beguin, 54, of Rochelle, died Tuesday after the car she was riding in was struck by a semi-truck driver who ran a red light at the intersection of IL Route 38 and Caron Road. “She was just a warm, loving person with many friends. She touched so many lives. It’s so unfair and she’s going to be...