Years Ago Highlights
A classic trio
February 7, 2012
Former owner-operator Doug Fetterly, of Thousand Islands, N.Y., has shown classic trucks and cars for nearly 40 years.
Dog story winners tell tales of affection, loyalty
January 11, 2012
The Best Dog Story contest winners receive prizes commemorating Overdrive's golden anniversary in honor of in-cab pets' place in trucking history.
The scenic route by heavy haul
January 4, 2012
One trip down memory lane is especially bumpy for owner-operator and trucking radio host Big Al Weekley.
Best Dog Story entry: Lady and the thief
December 14, 2011
The Lady made three. The theft of his truck, trailer and in-cab companion dog was overwhelming for owner-operator L.J. Doig.
Growing up with a Texas bobtail
December 6, 2011
Maurice Bourne had a teenage love affair with Ford flatbeds in the early 1950s.
Columnist started out over the road
December 4, 2011
Bluefield Daily Telegraph Senior Editor Bill Archer gained wisdom as a decade-long steel hauler.
Radio legend Charlie Douglas dies at 78
November 30, 2011
"Road Gang" radio show creator Charlie Douglas died Thanksgiving Day. Early night-time audiences revered the velvet-voiced DJ.
American Autocar pays homage to Vietnam veterans
November 9, 2011
Frank Mapstone paid tribute to Vietnam veterans, he among them, with his truck Bad Moon Rising, a 1988 Autocar Model AT.
Miniature trucks for a bygone era
October 28, 2011
Robby Gaines describes making truck replicas from two sources of inspiration: his grandad and Overdrive magazine.
A girl named Fred
October 20, 2011
On a routine haul, Overdrive's 2010 Trucker of the Year Mike Crawford stopped to inspect a bundle on the road and found a friend for life.
Fans, friends shine around antique trucks
October 12, 2011
Old Times Trucks Editor Shirley Sponholtz shares her views about the importance of antiques.
Ol’ Yeller: An old truck revived
October 6, 2011
Bob Benton's rebuilt 1968 Peterbilt had as many or more adventures as its beloved namesake.
The secret is out!
September 29, 2011
Bonnie Weekley, wife of trucker and radio host Big Al Weekley, writes about an unusually fluffy border collie who unwittingly disperses a lot of good will.
Bill Starnes and Texas tomatoes
September 13, 2011
Bill Starnes' trip from Texas in 1949 is believed to be the first made from the Lone Star State to North Carolina, says Old Times Trucks magazine.
‘U.S.’ Archer conquered highways, Marvel Comics style
September 8, 2011
Ulysses Solomon, "U.S,". Archer Marvel comic book figure in the early '80s may be unique among the genre as a super-hero trucker who pulled for the good guys on highways.
Best Dog Story Contest: Rules and prizes
September 1, 2011
To enter OverdriveRetro's Best Dog Story Contest, send an essay about your favorite dog and a photo of your pet to Lucinda Coulter at LCoulter@rrpub.com, or mail a print copy to her at Overdrive magazine, 3200 Rice Mine Rd. N.E., Tuscaloosa, AL 35406.
The deadline is ...
Driver contest has deep roots in trucking advocacy
August 30, 2011
The 2012 Owner-operator of the Year Contest, a TCA and Overdrive team effort, is taking nominations through Sept 15.
Simple elegance guided by faith wowed readers
August 23, 2011
Readers chose Bill and Johnny Culver's Peterbilt, Tonight We Ride, as their favorite at the 2005 Pride & Polish truck beauty contest in Louisville, Ky.
When CBs were breaking news
August 19, 2011
Overdrive's May 1975 CB Section cover featured Fanon-Courier's Redball 23-channel mobile designed for the long-haul trucker.
A Date Master advances to Playmate
August 12, 2011
Lynda Wiesmeier posed for Overdrive in the early 1980s only shortly before she made her debut in Playboy.
A Mack heads to the silver screen
August 9, 2011
Phantom Truck No. 1 was a late '60s-era Mack and appeared as a promo for the film "Moonfire" on an Overdrive cover.
A truck stop from the past is still going strong
July 28, 2011
White's Truck Stop once advertised as the South's largest modern mom-and-pop truck stop, with a nod to its CB radio repairmen.
Gals’ve come a long way, Guys
July 22, 2011
Women with careers in trucking have increasingly become part of a national discussion on the topic.
Artist lampooned the trucker’s life
July 15, 2011
Before TV's Comedy Central made a stand on irreverence, Overdrive magazine's satiric cartoons filled the bill for truckers in the 1960s and '70s.
A ‘Super Boss’ of a show truck
July 6, 2011
Jerry Malone's "Super Boss" racing truck was emblazoned in red, white and blue and loaded with power for the nation's Bicentennial in 1976.
Fourth of July: A smile, a sparkle and a high step
July 1, 2011
A fresh-faced baton twirler represented the spirit of American independence on Overdrive's July 1973 cover.
A bee hauler’s glossed up honey
June 24, 2011
Owner-operators Gary and Deb Miller hauled honey bees in a lavender truck, whose chromed-out beauty tickled them pink.
A whale of a tale
June 17, 2011
In a media spotlight, Ron Ford hauled J.J. the gray whale from Sea World to get her home safely to the Pacific Ocean 13 years ago.
From ICC inspector to truck historian
June 10, 2011
Harvey Eckart, a former Interstate Commerce Commission inspector and Mack truck history expert, remembers when the agency was regarded as a "big, bad boogeyman."
Tales of Alaska’s ice road hauls
June 2, 2011
Overdrive's reporting on Alaska's haul roads, with its treachery and triumphs, started in 1963 with Hank Miller's account of the Alcan Highway.
From Seabee to steel hauler
May 27, 2011
Tom Gallo's stint as a Navy Seabee in Vietnam prepared him for a career in steel hauling.
CBs and the Bandit
May 20, 2011
Burt Reynolds' grip on a Citizens Band radio from a "Smokey and the Bandit" scene graced Overdrive's CB section in August 1977.
Rolling with trucking culture
May 13, 2011
"Roll, Truck, Roll," composer Red Simpson and actor Charles Napier visited with truckers in 1972 on a special broadcast of KLAC's all-night trucking radio show.
Few outpaced his ’62 Jimmie
May 5, 2011
Specialty Oil Co. driver Al Robertson stood straight and smiled like a new father for his photo aside the 1962 Jimmie, outfitted with 5-in. twin stacks and an 8V 71 diesel.
A rare wide-track is restored into a ‘real sweetheart’
April 29, 2011
Rory Elston transformed a 1958 Wide-Track from what he dubbed as Frankenstein Freightliner to a "real sweetheart" for the February 1975 Overdrive.
A collector’s dream yields a gold beauty
April 21, 2011
The Holy Grail of Dodge Bighorns, Chrysler's 1973 prototype show truck, eventually made its way to a collector long known as Mr. Bighorn.
Beauty and the Bighorn
April 15, 2011
Regina Meredith added glamour, curves and polish to the Dodge Bighorn when she modeled for Chrysler Corp. in the mid 1970s.
Loyal DJs made the ride easier: ‘A friend for life’
April 8, 2011
Overdrive's 1972 favorite disc jockey contest highlighted trucking radio hosts, some of whom are still entertaining truckers over the air waves.
Photographer revered trucking’s workhorses
April 1, 2011
Robert Ward's photo essays in Overdrive's 1967 issues illustrate some of the 'workhorse' trucks of the 1940s and '50s.
Team dogs: Four-footed friends make dependable partners
March 25, 2011
Mike "Mustang" Crawford's dog, Fred, and many others featured in Overdrive share the trait of having been deeply loved by their trucker owners.
Overdrive goes 3D
March 18, 2011
Overdrive celebrated the millennium with a 210-page January 2000 issue, which included a 3D viewer and specially designed 3D images.
Don stumps for Dodge
March 11, 2011
Don Knotts, who made Barney Fife a TV legend, promoted Dodge's heavy-duty tilt cab diesel in Overdrive's May 1970 issue.
A GMC Astro makes history with Apollo 11
March 4, 2011
A GMC Astro hauled a national exhibit of the 1969 Apollo 11 flight, commemorating the moment when Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon.
The soul in there
February 25, 2011
Former Overdrive model Carrie Shubert shares insight on men, women and social progress from her perspective as an accomplished psychic
Monthly awards, truck photos inspired careers
February 18, 2011
Wreckers, replicas, dumps and small fleets that once garnered monthly Overdrive awards inspired truckers' career choices.
Produce hauler’s safety appreciated
February 10, 2011
Ed Kimball inspired a produce hauling legacy across three generations and a tradition of safe driving for more than 50 years of hauls out of Florida.
Tales of ‘Smokey’ and stunts
February 4, 2011
Film director and stuntman Hal Needham, who worked with trucking extras in "Smokey and the Bandit," recalls an action-packed career in his memoir, "STUNTMAN."
Caption contests once an artistic mainstay
January 21, 2011
Paul Goeppner, Overdrive's art director from 1966-1984, inspired both creative and corny captions in a reader's cartoon contest that awarded $50 in a monthly feature.
A rig ‘typical’ of independents
December 29, 2010
To Overdrive’s editors, Everett Allison’s 1968 Freightliner exemplified the professionalism of owner-operators.
From TVs ‘Movin’ On,’ a Christmas race, an actor’s insight
December 3, 2010
Claude Akins, who portrayed a trucker in the 1974-75 TV series, "Movin' On," was empathetic to truckers' challenges.
A mural inspires a cherished prize
November 23, 2010
Bruce Wieser wanted to inspire truckers when he painted a Native American chieftan on his Freightliner in the mid-1980s.
BTO inspired by Overdrive
November 15, 2010
On its climb to stardom in 1973, the Bachman-Turner rock band found its handle inauspiciously one evening at a Canadian truck stop with a copy Overdrive.
A Vietnam vet’s R Model Mack
November 8, 2010
Douglas Fetterly, of Thousand Islands, N.Y., was devoted to trucking even as a young man serving in Vietnam.
Mass 10: a driver’s oasis
October 28, 2010
The Mass 10 Truck Stop near Auburn, Mass., provided a bunkhouse on the lake for truckers' rest and relaxation in the 1960s and '70s. Owner Gene Murphy was a sympathetic listener to many, Overdrive reports.
The Bison: still on the drawing board
October 21, 2010
GM's Bison had grand plans with aerodynamic and fuel-saving features, all exhibited at the 1964 World's Fair Futurama. The futuristic prototype was never manufactured, but the GT-309 gas turbine powered later-model GM vehicles.
Inside a trucker’s tortured psyche
October 7, 2010
"The Trucker's Brain," printed in the February 1964 Overdrive, portrayed many of the obstacles truckers faced with cartoon lampoons and a face resembling Mad magazine's signature character Alfred E. Neuman.
When Teamsters were the villains
September 13, 2010
Overdrive’s September 1975 issue speculated that the Mob had killed Teamster leader Jimmy Hoffa. Reporter Jim Drinkhall covered the Teamsters activities closely because, as a strongly organized union, the group threatened independent truckers.
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