Steve noticed this little Mighty Mite in the video I posted today http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2016/06/wheels-of-progress-cool-old-50s-movie.html
This was the second incarnation of a Peterbilt-built vehicle that started off as a 1/2 scale 1947 Model 344 was actually built by PIE to honor Peterbilts' contribution to PIE, as the majority of PIE trucks at the time were Petes.
The 47 was built in the PIE shop in Salt Lake City and served as am ambassador for PIE and Peterebilt until the early 50's. In 1952, the 47 Conventional was put up for sale by PIE, fortunately there were no takers so PIE had Peterbilt make modifications to the 47 Conventional. Peterbilt lengthened the chassis keeping the original drive train, built a 1/2 scale Peterbilt 350 and added a drom unit to represent the current PIE configuration of truck and trailer. Latter, this same truck would go through another configuration with removal of the drom unit and lengthening of the cab by addition of a mock sleeper (this to give the driver of these small units more room).
The Mighty Mite is a half-scale model of the standard twin trailer linehaul truck used by Southeastern Freight Lines. It was custom built in 1965 to tour the US in the promotion of highway safety. The Mighty Mite is the second of two units built by Peterbilt. The first miniature truck was built in 1947 and is currently owned by Allen Koenig, President and CEO of Midwest Specialized Transportation.
The tractor and two trailers of the Mighty Mite are 32 feet, 6 inches long, 4 feet wide, and 6 feet 6.5 inches high. The unit is fitted with a Mercedes-Benz diesel engine with a top speed of 60 mph. Ninety-five percent of the Mighty Mite’s parts are exactly half scale and must be handmade, therefore costing twice as much as a standard SEFL rig. The two trailers combined have one-eighth the volume of a standard set of twins. Each of the two trailers can carry 5,000 lbs.
Those are are so many different kinds of fantastically awesome! (Too much?)
ReplyDeleteI remember seeing Mighty Mite II in Fort Wayne, Indiana when I was a kid. I was so excited, I ran to get my brother, shouting, "It's a miniature pie (I didn't understand P.I.E. at the time) truck!"
ReplyDeleteMy father is Dick Pierce. I remember this truck as a child. It was the coolest thing to show my friends. In the 1970's with shows like Movin' On (107401976), White Line Fever (1975, Smokey and the Bandit (1977), Convoy (1978), Every Which Way but Loose (1978) and a couple of TV shows from the time, my buddies and I used to listen to the song "Convoy" and picture ourselves driving the highways in search of adventure.
ReplyDeleteThat truck is truly an impressive thing to see, and for a kid, it opens up the world like few other things a dad can bring home!
Far out! Yeah, the mid 70s were really getting into trucking and some adventure, maybe that was a bit of a left over from the hippees, but with more showering and less bell bottoms!
Deletedid you get to drive it around? Because that would be really about the most amazing experience for a kid... to drive perfectly scaled rig
DeleteI helped to design the P I E Hollywood Christmas Parade Float using the Mighty Mite back in 1966. I wish I had taken pictures 53 years ago. We show the P I E Float all around So California and won many trophies.
ReplyDeleteWow! Thanks for writing in, I too wish you'd taken photos!
DeleteDude?? I hope they still make those do they
ReplyDeleteno. In the article it says it was based on a 1947 truck, and took over a year to model and design. They built it sometime in the 50s, so, if they had kept making them over the past 60 years we'd have seen a lot more of them
DeleteMy Father drove for PIE in the late 60's and 70's. I saw the Mighty Might a few times at the terminal in Montebello CA. when the company had Christmas parties for the kids. They guy that drove it said it wasn't very fun at all.
ReplyDeleteMy Dad also drove for PIE the same time period. He had received a million miles award. Never seen the 1/2 scale truck though.
ReplyDeleteI worked as a mechanic in Salt Lake City for pie from 1987 till 1990 when they closed best job I ever had
ReplyDelete