10-4 Magazine April 2023

10-4 Magazine / April 2023 67 Thankfully, Stephen and Kyle were able to save and repair the truck’s original hood and cab. After the paint was applied, it came time to find the “Lady Liberty” graphics. After a few frustrating searches, Kyle ended up having a new set of graphics created for the truck. Currently, Kyle’s 1987 Mack Freedom edition Super-Liner has 850K miles on it. And, like his dad’s Magnum edition, Kyle’s truck is also strictly a show piece that has been retired from any revenue-generating service. While Stephen has enjoyed being an owner operator with his own authority the last 20+ years, he made the decision last year to quit trucking. “Between all the regulations, insurance, paperwork, fuel costs, freight rates, and traffic, just to name a few, it just wasn’t worth the hassle anymore,” Stephen said with a bit of disappointment in his voice. “It’s just not the same as it used to be. I really love trucking, but all the fun has been taken out of it by government regulations, and they’ve made it harder and harder for the little guys out here,” Stephen said. Since Stephen decided to call it quits, he’s been happily working as a mechanic for Sullivan Township in Tioga County, Pennsylvania the last year or so. While not driving his Super-Liner on a daily basis any longer, Stephen has become one of the premiere “go to” guys in the country when it comes to Mack Super-Liner trucks and Mack E9 V8 diesel engines. He also began restoring trucks for others, and recently finished a year-long restoration of a 1986 E9-powered Mack RW713 Super-Liner day cab tractor for Mack collector Jeff Mante of Nazareth, PA. Stephen’s father Harold Tice is currently 84 years old and, while retired, has a restored 1959 Mack B-61 he enjoys taking to truck shows and events with Stephen’s older brother Jeff. Stephen and his wife Mindy have been married for 30 years and have two sons – Seth (23) and Kyle (25). Their son Kyle has been married to his wife Katie for two years, and Kyle currently works for a local municipality driving an old Mack R-Model dump truck. I’d like to send special thanks to trucking photographer Duncan Putman for traveling from his home in Keuka Park, NY to Mainesburg, PA this past fall to do the photo shoot with the Tice family. Their trio of very rare Mack Super-Liners is second to none, and the history of each one of them just makes them that much more interesting. I hope you enjoyed this trip back through time and learned a lot about these memorable rigs known as Super-Liners, because they really were, in a word, super! n