10-4 Magazine June 2024

10-4 Magazine / June 2024 71 brake systems that met certain minimum performance, equipment, and dynamometer test requirements to ensure safe braking performance under normal and emergency driving conditions. FMVSS 121 was not just a problem for Brockway, but a problem for every manufacturer in the industry. The lack of technology was the main problem and customers were unwilling to pay for the high cost of unproven systems to meet this requirement. Like other manufacturers struggling to meet the FMVSS 121 statute, in July 1976, Brockway introduced a glider kit, which only consisted of a frame, cab, hood, front fenders, radiator, and front axle. This allowed Brockway to get around this statute and produce trucks for its customers as the FMVSS 121 statute only applied to complete trucks rolling out of the factory. The implementation of FMVSS 121 caused the sales of heavy trucks to drop dramatically, so the manufacturers took the USDOT to court. The industry group won the case and the anti-lock requirements of FMVSS 121 were repealed in 1978, but it was too late for Brockway. With the Cortland UAW Local 68 labor contract slated to end in 1976, Brockway’s parent, Mack Trucks, had been in negotiations with the local union that summer. But a wildcat strike erupted at the Cortland plant in early January 1977 and UAW Local 68 Brockway employees walked out after lunch. In the summer of 1976, Mack Trucks and the Cortland UAW 68 had been in labor talks with the union contract ending at the end of the 1976 year. Also, the union rejected an extension of their current labor contract which had expired in October of 1976. While the union employees did go back to work, they returned to the picket lines on February 8, 1977, and on March 30, Mack announced it was going to close Brockway. While Mack was going to liquidate Brockway, a New York Attorney and businessman, Steven J. Romer, stepped forward and approached Mack with an intent to buy Brockway. While Romer intended to restart Brockway production on June 1 that year, the union members rejected his labor contract offer and the sale of Brockway was called off, thus Mack ended up liquidating the Brockway division that summer. The last remaining Brockways that were on the Cortland production plant floor were shipped to the Elmira, NY Brockway factory dealership branch for completion and final assembly. An order for 45 Brockway tractors for Miami’s Inter-American Transport Company was awaiting completion when the Brockway facility was closed down. Destined for use in hauling cane sugar in Iran, Inter-American requested that Mack/ Brockway ship all the parts required to their Miami warehouse where a crew of Brockway managers and supervisors assembled the trucks over the course of several months. Sadly, the very last Brockway, a U762TL equipped with a Detroit Diesel 12V71 12-cylinder engine, a 15-speed Roadranger transmission, and 55,000-lb rear axles, was completed on June 8, 1977, 102 years after the very first Brockway made its way onto the streets of Homer, NY. While Brockway may be gone, the Brockway name lives on, and a group of faithful owners and enthusiasts won’t let this dog die! Founded in 2000, the Brockway Trucks PreservationAssociation (BTPA) is dedicated to preserving the history of the Brockway Motor Trucks company. In addition, the BTPA has a museum, which is part of the Central New York Living History Center located in Homer, NY. But once a year, the Huskies converge on Huskietown, USA, otherwise known as Cortland, NY, to celebrate the company that made this city famous! To learn more about Brockway, the BTPA and their annual truck show, visit the Brockway Trucks PreservationAssociation at www.brockwaytrucks.org. n EDITOR’S NOTE: All the photos were provided byDuncan Putman andMark Harter, and the vintage black and white images were provided by Mr. Doug Maney of the Mack Trucks Historical Museum.