true but todays ones look crap by comparison....they're bodies are literally just sheets bolted to a slim roll cage....where as, proportion wise, these things actually look like proper vans and trucks. As for speed, thats just how it goes....over time technology, manufacturing, materials etc just improve....but I will always have a soft spot for these original MTs
lol gotta love how monster mash busted the front end right at the line!!! this is real monster truck racing, the stuff nowadays is brutal i cant stand to watch it either
It lacked both shocks and traction bars, not much to keep axles in place. Atleast leafs did not have shackles on both ends. So yeah, it was and still is very awkward machine
I remember reading about Rollin Thunder in Diesel Power Magazine. Jim Oldaker, the owner and driver of Rollin Thunder, ended up selling the diesel powered van to someone from Japan at an online auction and now works with his brother making prosthetic limbs for wounded children and veterans. How's that for cool?
I remember having this on VHS as a kid. The tape developed a problem (maybe from watching it too much), so, thinking it needed to be cleaned, it washed it in our bathroom sink. Needless to say, the tape did not survive.
they may be slow, but they have so much more style to them than the "roll cage with a cookie cutter glass body" of today. back then it was all about the cars getting crushed. now people just want to see the monster trucks roll over and crush themselves.
Oh yeah...and I love my Lunch Box! I had a Midnight Pumpkin first cuz I love the body style and curves. Couldn't resist the LB and it's toughness. I'm sure you probably hate the Lunch Box? Or at least Tamiya for stealing your design. If I didn't have a LB I wouldn't know (or have found out) about Rollin Thunder. I like RT better than bigfoot for sure and has replaced the Gravedigger as my all time favorite now!! I bet you dad had a small beer fridge in there too to keep them Budweiser's cold!
Superb stuff! 8) Thanks so much for sharing. You still can't beat proper monster trucks. I've always thought the same thing about the Lunchbox and the Pumpkin too by the way. :D
Love the insane stuff they do these days, but I really miss the slower pace, the tech info, the strategy of using different equipment, the custom work, the tractor pulling, mud bogs. Now it's all WWF story lines + driver grudges, screaming MCs, etc :( Used to be a great way to spend a Sunday morning! Just had the same feeling I used to get way back when- curiosity about the equipment, mourning the crushed cars- Thanks for posting! Now, where's my Sunday paper and a donut? =)
This was when monster trucks really were monstertrucks. these things were meant to crush. not too fly. why MT racing became more like motocross ill neve rknow.
Am I the only one that remmbers trucks like these? pr a better quetion How mny people would agree that these trucks and tracks wer better than the ones now trucks maybe were slower but more interetig to me ad carsnot painted too some tracks now dont even have cars what fun is that
back in the early 80`s gary porter and his brother richard built the first carolina crusher at richards 4x4 shop across the street from my apartment in wadesboro nc. it was an old chevy stepside and was his daily driver until it got too big for the road. back then they were truck bodys on top of some kind of homemade frame and weighed as much as a bulldozer. boy have things changed.
I wonder where these relics or today. Need a show to find the Original Monster trucks of the day. Some of these where RC cars. And the old cars there crushing are classics today, now that's funny.
look how many people are allowed on the floor lol, that would not fly today. and look at the people sitting on the top level edges lol, it really was the wild west back then for monster trucks.. good old days
Barry WENTZ IS the driver in Frankenstien. He never got the notoriety he deserved and was not treated well by the Starbird family especially after his divorce. I am his Widow. R.I.P. Barry.
I saw Frankenstein in Washington State back in the 80's & I thought that was awesome to see.Then seen King Kong at the Anaheim Convention Center & I was in love with monster trucks.Back then,they were a bit slower than they are now in 2020,but watching King Kong destroy a car for the 1st time made me want more.I wish King Kong & Awesome Kong would come out of retirement.
back in the early-mid eighties the old school trucks on average i don't think had more than 500-650 horsepower,these trucks were built off of stock chassis which were heavily reinforced, used leaf spring suspension, a stock body, and heavy military axles to support the tires. they weighed somewhere between 16.000-20.000lbs. Today trucks featured a full tubular chassis and a long-travel suspension using nitrogen shock absorbers. Weigh no more than 10.000lbs and have on average 1400-1700hp.
Check out those classics... getting crushed. Of course at the time they were just old junk cars. hahaha good times. Granted, most of those are normal 4doors, but there's a nice Cadillac a 500cid v8 could be pulled from, a really nice late 1960s Pontiac, etc. And remember, lots of the blah sedans had parts that were interchangeable with the fun stuff- GTOs, Camaros, Chevelles....
No I don't. What is it now? I've always liked the Lunch Box R/C truck. Just found out this week where they got the idea...so I'm building a Rollin Thunder version out of a new Lunch Box kit as a tribute, and the way a LB should have looked. You're dad had a kick ass truck! And it wasn't stripped out, in fact it was loaded! Nooobody does that any more. I just discovered RT last week and I'm checking into it hard...I really dig the truck! Tell you're dad he's still getting NEW fans! THX -Tom.
Good stuff,brings back childhood memories! I don't even bother to watch monster trucks these days,its just not the same. Back then it was truck challenge,modifying real everyday vehicles... these days the vehicles are designed specifically for crushing etc etc... I dunno its like seeing a tractor for example doing what a tractor does best,being a tractor...vs watching a machine doing something totally unthinkable and being pushed beyond its overall intended design.
The driver of Monster Mash was 21?! Holy crap.. and here I am at age 22... btw I agree. Everytime I've seen Frankenstein, the truck is just crawling slowly.
they had the guts, they just didn't have the technology, you have to remember these were actual trucks on heavy duty frames, not full out tube chassis/rollcages, and the suspension systems were archaic compared to now, where everything is designed on a computer. and every jump was a HARD landing.
I can't believe it, but this was actually more exciting than a truck show I went to a week ago. Sure they couldn't do much at the arena because it's really small, be I think it's the look of the trucks that have spoiled it for me. They all looked the same. I loved how in the 80's there was a wide variety of truck styles and different events like mud-bogging. Now the trucks have lame looking plastic bodies and the only variety's on the front. BTW, Frankenstein is awesome, but painfully slow.
