A "Gimmy" & A "White"

Carter York · Post by **Carter York** » 5 Mar 2002 1:43 pm

Anyone shed light on this line from
"Six Days On The Road"?

I just passed a 'Gimmy' and a 'white', ...(I've been passing everything in sight)

Thanks,

Carter

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 5 Mar 2002 1:52 pm

Are you pulling our leg?
It is a "Jimmy and a White". the Jimmy is a GMC truck and the White is, guess what, a brand of truck called the White. Duh!
And I thought left-handed Norwegians were slow!
Uff-Da!

John Steele · Post by **John Steele** » 5 Mar 2002 2:01 pm

Just for the record, Carter, I must be a little "Duh" and "Slow" too, as I've never heard of a White.

I never knew how stupid both of us were until Erv took the time to point it out. I hope it doesn't discourage you from asking more questions here.
-John

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 5 Mar 2002 3:25 pm

Gosh, White is one of the most popular trucks ever made! As far big trucks go, their Freightliner could easily be described as the "Telecaster of the highway"!

Mitch Drumm · Post by **Mitch Drumm** » 5 Mar 2002 3:31 pm

The White Freightliner was one of the dominant transports seen on American highways at the time the song was popular and through the 1960s--along with Peterbilt, Kenworth and a few others. I haven't kept up on trucks, but i think White was bought out by another major manufacturer, so the name disappeared, probably at least 20 years ago. i think there are some truckers on this forum who would know the details.

Pete Burak · Post by **Pete Burak** » 5 Mar 2002 5:47 pm

I think I pulled the lyrics for that tune from the same site you did.
Does it also say, a few verses down:
"I'm a little overwheight and my "law" book is way behind"
I might be wrong but I think it's called a "log book"...
"I'm a little overweight and my log book's way behind".

Frank Venters · Post by **Frank Venters** » 5 Mar 2002 5:49 pm

I think there was another line in the song mentioning " A Georgia Overdrive" I'd like to know what exactlly is a Gerogia Overdrive??????

Tim Rowley · Post by **Tim Rowley** » 5 Mar 2002 6:13 pm

Frank,

"Georgia Overdrive" is NEUTRAL, that's how you coast on downgrades without wearing out the throwout bearing, just kick it into neutral and hope nobody in front of you suddenly slows down! It's illegal and unsafe but it "saves fuel".

Tim R.

Carter York · Post by **Carter York** » 5 Mar 2002 6:42 pm

Hey, thanks for all the info! I had wondered about the Georgia Overdrive as well, that's pretty funny....

Carter

Erv, so quick to judge....I love it!![This message was edited by Carter York on 20 March 2003 at 10:45 PM.]

nick allen · Post by **nick allen** » 6 Mar 2002 12:07 am

That explains another one... I always thought "White Freightliner Blues" (Townes Van Zandt, I think Bobby Bare recorded it too) just meant that his Freightliner was painted white...

Nick (I *did* know about "Jimmy", though...)

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 6 Mar 2002 8:31 am

Carter:
I truly apologize if I hurt your feelings. I must have been having a bad hair day or something. I like to think of myself as a person of "faith" but it surely didn't show up in my response to your legitimate question.
Please accept my apology.
The left-handed Norwegian.
Erv[This message was edited by Erv Niehaus on 06 March 2002 at 08:32 AM.]

Carter York · Post by **Carter York** » 6 Mar 2002 9:02 am

Peter, I've also heard what appears to be 'i'm a little overweight and my dogs gotta stay behind' followed by a 'yelping' steel guitar lick, on the Gram Parsons and Fallen Angels live, which I believe would have been played by forumite Neil Flanz, no?
of course, I could be hearing it completely wrong.....

pretty funny stuff......

Carter[This message was edited by Carter York on 20 March 2003 at 10:46 PM.]

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 6 Mar 2002 9:07 am

Though the "White" part is gone, their legendary "Freightliner" series is still being produced by the new company.

Larry Bell · Post by **Larry Bell** » 6 Mar 2002 9:27 am

You guys need to listen carefully to Commander Cody's "Mama Hated Diesels" -- it's a short course on semi trucks -- and relationships.

Also the tune "Semi Truck"
'Well here I sit . . . all alone with a broken heart
I took three bennies . . . and my semi truck won't start'

------------------
Larry Bell - email: larry@larrybell.org - gigs - Home Page
2000 Fessenden S-12 8x8, 1969 Emmons S-12 6x6, 1971 Emmons D-10 9x9, 1971 Dobro

Chris Forbes · Post by **Chris Forbes** » 6 Mar 2002 10:48 am

I used to drive a rig. By law, you had to carry a "log" book. In it, you would "log" the times your were driving, unloading, taking a break, sleeping, etc. You are only allowed to work a certain amount of hours in any given # of days. Example:you can work x amount in a day, the average goes down if you're on a long haul for days in a row. Some truckers would keep a log book on the dash and one underneith the seat. That way you could "fool" the cops by showing which ever was favorable to you at that time. Just don't get caught or you WILL feel the wrath of Johnny Law.[This message was edited by Chris Forbes on 06 March 2002 at 10:49 AM.]

Gene Jones · Post by **Gene Jones** » 6 Mar 2002 11:43 am

I've always wondered what that line about "taking little white pills and my eyes are open wide" meant?

[This message was edited by Gene Jones on 06 March 2002 at 11:47 AM.]

Mark Tomeo · Post by **Mark Tomeo** » 6 Mar 2002 2:30 pm

Gene:
Neither you nor the modern audience would ever know since those candyass Sawyer Browns cleaned it up to: "I'm passing little white lines and my eyes are open wide."

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 6 Mar 2002 4:22 pm

Long ago, some truckers would chug coffee, benzadrine, or whatever it took to keep them awake. They got paid by the mile...so the more miles they could do in a day, the more money they made. The I.C.C. (that regulates interstate commerce) caught on to this pretty quick, and so the logbooks came to be required by law. Another innovation used to make truckers more "responsible" was the tachograph. This was an automatic clock-driven circular chart recorder that recorded speed, distance, and each stop that was made. When a company installed them in their trucks, "phoneying" the logbook became almost impossible.

Jimmy Dale · Post by **Jimmy Dale** » 6 Mar 2002 4:24 pm

I was over the road for thirty years. I was always a line haul driver(company driver, driving company equipment), so I never got to drive any of those store bought trucks as we called them. ie. the KW's, the Pete's etc.
Son, when you took a couple of those little white pills( white cross Bennies)and chased them down with a cup of black coffee, about 45 minutes later you were riding six inches off the seat and counting every blade of grass along the highway. Man, the truck even ran better. And if it didn't run to suit you, you'd get out and put a clamp on the return line or put a stinger in the pump. Then you'd get that flame from the stack and blowin' smoke black as coal.
Ah yea, those were the good ole days, or were they? The first fifteen years it was a joy to get in a truck and go down the road with a load of freight at night.The comeradery between the drivers of all companys at the time was great. Then the government screwed everything up with deregulation and the trade turned in to a rat race. Dog eat dog. When I started driving in 1960 there were 58 truck companys represented in my home town at the time of Akron, O. After dereg. they dwindled down to maybe 5 to 10. Any of you old truckers remember any of this? Jimmy I'D RATHER BE STEELIN'

Jason Odd · Post by **Jason Odd** » 6 Mar 2002 5:36 pm

Gosh Gene, being a musician there's no way you'd know about them nasty ol' bennies.. heh.

When I worked a night job at the docklands doing maintenance and reflooring a massive servie area and shipping container shed, we somehow ended up with painkillers (from carrying 20 kilo buckets of resin and industrial sand/filler mix.. my hands would curl up into claws each morning), and one of the guys popped up with his wife's diet pills.
Man, they made a fella feel zesty!

Jimmy Dale...

Son, when you took a couple of those little white pills( white cross Bennies)and chased them down with a cup of black coffee, about 45 minutes later you were riding six inches off the seat and counting every blade of grass along the highway.

Wow, what a desription, for a second there I thought I was reading some Kerouac!

Tom Olson · Post by **Tom Olson** » 6 Mar 2002 7:58 pm

Finally! A discussion about trucks. I love truckin' songs and trucks.

Speaking of bennies -- Commander Cody recorded a song that had a line in it that went, "I just took three bennies, and now my semi truck won't start." I think it was written by Bill Terchen(sp?), a guitar player in the band.

By the way, White Motor Company was one of the largest truck manufacturing conglomerates in the world shortly before they went into bankruptcy in the early 80's. They started in the early 1900's as a sewing machine manufacturer and branched out into heavy machinery. They split into two companies -- one making trucks and the other making farm tractors and the like. I believe the farm tractor manufactering branch is still in business.

White Motor Company, at one time, owned and manufactured the following brands of trucks: Autocar, Diamond T, Western Star, R.E.O. and Sterling. They also manufactured trucks under their own brand, "White." White never owned Freightliner, but they did have an exclusive marketing and distribution agreement with Freightliner - hence the White Freightliner name.

Sterling was discontinued back in the early 50's, and interestingly, the Sterling brand has been recently picked up by Freightliner and applied to Ford heavy trucks which they now own.

R.E.O. was originally started by Ransom E. Olds after he sold his car company, Oldsmobile, to General Motors. In the mid 60's Diamond T and R.E.O. were combined to form Diamond R.E.O. Western Star was started by White in the mid 60's to compete with the fancier trucks like Peterbilt and Kenworth.

After White went into bankruptcy, they were purchased by Volvo. Volvo also purchased the GMC heavy truck division and became known as Volvo-White-GMC, now simply known as Volvo Trucks.

Freightliner and White cancelled their marketing agreement sometime in the 70's and Freightliner was again known simply as "Freightliner." Freightliner was subsequently purchased by Diamler-Benz which owns it to this day (now Diamler-Chrysler).

The Autocar name was retained by Volvo and they sold trucks under that badge for a few years. Diamond R.E.O. had been sold off to an investor in the early 70's who carried on for a few years and then went belly up. Western Star was sold to a Canadian Company who made the trucks in Kelowna, B.C. until recently when Western Star was purchased by Freightliner.

(Incidentally, Mack has been owned by Renault for years, and I believe has been purchase recently by Diamler-Benz. This means that the only heavy duty truck manufacturers which are American-owned are Peterbilt/Kenworth (Owned by Pacific Car and Foundery) and Navistar. Navistar has been on financially shaky ground for years so who knows how long they'll last).

I'm not positive, but I believe the term "Georgia Overdrive" may refer to the practice of re-arranging the internal gearing components of a Fuller twin-countershaft, dual range truck transmission, wherein the top two gears were switched so as to make the top gear a "taller" ratio to give a higher top speed.

If you like truck drivin' songs, check out some early Del Reeves tunes such as "I'm lookin' at the world through a windshield" (long strips of rubber that you see, were burnt off this rig by the likes of me, and left to rot on the highways of this land) and the classic "Girl on the Billboard" (I slowed my Jimmy down to 20, that's how many wrecks I see there every day, caused by the girl wearin' nothin' but a smile, and a towel, in the picture, on the sign, on the billboard, in the field, by the big ol' highway) and,

Red Simpson's tunes such as "Nitro Express," and "Dangerous Curves."

[This message was edited by Tom Olson on 06 March 2002 at 11:27 PM.]

Jimmy Dale · Post by **Jimmy Dale** » 6 Mar 2002 8:19 pm

Tom, it was just like the man said, when you came to the summit of a nice long grade, preferably where you could see the top of the next grade (no curves), you kicked that sucker into neutral and let her go. That is and was Georgia Overdrive. Jimmy I'D RATHER BE STEELIN'

Tom Olson · Post by **Tom Olson** » 6 Mar 2002 8:29 pm

I guess you're right -- I must be thinking of a "California Overdrive" or maybe "Mexican Overdrive." Pretty much around here you don't kick your truck into neutral on a hill unless you want to get killed

[This message was edited by Tom Olson on 06 March 2002 at 08:38 PM.]

Tom Olson · Post by **Tom Olson** » 6 Mar 2002 8:34 pm

By the way, Jimmy, I agree with you that trucking was a lot different back in the days of regulation. I first started driving in '82 which was the year that deregulation was initiated. I've noticed a big difference since then, although I don't drive anymore.

erik · Post by **erik** » 6 Mar 2002 10:01 pm

You can still buy White service trucks. Don't know if they still make OTR tractors though. See any Marmons around anymore?