#ThrowbackThursday

Sideburns? Check.

Cabovers? Check.

Old School CB chatter? Check.

Yes, we’re talking 1980, the year Larry Brady established Brady Trucking. It was the tail end of a decade-long trucking craze, popularized by CB lingo, trucker hats and blockbuster trucker movies.

This #ThrowbackThursday video shows owner-operators talking about their struggles to survive, being apart from their families, taking pride in the profession. “They chase a dream of independence, trying to get away from it all.”

We do not own this footage. We found it on the website of the University of California, Berkeley, Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive.

“We just told them we wanted to know about their lives, the economics of being on their own, the sort of fantasy that this was independence” in spite of the constant pressure of making ends meet, says one of the video’s producers, Lynn Adler. “Everybody did what they had to do to keep their truck.”

This #ThrowbackThursday video shows how some things have changed. A new truck is said to cost $80,000; $1,000 would cover fuel for a cross-country trip. HA!

But some things have stayed the same as Bobby Zimmerman says about his truck: “My wife – she accuses me of being married to this thing instead of her.” Another driver observes of aspiring owner-operators: “They only last a few months and then they go under.”

The “long, hard hours.” Trying to stay rolling so you can make payments on a truck. Being subject to the whims of fleets and shippers, as well as “a maze of regulations that seems designed to force them off the road.”

The maze remark could elicit an “if they only knew” response in light of today’s Compliance, Safety, Accountability program, FMCSA, ever-shifting DOT hours of service rules, ELDs and the rest.

Zimmerman is shown with his family at their N.C. home. Two young sons help him polish his rig. One of them, well taught by Dad, whacks tires with a club to check pressure during his pre-trip inspection.

The final minute shows drivers and waitresses at a truck stop, most of them silent. There’s little sound but the clinking of dishes and the song, “I’m so lonesome, I could cry.”

If you’re in the film or recognize any drivers or any fleets in it, comment below. We’d love to hear your memories.