Andy Zary’s 51-year-old Mack B61 passes half decade in existence with a triumphant repeat of its big Las Vegas win in 2009 at the Great American Trucking Show
By Todd Dills
(Photos by Bruce W. Smith)
When this 1959 Mack B61 was featured as Tractor of the Month in the October 1976 edition of Custom Rigs’ parent mag Overdrive, I was just shy of a month old.
The Mack, on the other hand, had already logged nearly two million miles hauling “chipboard…from the Hudson Bay to the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia” and plywood and lumber back to Saskatchewan.
Some 30 years on, it was still going, if retired from the road along with its Saskatoon, Saskatchewan-based owner, Andy Zary, who put nearly two decades and a whole lot of hands-on work into it to turn it into the showpiece it is today.
The B61 made a triumphant ride away from the Great West Truck Show in Las Vegas in 2009 with a Best of Show trophy in none other than the Limited Mileage Bobtail category.
Zary repeated the triumph at the Custom Rigs Pride & Polish event at the Great American Trucking Show in Dallas in August, taking home Best of Show Limited Mileage in a more crowded and competitive field.
Andy Zary
Bought in 1968, Zary says, the Mack “started out originally as a single-axle daycab,” which he ran for a while before outfitting it with a 56-inch flattop bunk built by then Fahr Truck Body in Zary’s hometown. It was this sleeper the B61 sported in that 1976 article, but now it’s got a newer custom bunk.
Much of the rest of the truck is new or rebuilt, too, Zary says. “We spent $150,000,” Zary says.
“We remanned the engine, the whole powertrain. It was about 250 horsepower – now somewhere over 300. And whatever could come off was chromed.” And that’s interior and out. It’s outfitted with a one-of-a-kind stainless air cleaner canister made special by the Donaldson company.
At the Las Vegas show, Zary also bagged best Limted Mileage Interior and the Truk Rodz Best Theme award for the “Touch of Class” this 51-year-old brought to the show.
Touch of Class
Owner: Andy Zary, Saskatoon, Sask., Canada
Model: 1959 Mack B61
Engine: 300-hp Mack, with all removable parts chromed and compartment painted
Transmission: Two-stick Mack 5 & 4
Wheelbase: Stretched to 235” on chassis modified to tandem from a single-axle straight dump
Interior mods: Custom cherry cabinetry and sleeper floor, Naugahyde/velour upholstery by Ralph Weflen of Chilliwack British on air ride seats, chromed dash with engraving-labeled gauges and dials, refrigerator, microwave, sink with running water, wood steering wheel
Exterior mods: Sleeper custom-built by Northwest Fabricating, stretched frame, twin chrome exterior spot lights, all stainless trim parts are custom one-off
Paint: Endura polyurethane purple, white, burgundy and mauve by Cliff Johnson of 5 Star Truck Collision
