Quadrozzi Concrete’s 1961 Mack B61, with chain drive 13-yd. Smith mixer, is the truck of the month on National Ready Mixed Concrete Association’s 2010
Quadrozzi Concrete’s 1961 Mack B61, with chain drive 13-yd. Smith mixer, is the truck of the month on National Ready Mixed Concrete Association’s 2010 antique mixer-themed calendar. The producer dispatches the truck, loaded with specification mixes, for special events like ground breaking or topping-off-pours. Recent sites receiving loads from the vintage mixer include architect Frank Gehry’s Beekman Tower, the tallest residential building in New York City; and, One World Trade Center/Freedom Tower, whose schedule includes a proprietary, 16,000-psi compressive strength mix for columns.
Quadrozzi Concrete also sends the truck to community events such as Brooklyn’s annual Bastille Day, where it delivers sand to make the P»tanque Courts (a French game resembling Italian Bacci) made right in the middle of borough streets. Community volunteers appreciate the novelty, as they can use the chute to spread the sand effortlessly around in making the courts. Afterward, the truck remains on hand for photo opportunities, most notably parents staging kids behind the wheel. On Thanksgiving, instead of transporting concrete or sand, Quadrozzi Concrete staff use the Mack to deliver turkeys to underprivileged families. At Christmas, the bough-bearing vehicle circulates New York City to help spread holiday cheer.
Truck restoration saw all chrome, including the Bull Dog, redone, along with return of the water system to the original mechanical pump type. All yellow-handled ball valves were removed and replaced with old-style screw-type brass gate valves. Not everything was back-to-the-past, as some modern touches were added: Quadrozzi Concrete’s new graphic and color scheme; Big Q yellow mud flaps, a great safety feature that doubles to complement the look of the truck; and, consistent with the owner’s aim to have the greenest concrete fleet in town, engine modification to allow the truck to run on biodiesel fuel.