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72 CUSTOM RIGS Winter 2009 BACK PAGES BACK PAGES BACK PAGES Back Pages Back Pages W hen this 1959 Mack B61 was featured as Tractor of the Month in the October 1976 edition of Cus-tom Rigs' parent magazine , 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. The Mack's owner, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan-based Andy Zary, has been retired since 1999 as well after a career as an owner-operator then small fleet owner. He put in nearly two decades and a whole lot of hands-on work to turn the Mack into the showpiece it is today. The B61 made a triumphant ride away from the Great West Truck Show in Las Vegas this summer with a Best of Show trophy in none other than the Limited Mileage Bobtail category. Bought in 1968, Zary says, it 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 fabricated from scratch by Saskatoon's Northwest Engineering with Zary's personal assistance. Much of the rest of the truck is new or rebuilt, too. We remanned the engine, the whole powertrain, Zary says. It was about 250 horsepower now somewhere over 300. And whatever could come off was chromed. And that's inside and out. At the Las Vegas show, Zary also bagged best Limited Mileage Interior and the Truk Rodz Best Theme award for the Touch of Class this 50-year-old brought to the show. With any luck, I'll be around to revisit her in 2034. Paul Hartley / ADD MEDIA TURNING 50 Mack owner Andy Zary The second restoration of this classic 1959 Mack B61 tractor pulled owner Andy Zary a Best of Show in the Limited Mileage category at the Las Vegas Pride & Polish event. From the October 1976 edition of Overdrive, Andy Zary's 1959 Mack B61 after the fi rst restore, Zary says. Thirty and some years later... By TODD DILLS Andy Zary's Mack B61 shows some great old trucks get better with age and a doting owner