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Don Campbell checks out the view from the drivers seat of a Michigan 675 monster loader
Deb and I had a fun little mini adventure Fri. night and all day Sat.
We stopped several places and ended up taking 152 pictures and 15 short movie clips.
Sat. we enjoyed a few hours with Russ, the owner of this very cool old loader and I climbed all over it getting pictures from all angles to help me get the details in the upcoming model.
We could not start it as the 8 batteries were removed last fall and will be charged and put back in the machine in May.
Russ said he has sold it and bought it back now three times over many years. He still really enjoys this old machine. This last time he bought it, he went through both engines and he said they are in perfect condition. Russ said there are only two of these rare 675 loaders still running in the world.
We heard many stories about this machine yesterday including the fact Russ worked at the Michigan Equipment building where the proto-type 675 was designed and assembled for the first time. He saw the very first one as it rolled out of the building.
The big loader is for sale again and I thought it would look awesome in my front yard as a lawn ornament . I was wondering if I had enough money to actually buy it myself as a unique toy .
But once Russ told me the asking price , and I saw the look in Deb’s face, and I think it was, “a definate NO !!! ” , ha,ha.
Russ is asking $250,000 for this low hour, excellent running Michigan 675 Monster Loader. Also you get 8 extra tires mounted on extra rims too.
This awesome 24 yard bucket loader with side by side ,twin Cummins 1,270h.p. held the worlds record for the largest loader for many years. It has tires that are over 10 feet tall. Only 14 of these 675’s were ever built .
It has a operating weight of 190 tons.
I was very excited to get to fianlly see one in person and explore it .
Now that’s my idea of the perfect Sat. , LOL !!
We made a couple other interesting stops along the way and took pics there too. We will work on putting many of the Michigan Loader pics under the (Michigan Machines ) section soon . We will also get the movie clips put together of me climbing on it and driving Deb’s car under it and trying to drive Deb’s car in the bucket. ha, ha, ha. That was funny, Russ had a big fork lift that used to load container ships and he said we could lift deb’s car sideways and actually set in all the way in the bucket. I looked over at Deb and saw the look on her face, it was another ( DEFINATE NO !!!! ). ha,ha.
This week I’ll also post more pics of are other fun stops.
This Sunday morning I want to thank God for giving me the talent to make models . It is my hobby of model building that has got us to these fun places and get to meet these nice people. I do not just want to see the machines, I want to know the people who own them and operate them. I like the personal side too.
Have a nice Sunday with the ones you love.
