theothers

As stated earlier, most primary movie vehicles have a stunt double. For a number of reasons including cost and the Cruiseliner's introduction in mid-1975, the stunt double for Pig Pen's Truck was a repainted Kenworth K123 Cabover painted and upfitted to resemble a Mack Cruiseliner. As you will read about below, Fred Bruhn provided many of the support trucks for this movie both in front of the camera and behind the scenes. In the case of Pig Pen's extra truck, the producers used one of Bruhn's K123 cabovers. In fact, the truck used was identical to the Bruhn K123 used "as-is" with the belly dump trailer that followed the Rubber Duck through most of the movie.

I have captured a number of photos from the movie which clearly show the reworked Kenworth. If you notice, the producers went through some work to not only replicate the paint scheme of the Cruiseliner, but also the bull bar, single headlight, "MACK" name above the griller and the passenger side "ram" air scoop behind the cab. Unfortunately, they didn't do anything with the roof mounted A/C condenser or the Kenworth factory air cleaner pipe on the driver's side.

For unexplained reasons, this Kenworth appears in random shots throughout the movie. It was understandably used for the barrel hit at the first weigh station, but it was also used in: Passing by Big Nasty and Bald Eagle "lookin' at them rigs up on the hill" and again in the end of the movie pulling the casket trailer onto the highway. Curiously, the Cruiseliner was used for the in-stadium shots with the casket trailer, but then the Kenworth was substituted for all of the credit shots with the casket trailer. The Cruiseliner WAS used in the Alvarez Jail hit, and damage to the truck and exhaust stacks can clearly be seen as the truck backs out and then drives past the jail. One explanation might be that the in-stadium scene was shot earlier in the production prior to the jail hit.

After filming, the Cruiseliner was retained by Mack Trucks and auctioned off in Los Angeles, California at a Mack Dealer. The man who purchased the truck (named Mike K.) was a small fleet owner in the Los Angeles area and had one of the only real fleets of Mack trucks around the area. The dealer's staff let Mike know what he needed to bid to win the truck, and sure enough, he won. After the auction, Mike talked a great length with Kris Kristofferson about the movie and the filming process. There were also a few other stories about Barbra that I won't put herein.

About a year after purchasing the truck, one of Mike's drivers totaled the truck in a jackknife wreck on the I-5/I-205 interchange in Los Angeles. Mike had the truck towed back to the shop, but there was nothing left to salvage.

Fred Bruhn supplied many of the trucks in the movie used for production or fillers. One of his K123 Kenworth cabovers and bottom dump trailers was used as the second truck in the convoy. Another identical unit was repainted and modified as a "Cruiseliner" as a second Pig Pen truck. The only other time that a Bruhn truck is clearly visible is in the ice cream truck collision scene near the end of the movie. Pig Pen's Mack comes to a stop next to one of Bruhn's Peterbilt 352 Pacemaker cabovers with a 40 foot exterior post van. Presumably, this is a production unit truck, but in both the shots from inside the Cruiseliner as it approaches the ice cream truck and in the frontal post-collision shots, the Bruhn Peterbilt can be seen.

Many of the other trucks used were also repainted Bruhn trucks. The blue Pete 352 cabover driven by the "rats" and Old Iguana's red and white Pete 352 were Bruhn trucks that were repained for the movie. After the filming was complete, the Bruhn's also purchased the "Widow's" white Brockway used for the staged roll over scene.

Fred Bruhn possible purchased one of the Mack RS700L's used for the Rubber Duck truck for use in his sand, gravel and cemet business in New Mexico. According to his son, the Mack was purchased after the movie and served Bruhn as a cement transit mixer until 1988 when it was wrecked and completely totaled. The Bruhn family still lives in eastern New Mexico and their quarries and cement businesses continue today in Logan, New Mexico as Bruhn Enterprises, Inc. Unfortunately, Fred Bruhn passed away in 1986.