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-Short Attention Span Theater-
Remembering the Epic Li'l Red Express Truck
2021-07-01
[American Spectator] Government regulations are why we can’t have nice things.

Posted by:Slomort Thuth4667

#2  ...True Story - during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, one of these things had somehow made it to Beirut, where it appeared in a bit of video.

Its new owners were, sadly, PLO...who had turned the L'RE into an improvised Katyushka, having dropped a multi-barrel rocket launcher in the bed and training it out about 90 degrees in the approximate direction of the infidels.

More than happy to do the test firing in front of the film crew,(who, interestingly, were actually some distance away from the truck and had zoomed in; an indication that they suspected what was coming next) the firing procedure was apparently to crank the launcher up to max elevation, then fire it - with a set of cables touched to what looked to be a boat battery. Unfortunately, as the PLO hearties were dragging the cables out behind the truck, they failed to notice that they hadn't set the elevation lock properly or at all - so just as the troop touches the cable to the battery, you see the launcher barrels drop majestically downwards and let the entire salvo loose into the ground...about 30 feet away. The 'gunner' comes hauling a$$ out of the cloud of dust and flame holding his hands over both ears, and the L'RE was blown onto its left side. Still apparently intact, however.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski   2021-07-01 06:17  

#1  
My neighbor's son Bob Bailey had one of these, he used it at his father's fuel oil business to deliver equipment and parts to job sites.
On Saturday he would clean up the Li'l Red and take it out on his dates. Nice truck, I'd forgotten all about this thing until this article...Thanks for the rekindling of memories..good article.
Posted by: Jaing Pheatch5546   2021-07-01 00:57  

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