Reliance Trucking: Phoenix’s “Atomic” Mega-Mover Douglas Towne
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rizona has its share of monsters lurking in the great outdoors. There’s the Gila monster, a venomous reptile with steel-trap jaws. There’s allegedly the Mogollon Monster, a relative of Bigfoot with an offensive body odor. Perhaps the most intimidating beast, however, is “The Monster,” a creature that could lift 125 tons, was 78-feet long, and could travel at 40 mph. “The Monster” wasn’t created by a mad scientist, but rather Cecil A. Pelts to transport massive loads. A heavy haul whiz, Pelts came to Arizona and started a trucking company with a single vehicle. He parlayed this humble start into what became Reliance Trucking, a company that went on to specialize in moving large and unusual loads, especially for nuclear power plants. Besides trucking, the company performed crane and rigging operations. forty four
“Cecil used to say, ‘We could pick up the world if we had a place to put it!’” former Reliance employee Jim Tambash recalls. This “earthmover” was born in Roswell, New Mexico and always had a love for trucking, according to his son, C.T. “Buddy” Pelts. He moved to Arizona in the 1940s and started the Cecil A. Pelts Trucking Co. with a single vehicle. The company and Pelt’s house was located at 2500 N. 24th Avenue. Apparently, the 7-acre yard was a bustling place. Neighbors had trouble sleeping because of noise created by the business and charged the firm with creating a public nuisance in 1951. The plaintiff put a microphone in her bedroom window to record the commotion, but a jury acquitted Pelts of the charges, according to an Arizona Republic article.
Top: Reliance’s model 3000 cab-over flatbed loaded with corrugated steel pipe, 1961. Right: Pelts family in the early 1970s: (L-R) Buddy, Linda, Jane, Dana, and Cecil. Far right: Reliance workers, early 1990s.
In 1953 Pelts, along with his wife, Jane, and brother-in-law, Sam E. Curl, purchased Reliance Trucking Co., which was based in Flagstaff and had been in operation since 1935. The trio evolved from commercial freighting into heavy hauling and crane and rigging projects when it won the contract associated with building 18 Titan II missile sites near Tucson in 1960. To accomplish the Titan project, Pelts designed and supervised the construction of “The Monster.” The mobile gantry-type crane was constructed on the chassis of a B-36 bomber, rode on 18 wheels with airplane-like tires, and was hauled by a Mack diesel tractor over highways at speeds of up to 40 mph. The machine weighed 45 Mar-Apr 2019