Able Body Sales & Service
Pico Rivera, California
By Zachary Geroux
Rich Mellum spent fifteen years as general manager for Bemars Inc., and then continued to work for Maxon Industries after that firm bought Bemars in 1972. In 1979 he was sponsored by the Kouri family to open up a Los Angeles-area service shop for their Able Body Company (ABC), which was then based in the San Francisco Bay area. Borrowing their name, Rich started Able Body Sales and Service in Pico Rivera, servicing and repairing Bemars and Able Body trucks for the Southern California area.
John Beliakoff Sr., owner of Haul-Away Rubbish, was a long time Bemars customer and after Rich opened for business, Able Body began working closely with Rich to design a new front load body. Their partnership epitomized the type of relationship now lost within todays society, where your word and a handshake were as valid as paper and signature. While waiting for his permit to build bodies, Rich gathered an incredible team of welders and fabricators in anticipation for his new venture.
After receiving his permit in 1981, he started building light weight, square-bodied front loaders for local-area haulers. However, it was not until 1984 that Rich and John's collaboration came to fruition. Cutting and shaping the metal in his shop, Rich sent the parts over to Haul-Away where John's team of welders constructed the body right in his yard. This new body design featured a 14-degree curve at the top and bottom, cutting down on the amount of welds required versus a square body, and decreasing the weight. The packer was a typical California style half-pack set up, with downward pushing, single stage cylinders. Rich also made manual side loaders in this body style, several of which are still operated by EDCO.
Able Body Sales (ABS) square-bodied front loader
Detail of manual-opened barn doors.
Packer plate face of ABS square-body front loader
ABS square-body FL in action in 2013, in service nearly 30 years!
Video courtesy of NASA Services and George Lanoszka
Truck #21 was the first Able Body Service delivered to Haul-Away in 1984. Note the seamless corners
Truck #21 was a "kit body", fabricated by ABS and assembled by Haul-Away in their yard
ABS side loader still in use by Escondido Disposal Co. (EDCO)
ABS CURVED-SHELL FRONT LOADER
Improving on their original design, Rich increased the degree of the body curve to 23, giving it a more graceful and modern look. This was copied by several other local body manufacturers, notably the C&O Ultra-light and the Stagg Stagglite front loaders.
As with all small builders, ABS often customized the truck to the customer's specifications. With this in mind, Rich offered his front loader with a standard half-pack blade operated by the downward-pushing cylinders, or the new and popular scissor-style rams first fielded by Amrep Inc. The tailgate was also optional, with choice of barn doors or a hydraulically-actuated gate.
Rich continued to make and repair bodies until 1994, when he closed up shop. Many of his trucks are still on the road today, their owners choosing to transplant an older ABS body onto a new chassis to comply with current California emissions law. This is a true testament to the quality and craftsmanship that went into this equipment, which carried on the proud legacy of the Southern California refuse body builders.
ABS curved-shell front loader on residential hand-loaded route for Athens Services
Video courtesy of 3amrepmike3
Top image shows ABS curved-shell front loader, lower images are the C&O Ultralight (left) and Stagglite
