Baby, You Can Drive My Truck: Paul McCartney Rocks Freightliner Dinner at MCE

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Christie Raymond/Transport Topics

PHILADELPHIA — Music icon Sir Paul McCartney surprised and delighted the nearly 1,000 people attending a customer appreciation dinner hosted by Freightliner Trucks here on Oct. 19.

McCartney and his band performed the greatest hits of his five-decade career after the dinner. There were numerous trucking references throughout the evening by the former Beatle, such as when he changed the words to the Beatles' hit “Drive My Car” to “Drive My Truck.”

The Freightliner dinner dovetailed with American Trucking Associations’ Management Conference & Exhibition here Oct. 17-20.

McCartney’s wife, Nancy Shevell, is an executive at less-than-truckload carrier New England Motor Freight. She and several other family members attended. New England Motor Freight, which is based in Elizabeth, New Jersey, is owned by Shevell’s father, Myron.



Daimler Trucks North America President Martin Daum jokingly played a recorder toward the end of dinner, suggesting that was his company’s attempt at saving money on the event's entertainment. He said last year’s spectacular dinner concert by the Eagles was a huge success that many didn’t think could be topped. Then, Daum stepped aside as a curtain opened to an area designed as a club. Once the attendees had filed into the “club,” the lights went down and out walked McCartney, who jammed for the next two hours.