Kenworth

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The Kenworth Bug on the new T660

Kenworth is a manufacturer of medium and heavy-duty Class 8 trucks based in Kirkland, Washington, a suburb of Seattle. It is a subsidiary of PACCAR, and is also a former manufacturer of transit buses and school buses. The brand claims to maintain an image of high quality, it has won five of six JD Power Awards in 2005 and three of four the most recent poll.

Kenworth has manufacturing plants in Renton, Washington, Chillicothe, Ohio, Sainte-Thérèse, Quebec, Victoria, Australia and Mexicali.

Founded in 1923 by Seattle businessmen Edgar Worthington and Harry Kent (son of Frederick Kent, a partner in the predecessor company, Gersix Motor Company), taking the first three letters of "Kent" and the first five of "Worthington", the company was born, capitalized with $60,000. The following year the company sold 80 trucks. In 1933 Kenworth became the first truck maker in the United States to switch from gasoline to diesel engines.

They were one of the first to come out with a cab-over-engine, or COE, model in 1957.

Some popular North American Kenworth models include the T600, T800, W900, and T2000.

During MATS 2006 Kenworth announced the new T660. It's based on the T600, with superior aerodynamics and updated styling. It incorporates a completely new outer-body package including hood, bumper, headlamps, grill, and chassis fairings. The T660 will be the benchmark for high quality, on-highway trucks and maintains Kenworth's "Best in Class" approach.

The T800 has several versions, including the T800SH (Short hood, 113" BBC), T800W (Wide Hood, for a bigger radiator) and T800H (High Hood, for extra cooling area, but not as big as the T800W). They're mainly used in construction, off-road and special applications.

In the early 2000s KW introduced to Mexico the T604, based on the Australian T604 with a few modifications, mostly in the hood, it is optimized for pulling doubles in areas where you need a powerful engine, however, the sales can't be compared to those of the T600 and T800.

In around 2004 KW introduced also to Mexico the KW45 and KW55, rebadged versions of the DAF LF45 and LF55, for distribution applications, a potential buyer has always been The Coca-Cola Company, as they have been replacing their old conventionals with new cabover trucks for shorter length with the same cargo space or same length with more cargo space.

Australian models are assembled at Kenworth's Bayswater facility in Victoria, Australia. Popular models include the T604, T904, T350, T401/404, K104 (C.O.E.) and C510.

1 Kenworth rigs in movies and television
2 Kenworth-built school buses
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Kenworth rigs in movies and television

A Kenworth W-900 was one of the major vehicles used in the eighties cartoon series M.A.S.K.. It was also a part of the M.A.S.K. logo.
A Kenworth W-900A tractor was used as the truck Jerry Reed's character "Snowman" drove during the film Smokey and the Bandit
Jerry Reed's character "Duke Boykin" also drove a Kenworth K100 cabover tractor in the Canadian film "High Ballin'"
Motormaster, leader of the Transformers' Decepticon sub-group, the Stunticons, transformed into a Kenworth K100 Aerodyne. (Optimus Prime is often incorrectly identified as a Kenworth as well - the original toy was actually based on a Freightliner Cabover)
A Kenworth K-100 cabover tractor, with the 'Aerodyne' upper windows in the sleeper compartment, was used in the popular television (TV) series BJ and the Bear
A Kenworth W-900 was used in the TV series Movin' On and was owned and driven by Sonny Pruitt (Claude Akins)
A Kenworth T-2000 was used in The National Network's TV series 18 Wheels of Justice
Three specially modified Kenworth W-900Bs were used in the James Bond movie Licence to Kill
A Kenworth T-600 was used in the main plot line in Dušan Rapoš's 1993 movie A Fountain For Susan 2, theatrically most successfull movie ever produced in Slovakia (as of 2007). T-600 is also depicted on film's promo posters and CD soundtrack cover.

[edit] Kenworth-built school buses

A retired 1955 Kenworth T-126 "Pacific School Coach", seen here in Cathlamet, Washington

In the early 1940s, Kenworth began branching out into bus production with their buses bearing the "Pacific" name after their parent company "Pacific Car and Foundry Company." One of their first products was the Pacific SchoolCoach Model T-126 [1] (which were built to Washington State school bus specifications, but available in other configurations as well), which became the first school bus ever to feature a roof escape hatch and dual side emergency exits as standard equipment.[2] Also produced was the CarCoach, a small, early type-A school bus which featured an extra wide entrance door, and a vehicle known as the CargoCoach (nicknamed the "Bruck", of which only 12 were built[3]). The CargoCoach was a hybrid design using the shell of the T-126 SchoolCoach platform, which sported a modified rear end design featuring twin cargo bay doors that opened up to a full cargo bay, and the front half of which was a regular transit bus. Other offerings included a public transit bus based off of the T-126 SchoolCoach platform. In 1957, with Pacific Car and Foundry wanting to focus more on heavy duty truck production, the Kenworth bus division was sold to Gillig Bros., a bus manufacturer based in Hayward, California who would ultimately use a majority of the T-126's (as well as the T-216 [4]) design in their own products.

In 2007, efforts began to expand the Gillig Coach Historical Society's role into preserving Kenworth "Pacific" SchoolCoach school buses.