Kenworth is a manufacturer of medium and heavy-duty Class 8 trucks based in Kirkland, Washington, United States, a suburb of Seattle. It is a subsidiary of PACCAR, and is also a former manufacturer of transit buses and school buses.
Kenworth began its history in Portland, Oregon. In 1912, the company was founded by brothers George T. and Louis Gerlinger, Jr. as a car and truck dealership known as Gerlinger Motor Car Works. In 1914, they decided to build their own truck with a more powerful inline six-cylinder engine. This was the first ever put into a commercial truck. The Gersix, as it was known, unveiled in 1915, was framed in structural steel, which along with its power, made the truck ideal for the rugged Northwest, where it was used for logging.
The classic Kenworth (W900)
In 1916 the Gerlinger Motor Car Company moved to Tacoma, Washington. Seattle businessman Edgar K. Worthington was managing his mother’s commercial building, where Gerlinger became a tenant, and became intrigued by the Gerlinger company. Worthington’s tenant was doing quite well, or so it seemed, and the Gersix became a popular fixture in the Northwest. However, the company, which then had offices in Seattle and Portland, was struggling and in 1917, Louis Gerlinger offered the manufacturing operation for sale. Worthington jumped at the opportunity. Together with his partner, Captain Frederick Kent, they formed the Gersix Manufacturing Company, to continue making a six-cylinder truck.
In 1919, Kent retired from the business and his son, Harry, became Worthington’s new partner. In 1922, Gersix made 53 trucks at its factory on Fairview Avenue at Valley Street. Under the new name, the company moved to 506 Mercer Street and later to 1263 Mercer Street. Trucks and motor coaches were assembled in individual bays rather than on a conventional assembly line.
Kenworth was founded in 1923, taking the first three letters of “Kent” and the first five of “Worthington”, capitalized with US$60,000. The following year, the company sold 80 trucks. In 1933 Kenworth became the first truck maker in the United States to switch entirely from gasoline to diesel internal combustion engines.
Kenworth was one of the first North American truck makers to come out with a cab-over-engine, or COE, model in 1957.
Current Trucks
- Class 8 Conventional
- Kenworth W900
- Kenworth T2000
- Kenworth T700
- Kenworth T660
- Kenworth T800
- Medium-Duty Conventional
- Kenworth T440 (Class 7/8)
- Kenworth T370 (Class 7)
- Kenworth T270 (Class 6)
- Kenworth T170 (Class 5)
- Heavy-Duty/Vocational Conventional
- Kenworth C500
Discontinued Products
- Class 8 Conventional
- Kenworth T600/T600A/T600B
- Kenworth T450
- Kenworth C850
- Cabovers
- Kenworth K100/K100E/K136E
- Kenworth K184
- Kenworth K330
- Kenworth L700 (now Peterbilt 320)
- Kenworth LCF
Mercedes Benz Truck
The Mercedes-Benz Trucks L-series is a conventional layout, cab-after-engine truck manufactured from 1958 to 1995. (L series) (L serie)
The L-series was first produced in Germany in 1958 and was in production for export until 1995. The L-series was a big export success for Mercedes-Benz and became very popular in the Middle-East, South America and Africa. In Arabia, the L-series in 6×6 sleeper cab configuration (Model ‘LS’) handled heavy road traction almost exclusively.
Just as the Dodge Power Wagon became synonymous with oil exploration throughout Arabia in the 1950s, the L-series, together with the Kenworth 953 became the two trucks which were synonymous with the oil exploration boom in Arabia throughout the 1960s. Many roads throughout Arabia were not surfaced until the early Eighties and there were no weight or length limitations on road haulage. This meant that the trucks carried heavier loads than for which they were designed, in some instances three times the maximum designed loaded weight, and in carrying these loads, the L-series gained a reputation for toughness and reliability. Nearly all L-series shipped to Arabia were orange in color, but all L-series shipped to North Africa were green in color.
After 1995 production in Germany ceased but was continued at Mercedes-Benz factories in South America. The L-series remains in service throughout all of the regions to which it was exported.