Peterbilt

Peterbilt Trucks History

The Peterbilt Motors Company based in Denton, Texas, builds big tow truck platform and smaller models in the range of class size 5-8. The company has its origins in the field of timber transport, but emerged in 1960 as one of the largest and most popular in the industry of commercial trucks heavy trucks.

Beginning

Peterbilt was founded by chance and evolved in a short period of time. Transporting cut trees in Northern California, Oregon and Washington forests to factories was intense, expensive and a process that took a long time working. The timber baron TA Peterman, Tacoma, Washington, sought a truck to do the job. In the 1930s, Peterman began using surplus military vehicles and developed the technology for heavy transport. In 1938, he bought the failed Oakland headquarters of Fageol Motors to use your computer to build custom chassis trucks. Peterbilt, named for its visionary founder, was born then.

PACCAR

Peterman died in 1945 and his wife sold the company to its seven managers. In 1958, the owners sold it to Pacific Car & Foundry Company, or PACCAR, builder of railroad freight cars that was expanding in the trucking industry. PACCAR previously bought from Kenworth.

Part of the family

PACCAR launched on shopping for decades, taking control of Dart Truck Company, the British truck manufacturer Foden Trucks, DAF Trucks Dutch and was once the powerful Leyland Trucks based in England. The Peterbilt and DAF branches were the largest producers of PACCAR, taking third place in the overall sales of large platform trucks in the United States behind Freightliner and Navistar International.

Early models

Peterbilt occurred briefly truck series 260/360 before interrupting production by war in 1942. He continued with his popular 280/350 series "Iron Nose" which consisted of conventional trucks with separate fenders and a vertical blind deep with vertical blinds.

The 1960s

The most enduring line Peterbilt 281/351 series was produced from 1954 to 1976 with his now remodeled narrow nose and bonnet butterfly. Models with the cab over engine began in 1959 and were extremely popular with truckers for its easy access to the engine and compact dimensions. The cab-over engine lost popularity to the 1980s when the trucking industry was irregular and rules about the size of trucks were relaxed.

Later models

The model 379 was the Peterbilt truck selling from 1987 to 2007, with his long nose and symbolic square aluminum hood. The 2006-07 models were vastly improved, especially for driver visibility, with redesigned windows and an enlarged rear window