One of the reasons that we created BangShift XL is to have a place for truly cool content like this that the Apex guys and 1320 folks don’t really give a rip about. Peterbilt is one of the great American brand names of any sort, but especially in the trucking industry. Born out of the need to have rugged and tough logging trucks in the Northwest, the story of the company’s growth to become on the most popular names and brands on American highways is pretty awesome and this video tells the whole tale, nearly model by model. There are tons of historical photos in this video along with a bunch of neat info about the engines and technology that have driven the company forward over the last 75 years.

Big trucks certainly don’t get the respect that regular old cars do when it comes to the larger part of the gearhead world but they really should. As neat as some of the old car company stories are, the tales of how the various big truck builders came into existence are typically way better. Trucks were built to fill specific and different needs whether it was to haul over the mountains, haul through horrible conditions, or haul extreme loads and from those specific needs and products huge companies were born and expanded into the names we know today.

Peterbilt’s story is really cool and it is an American story which we love. Call us homers if you want but that’s how it is.

This video is fantastic and we want to wish Peterbilt a happy birthday from all of us here at BangShift!