In 1967 Diamond T and REO trucks combined to become the Diamond REO division of the White truck company. In order to get some publicity for this event and launch the trucks in a flashy way, the company loaded one of their prototypes onto a ship, sent it to Africa with a couple of drivers and then proceeded to make the route of the African Safari Rally its bitch. The truck pre-ran the course ahead of all the cars that were entered in the event and it became the first American vehicle to finish the grueling 3,000 mile event that sent it through rivers, over mountains, and over roads barely wide enough to navigate down. As you can see in the lead photo, there were many roads that the truck literally did not fit down.
Powered by a Detroit Diesel, there some good “screaming Detroit” audio filling the background of this video. The in-cab footage shows the guys getting the snot kicked out of them wrestling the monster truck over the long dusty trails. According to history that we have read, the truck averaged 49mph over the course of the rally, which seems insanely high considering the number of areas where they were moving at a literal crawl. Perhaps there were lots of open sections that the truck was able to stretch its legs on. The winning car that year averaged like 51mph, so if the 49 number is accurate, it is pretty impressive!
Other than a cab-roof mounted air conditioning unit, we’re not sure what else was changed on the truck from stock. There’s no roll cage or anything, the wheels and tires look right, the motor sounds awesome, and the interior doesn’t seem any more “race prepped” than any other old dump truck we have ever seen. If we had to guess, the company sent a truck with a dump body on it so they could put some massive fuel tanks in there and be able to conceal them. It doesn’t look like gas stations were plentiful in the African bush!
Thanks to Tony for the tip!
PRESS PLAY BELOW TO WATCH THIS KILLER FILM OF A DUMP TRUCK CONQUERING THE AFRICAN SAFARI RALLY IN 1967!
Its 1967 – they’re in Africa in a huge dump truck.
The bed was full of fuel?
Yeah right – 2 Tons of primo African green on the long way round to San Fransico! That’s still a healthly profit even after you subtract the pond or two that the drivers got through en route..