Pacific trucks may not be a name that is wholly familiar to everyone outside of hardcore truck geeks but it probably should be. This company built some really neat stuff over the years and they had a reputation of being indestructible, overbuilt, and solidly engineered rigs for whatever situation they were placed in. They were largely used as off road trucks in logging, mining, and large construction settings. Those harsh environments test every nut and bolt of a work truck’s being and Pacifics made the grade for strength.
Like many of these specialty companies, Pacific has an interesting ownership history. Born in 1947 Pacific trucks grew and grew into a significant manufacturer through the 1950s and 1960s and was then sold to International Harvester in 1970. In the early 1980s the company was sold to an outfit in Singapore and Pacific trucks were soon being built and shipped in volume to Asia and Malaysia to service their booming timber industries. The company changed strategies over the years and by the early 1990s the truck building division of the company was no longer a priority so the last official Pacific truck was built in 1991. The company was then largely in the parts and distribution end of the supply chain.
But wait, this video shows the a Pacific truck being built in 1995. What gives? Awesome. That’s what gives.
Three mechanics who were with the company and had been for decades took on the project of building the last complete truck they could out of the spares that they had at the Vancouver parts depot. They built the truck at the back of the shop and as you will see, had to knock part of a wall down to get it out! The huge, 55,000lb truck was designed to haul 250-ton loads of iron ore and may still be doing that as you read this.
Currently the Pacific Truck name is owned by Coast Powertrain Ltd and they have every blueprint, plan, and scheme from day one to the last day of the Pacific Truck manufacturing history. They currently produce parts, subassemblies, and they have the capability to once again product Pacific trucks like the one you see here. How rad is that?
We believe that this truck has a massive 800hp Cummins in it but we are not 100% sure. Just the sheer mass of the thing is amazing.
I’ve been so lucky since my teens to have driven everything up to semi tractors with 50ft trailers and some downright cool excavators/earth movers/D6 Cats but if I could grab gears with one of these giant off road haulers it’d be like winning the lottery. Raise your hands those of us who have been fortunate enough to have used giant Tonka Toys……….. 🙂
Bonus points if I could use one of these to run over a Citroen……………