In this peek back in time, you’ll see some gnarly car wrecks from the early ’50s, some totally awesome big truck history we can guarantee you’ve never heard before, and even a photo of our hero himself, BangShift’s grand dad emeritus, Warren Lohnes scaling a tree during his time in the Army. This is a neat installment, especially if you dig big old trucks!
Here’s grandpa in the German forest (he served post-WWII in Germany, during the high tension period when the Cold War was justing getting started). The family resemblance (and penchant for horsing around) is undeniable!
In the 1950’s Boeing installed a turbine engine in a Kenworth truck and put it into service with a freight hauling company. The engine weighed about 200lbs, 2800lbs LESS than the diesel it replaced. It worked well for a couple of years but it had one draw back, fuel economy. It literally got 1.5mpg! Diesels of the day would average 4mpg, a colossal leap. This was one neat experiment that we knew nothing about!
I still wonder what a Turbine electric (like diesel electric) engine would do for power, economy and maintence. A heavy flywheel on a turbine could keep that thing possibly spinning for a good while. Any weigh savings could be made up in battery banks, since you want the truck heavy for braking and such. Turbines could crank out the HP to the motor while the motor would be kicking out tons of torque at low rpm.
Awright, more good stuff. Keep diggin’ Brian, your doing a fine job 🙂
That twin engine truck is awsome!, keep it guys,Its great looking at theses old pictures and stories!