(Words and Photos by Mike Bradford) – I’ve been attending the uphill tractor trailer drag races in St. Joseph DeBeauce Quebec for a few years and if you can take your eyes away from fully loaded big rigs winding on the governor and dumping the clutch for a 900’ squirt up a 10% incline you need to check out Jacque Auger’s mini KW tractor trailer. Jacques owns one of the largest and cleanest appearing fleet of petroleum transportation vehicles in Canada.
Back in 2007 he decided to build a small scale exhibition truck to mirror its full size brethren. He and Donald Gingras invested over 2600 hours and countless benjamins to end up with one of the coolest ‘lil trucks anywhere. This ‘aint just a fiberglass body over a golf cart, it is an exact replica. Power is a 3 cyl. Cummins turbo diesel that pumps out 37 hp through a Ford Ranger 5 speed tranny ending up in a true tandem drive system using a pair of Suzuki jeep differentials. There is a complete and working air brake system to bring things to a halt. By itself you can’t tell this little guy from a full size Kenworth until you have something to compare it to. Note to Santa Clause, I’ve been pretty good this year; I want one of these, pleeeease!
DON’T BELIEVE US WHEN WE TELL YOU THAT THIS THING IS ALL TIME? DIG THESE GREAT PHOTOS FROM MIKE BRADFORD! THEY TELL THE WHOLE STORY!
I have not made it back up to the magic known as St. Joseph for a few years, but am looking forward to visiting all of these super folks in 2022….