It has been too long since we gave you and auditory treat like the one you will receive when you watch the video of this 1974 Kenworth W900A climb a very long and pretty steep grade with a load of logs on its back. This is not some creeping, crawling, slog to the top. Nope, this is a truck that makes major league power just running up the deal like it is flatter than Kansas. Oh and we should mention that this reason it is making the climb in such style is because a Detroit Diesel 12V71 lives under the long and iconic nose of the rig.
The Kenworth W900 series is one of the most iconic truck lines ever developed. While it has been refined and developed over the years, the tough DNA of old rigs like Big James still lives under the skin of the W900s the company produces today. Yeah, the long nose design may give up something when it comes to turning radius, but style has its price, right? You’ll notice that this truck has the more round headlight bezels and lights in it. They went square in the early 1980s but seeing those round lights is one way to spot an older W900. The truck you see here is in such fine condition, we bet most of the motoring public thinks it is pretty new. The light blue paint may be a little odd to see on a truck this burly but it sure works for it. Heck, it could be painted pink polka dots but with the way that big Detroit howls out of the twin stacks, we wouldn’t care one bit.
As you hear the truck approach (because you can hear it long before you can see it in the video) it does sound like the drive upshifts or perhaps make a range change or something because the revs do pick up at the base the hill and they do so instantly. That being said, once you hear the pitch of the engine raise it never lugs down or lumbers while pulling the grade. We have to guess that those big sticks on the back of the truck have some real beef to them as well.
We know that we’re simpletons around here but there’s some great gearhead entertainment into watching, listening, and appreciating how a 40+ year old truck like this one can still hustle with the machines of today.Long live the screaming Detroit!
Click on the image below to see the video of Big James hard at work! (Jump to :15)
