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For the most part, people seem to like the look of long tractors. There seems to also be a strong vein of qualification: “How can you get those around a corner?” and similar statements illustrate this point.
This truck is a W900 Kenworth Class 8. (And the green one we’re hoping you guys can identify is a 1988 flattop Peterbilt 379. Picture below.) It’s known for it’s long nosed style, and here it’s stetched out even longer. The W900 continued and continues to be produced, even while other models (like the T600 and other models that have been introduced since the W900 was put on the streets) were more aerodynamic. Popularity with owner operators is one of the main reasons, accounts have it, that the T900 remains produced and sold.
The W900 has movie appearances:
- Smokey and the Bandit, driven by country singer Jerry Reed
- In M.A.S.K. a W900 (and K100 named Rhino and Bulldog)
The W900 was intruduced gradually in the 1960s, and the model kept a lot of the features that Kenworth had used on predecessors. The predecessors continued also to be sold alongside the W900.
50 years later — more, actually — the W900 is pretty much the same as it was when it started in the 60s.
Some identifying points:
- Delicate external doorhandles, mounted just beneath the side windows
- Larger ventilation windows in the doors
- Chromed grabhandles atop the radiator for tilting the hood.
- Bulkhead style doors
- Bigger front windows
- Fiberglass roof panel.
- Lower mounted “paddle-style” door latches (from 1972)
- Hood emblem was changed for a simplified model with three rather than four red stripes (from 1973)
- These features set the W900 off from earlier conventional produced by Kenworth.
Later style features:
- Rectangular headlamps and sitting higher on the chassis (1982) (and it became the W900B in name)
- Sloped hood (W900s from 1987 — the “S” is for “sloped”) for better visibility. The W900s can be confused with the T800 but the T800 has a set-back rear axle.
- Curved windscreen (from 2006) as a one-piece or two-piece (divider in middle).
- Comfortable Studio Aerocab introduced (in 1998)
However, despite all the style changes, lengthening the truck was never considered! You still have to do this custom, and it’s for looks mainly or entirely, it seems.
These aren’t all W900s, but they’re all stretched out:
