This truck hasn’t always been the black beauty it is now, but it’s become a truck that turns heads.
CAT Scale’s 1938 Kenworth started out as a fire truck, serving the city of Spokane, Washington, until 1970. The company purchased it in 1989 and painted in the CAT Scale signature black and gold.
When CAT Scale founder Bill Moon heard about the Great Race, a cross-country road rally for vintage vehicles, he asked his mechanic, Bud Dawson, to get the Kenworth ready for the 4,095-mile trip. It ran in the race from 1990 to 2001 and placed as high as third in the Sportsman division. It’s also won several trucking awards over the years.
The Kenworth originally had a Hall Scott Model 177 gasoline engine, but that was switched out to a 1941 Cummins diesel with 175 horsepower and a belt-drive supercharger. Top speed on the Kenworth is 70 mph.
Do you use the CAT Scale app and have a rig you’d like us to feature as the CAT Scale Rig of the Week? Send photos to [email protected].
A former military public affairs specialist, Cody Graves has a journalism career that has spanned radio, television and print. For the last ten years, he produced special sections for Arkansas’ only statewide newspaper. During his time in the U.S. Army Reserves, Cody served tours in El Salvador, Iraq and Bosnia and Herzegovina. In his spare time, he plays guitar in a local band and spends time with his dogs, Lucy and Daisy.