Truck Show Outtakes: Two Old Big Rigs – Still Healthy And Fit For The Job

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– Posted on December 21, 2018

My favorite classic big rigs are the ones that make you wonder if they’re still used as a full-time workhorse after the truck show, simply because their whole set-up, color scheme and company livery still look fully up-to-date and fresh. This year, I saw two fine examples, meeting all criteria. In both cases, the tractor happened to be a Scania with a V8 turbodiesel.

Here’s the senior of the couple, a 1976 Scania 141 COE 4×2 tractor with a sleeper cab, 375 DIN-hp from a turbocharged 14 liter V8. The 141 was merely an update of the 350 DIN-hp Scania 140 Super, as introduced in 1969. The number 140 explained: 14 for the engine displacement in liters, 0 for a new start and generation (prior to 1969, the Swedish truck maker was called Scania-Vabis).

Scanias with a V8 were the most powerful on-highway Euro-trucks and tractors for many, many years at a stretch.

The 1976 tractor is towing a 1982 GOFA -short for Gocher Fahrzeugbau- dry bulk tipping tanker. Goch is a town in Germany. The semi-trailer is rated at a GVM of 34,000 kg (74,957 lbs); 24,000 kg total maximum axle load at the rear – 10,000 kg at the front.

A semi-trailer with three axles and six super singles, the European norm since the second half of the seventies, roughly.

The unloading process of this type of semi-trailers is a combination of tipping the whole tank and compressed air. The compressor is placed on the right side of the tractor’s chassis, in front of the rear fender.

Skipping the number 142, we go directly to this 1990 Scania 143 6×2 tractor with a liftable tag axle. From the days that the truck maker still sold a good number of conventionals, like this fine machine with a 470 DIN-hp V8. Scania’s 3-series (the 93, 113 and 143) was introduced in 1987.

Once upon a time, Scania and Saab were married. Saab is dead and gone, Scania roared away with the griffin and still holds it firmly.

The 3-series was not offered with such a tall roof. It’s an aftermarket conversion, done by the Dutch Estepe company. Highly common in the Netherlands back then; with this raised roof, the big Scania became a direct DAF Space Cab and Volvo Globetrotter competitor.

Note how this rig really stands out without using any chrome or polished stainless steel parts. Well, apart from the air horns. Just playing with green, white and a pinch of red and black. Everything is painted, look at the rims, for example. This combination is wearing a typical, modern Dutch big rig outfit.

Dual wheels on this one, a 1992 Netam-Fruehauf dump semi-trailer. The combination has six axles, which means a maximum legal GVM of 50 metric tons, our national weight limit for regular combinations such as this. The payload capacity is 29,150 kg (64,265 lbs), as in 50,000 kg GVM minus the rig’s curb weight of 20,850 kg.

Now come on guys, just a few more loads, the holidays are coming!