There was a road train’s load of splendid old trucks at the 2024 PNW Truck Show this past weekend. Rather than overwhelm you with them all in one sitting, I’ll dribble them out in not-so-small doses. I should probably save this for last, but I’m a bit impatient, so let’s take in this rather forbidding customized 1948 Peterbilt.
No, it’s not just the camera angle; that needle nose has been stretched, by a bit over two feet. The Pinocchio of trucks. It makes the truck in the movie Duel look tame. It just needs a DD 16V-71 under that endless hood.
I briefly talked to the owner and I did ask what was under that long hood. It is a DD, but a Series 60 4-stroke six. Oh well. A bit of a waste of all that real estate, but the look is bang on.
As a frame of reference, here’s the 1955 Peterbilt 281 used in the movie “Duel”. Needles do come in many lengths.
I couldn’t get a proper profile shot, but here’s one from this Flickr page. The hood wasn’t the only change; the sleeper box had its roof lowered to better match the cab and give it a lower profile. And the fenders have been modified with those fillets added.
I wouldn’t want to see this coming up fast behind me.
Related CC reading:
I see those low front bumpers from time to time and they are always paired with those oversized V-cut sun visors. Not my cuppa, but they sure have an intimidating look.
The “Dual” link is appreciated, but in this version there is really cheesy 80s-sounding drum machine synth music added during some chase scenes.
I wonder if somewhere there is a version of Citizen Kane with The Macarena playing during it.
I think this is an awesome-looking truck. Very well-done. The stacks, the sleeper box, and of course the lengthened front.
I recall watching Duel on the ABC Movie of the Week in the early 1970s.
Classic! Just keep it out of Boston. No truck driver deserves that.
That has got to be quite a handful to maneuver with an extra two feet added to the doghouse. One must have to be extremely situationally aware for fear of mowing down any errant vehicle or worse. Best reason for a front bumper cam I’ve ever seen. Nice working truck patina though with just the kind of wear we respect here at CC.
I watched pretty much the whole youtube clip, but didn’t see what I think I remember from just a brief clip long ago. The Plymouth overheating with coolant spraying on the windshield. Aside from the drama, and I like drama in a movie, it spoiled it all for me. Once a car gets to that point, overheating to the point of blowing coolant way beyond the hood, it’s over, it’s not coming back without more water in the system.
OK, so I’m a stickler for details, but I have felt like I was being chased by a truck I passed and it’s not a pleasant feeling. I probably wasn’t, but it sure seemed like it. Nothing like the movie, maybe 1%, and I was probably just paranoid, but it was still intimidating, even though I knew I should be able to power and wind thru that canyon much faster then the truck.
… But even longer ago I remember going thru a canyon coming back from the coast and an odd trifecta of a Fiat 850, an empty logging truck and myself in an old VW bug with a big 1600 engine as opposed to the original 36HP. Much friendlier, no drama at all. IIRC the truck had the most power, the Fiat handled the best and I was somewhere in between. But we were all close, very close. Again, no drama on that trip.
Not a truck expert by any means, but the one detail that kind of spoils it for me is those little amber lights in the front bumper. Seems like a jarringly modern touch in what is otherwise a thoroughly retro-looking vehicle.
Paul, Do you mean a Series 60 4 stroke DD?
Yes. That was a typo, fixed now. Thanks.