Seven Decades
42 OVERDRIVE SEPTEMBER 2009 Seven decades Peterbilt General Manager Bill Jackson cuts the com-pany's 70th anniversary cake at the Denton, Texas, plant. The white Model 359 was the first truck off the plant's assembly line when it opened 29 years ago. In 1991, at the second Pride & Polish compe-tition, this 1988 Peterbilt 379 won Best of Show for Willie and Lorna Stroup of First Class Services of Lewisport, Ky. A 1986 Model 359 from First Class won the Big Rig Build-off at the 2008 Mid-America Trucking Show. Peterbilt's class market-ing theme has a long history in , evident in this advertisement in the April 1968 issue. F or many an owner-operator, the dream rig has been a Peterbilt. It's evident on the highway, where more than a quarter of owner-op-erator trucks sport the red oval, accord-ing to research. It's been evident from the earliest days of the show truck scene, where Petes have far outweighed other brands as the truck of choice for showing off chrome and graphics. From the fi rst logging trucks of the '30s and revolutionary cabover vehicles in the '40s to the birth of an industry icon the Model 359 in the '60s Peterbilts have set the pace, Peterbilt General Manager Bill Jackson said during the company's recent 70th an-niversary celebration. In the '70s and '80s, the workhorses that built America were Peterbilt Models 348, 362 and the legendary Model 379. The company continued to innovate in recent years with a series of aerody-namic, fuel-effi cient trucks, starting with the Model 387 in the '90s. Since our fi rst truck was produced in 1939, Peterbilt has become one of the most widely recognized and respected brands in the world, Jackson said. It's a universal symbol of pride, quality and class. Peterbilt `class' still carries weight with owner-operators BY MAX HEINE The Model 334 dates to 1939, when T.A. Peterman, after produc-ing trucks for his lumber business in Tacoma, Wash., began to sell trucks to the public. That venture grew into Peterbilt Motors.