Peterbilt Trucks Through Time

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The Peterbilt 567. (Photo courtesy of Peterbilt.)

A 1955 narrow-nose Model 281 menaced Dennis Weaver all across desert roads in Steven Spielberg’s 1970s TV film “Duel.” The “cab-over-Pete” design got an early mention in C.W. McCall’s 1975 hit song “Convoy.” Then there was the Model 379 Extended Hood that served Optimus Prime very well in 2007’s “Transformers.” We’re talking, of course, about Peterbilt, arguably the most well-known truck company in the world. Long before Peterbilt trucks started making a presence in pop culture outlets, though, Peterbilt was designing and innovating trucks that would help shape the trucking industry we now know. Today, Peterbilt is an instantly recognizable brand through the range of on-highway, vocational, and medium-duty trucks it offers across the Class 6 through Class 8 categories. The company’s history, however, traces to 1915 in Oakland, California, with the founding of Fageol Motors Company, which Sterling Motors would buy and later sell to T.A. Peterman in 1939 for a reported $50,000. Peterman, a mega-successful Washington-based logger, was seeking a more efficient way to transport logs to his lumber mills. Establishing Peterbilt Motors Company was the answer.

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The Peterbilt 389. (Photo courtesy of Peterbilt.)

Peterbilt’s first models included the chain-drive Model 260 and dual-drive Model 334, both released in 1939. Just years later in 1944, however, Peterman died at just 50 years old, leaving the company to his wife Ida. She then sold the company to Peterbilt’s management team but held onto ownership of the land the company was built on. In 1958, Ida Peterman announced plans to develop the land for a shopping center, a decision that led the management team to sell Peterbilt the same year to Pacific Car & Foundry. Already the owner of Kenworth via a 1945 purchase, the company is now known as PACCAR, a Fortune 500 company based in Bellevue, Washington. After building a new manufacturing plant in the early 1960s in Newark, California, for Peterbilt, PACCAR eventually relocated Peterbilt to new headquarters in Denton, Texas, in 1980.

Prior to opening the Denton plant, Peterbilt debuted its now legendary Red Oval logo in 1953 (the iconic Peterbilt hood bird ornament would appear in the 1960s) and released Model 351 a year later with its narrow nose, butterfly hood. The 351 remained in production 20-plus years, the longest run for any Peterbilt model. Peterbilt also introduced its cab-over-engine design and launched Model 359, a 1967-released truck that laid the foundation for Model 379. Part of 1986’s “The Successors” lineup that also included Models 357, 375, and 377, the 379 was targeted at owner-operators and remained Peterbilt’s flagship model until 2007 when Model 389 replaced it.

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Peterbilt’s on-highway lineup. (Photo courtesy of Peterbilt.)

Prior to its 75th anniversary in 2014, Peterbilt released Model 320 with its low-cab forward design for the refuse industry; introduced the Unibilt sleeper system in the 1990s for on-highway models; entered the medium-duty market in 1994 with Model 330; launched Model 386 in 2005 to give Peterbilt its first EPA SmartWay-designated truck; debuted Model 579 in 2012 sporting a wider cab and improved fuel efficiency and visibility; and released Model 567 in 2013 for the vocational industry.

Including alternative-fuel truck options, Peterbilt’s current lineup numbers 15 models featuring such technology as SmartLINQ remote diagnostics, SmartAir climate control, SmartNav in-dash infotainment systems, and the real-time Driver Performance Assistant coaching tool. Additionally, the company’s decades-old Red Oval Certified program offers pre-owned Peterbilt trucks that have passed a 150-point factory-certified inspection for sale.