Thread: Non landy favourite cars?

Originally Posted by Bigbjorn

Well a bit more internet research turned up that the trans was a 6 speed Allison, 30,000 lb front axle (Autocar made their own axles and they were GOOD!), monster hub reduction diffs, a bonnet like a billiard table. Numbers built are hazy. Some say only the one and others say up to five. Autocar have changed hands and moved house twice since then and no records exist.

I found a photo of two Autocar in WWII moving a battleship gun barrel down what looks like a steep grade. Lashed to a cradle between the two trucks, the front mover travelled in the normal direction and the rear one was travelling in reverse. The cradle was mounted on the truck's turntables. Given the poor brakes of the era this could have been an exciting drive. Battleship 16" guns weighed around 50 tons, big and long.

I didnt realise the 420 was from the early days prior to the NTA and NTC... I started getting involved with trucks in the mid 80's, thus a lot of the earlier stuff was being shoved aside...NH series engines where just too small...

The Autocar going to Wyndham was probably the one that RTA(road trains australia, Noel Buntine) bought.. He was quite inovative even the gov didnt want to make it easy... His slid some axle groups up under the trailers more to make them follow there own tracks... Gov said no for road use...

The NTC series is one line of engine I love... Having had a few trucks with them in... Best that I LIked was the Black series, New Big Cam IV, the last of the mechanicals before the N14 series... I had a 400 hp but this series went to 444 and have been told of a 450, but havent found any info on that... The 365 redhead wasnt popular... The biggest issue with this series was over revving, if you took it past 1,900 it would crack the injector nozzles... In my case I work lower in the revv's thus I never had an issue...

15 spd RR where popular back in the 70's and 80's, also the Spicer box's, but drivers didnt like them because of the clunky way of changing gears... Another box that was good for heavy work but not liked by the inexperienced with the Plex box's that Mack used...

I remember seeing an old original Autocar, it had top load diffs just like the Mack diffs... Its a good concept that sadly disappeared...

As for the KTA's, they couldnt be overloaded... That engine was incredible when loaded up... They could pull heavy all day and love the work... Fuel economy? what fuel economy, they used the same empty as loaded... The K's where 450, 525, 650... The understanding of the 450 was the horsepower maximum allowed for trucks, when that engine came out... The weight was an issue but here in WA, the trucks running north needed heavy front axles due to the road conditions, anyway...


I worked for a guy that got 3,000,000 k's out of a KTA450 in his first truck, a W model Kenworth... I was told the engine is now at Cummins in Sydney, on display... It was an untouched engine thus Cummins bought it off him for the cost of a new one for the truck... The blokes name is Gary Sartori... I remember the reason it was replaced, Aerostart could no longer start it, the driver told me he had a can up to the aircleaner and it would stop the moment he stopped spraying... With those sort of K's you cant complain about it stopping...The work started with heavy haulage and road trains and ended with single trailer only...

The V12 cummins engines will open up past 1,200 hp... VT28 would be the easiest to do that too...

Talking about upping the power, better off balancing and blue printing and leave the fuel system alone... You can get better economy and power and at the same time, increase the overall life of the engine... Makes more economic sense... Which is why I did that to my 400 NBC IV, it enjoyed pulling stock crates up Bindoon hill and leaving a mates KTA525 for dead on the hill...

After a string of early holdens, EH,HR,FC (which i still have) i bought a 1976 TA23 Celica. 1.6ltr 5spd, 2" exhaust with P&P head, 13x8 rebel racing wheels, lowered 2" with gas shocks, coloured body after removing all chrome. Suzuki LJ50 3cyl 550cc powerhouse, couldnt pull the skin off a rice pudding but would follow the horse tracks in the bush near where we lived. I could just get it to 80kph down Barkers Rd Hawthorn with a tail wind.
Great little car, handled like it was on rails and just fun to drive.

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