1974 Kenworth K125

[truckabilly]

Last week I had a close encounter with this beauty. A fellow countryman of mine and modeller has bought the real US truck - the 1974 Kenworth K100. OK, the label says K125, to be exact. He bought it in the USA and brought it over here to Europe. Its business days have long been gone. It was just sitting in a yard for some years. Now it is going to be one of the highlights of local truckshows. The truck condition was fairly good. The Cummins engine ran OK even after being off duty for a long time. The cab and frame showed some history through the different color layers and popping out ghost signs. Some repairs were ineviteble but all the major parts remained original. The engine, transmission and frame were repainted while the plan for the cab is to leave it as it is. The major part of restoration took a year but the small repairs continue on the go. The owner took his K125 with him to our regular model building meeting.

Not only have I taken a lot of photos, but I also took a ride in it. Surprisingly, there was not as much noise in the cab as I would have expected. We could talk with no effort to do so. I remember the shouting conversations when riding with my father in his old Tatra truck. With no trailer coupled to the rig the ride was anything but smooth and comfortable. But the beating and shaking is what makes it so cool. Sometimes it was quite hard to make a turn as this truck was not designed for the cramped European streets. We had a lot of fun riding this old piece of iron but we also have the highest respect for the old generations of truckers who turned mile after mile after mile in trucks like this.

I took a lot of photos, especially the model builder friendly details. Presented here are only some of them. Enjoy.

[Jim B]

Nice old KW.  Looks like it was upgraded from the tandem torsion bar suspension to an air ride suspension at some point in its life.  Very nice restoration.

[KJ790]

Nice find, with a lot of rare features! That looks to be the old KW 4-bag air ride suspension that came before the AG100 8-bag air ride. This suspension was available through the 70's, but it was not very common. This is also an early VIT 108" cab with a narrow grille (and oil dipstick door on the front next to the grille rather than on the passenger's side). Also note that it has the old style stamped grille and a roof mounted AC unit rather than the "grilledenser" that Kenworth has been known for. Kenworth came out with the "grilledenser" as an option for their 86" cabs in 1972, but for some reason they did not make it available for the 108" cabs until 1975. So if you wanted an early 108" cab and air conditioning, a roof mounted unit was your only choice. Very cool truck!

[Force]

Very cool truck indeed and nice pictures.

If it had been delivered new with the old 4-bag air ride rear suspension the designation should be K-123, the K-125/W-925 designation is torsion bar dual drive only.

[drinkone2]

Sweet looking VIT! Those were the most luxurious trucks from that era and this one has a lot of options. I'll bet you got a lot of attention driving it around over there. Thanks for posting the detail pics.

[truckabilly]

Well, it is a bit confusing. While the sticker in the cab says K125, the final chassis bill of material  says K123. The suspension photographed on the truck is factory delivered. The only item replaced is the airbags due to the aged rubber. Another replaced thing is the bumper and tail lights. Here is the pics of type designation and the truck condition before restoration, taken yet on American soil.

[DrKerry]

Beautiful rig!!! 

[Oldcarfan27]

Your friend has done a lot of good work to it already, at this point, I'd say repaint and detail the cab and make it match the rest of his high quality work. 

We Yanks don't see those veteran rigs on our roads much anymore, either.