May 3, 2017 Vol. 14 No. 09

So I had some fun last week in Arizona with a few of Western Star’s latest trucks and the continuation of the company’s anniversary celebrations. They refer to it as ‘Celebrating 50 Years of Legendary Awesomeness’. No hyperbole there.

But in fact it has been pretty awesome. Launched by the White Motor Company in 1967, the Western Star truck was a highly customized machine first aimed at trucking in the forests of western Canada and the U.S. If you wanted holes in the frame here as opposed to there, you had only to ask. Tough and capable, it was built in Kelowna, B.C. for many years before Freightliner bought the company and not long afterwards moved production to Portland, OR.

It’s a little less customizable today, but the venerable model 4900 is still around. Believe it or not, the very first Western Star itself is also still with us. Sold to a man in Seattle, WA, it was used by three generations of his family and was retired not too long ago. Bought back by the original selling dealer, the truck was restored to its virgin glory and made the trip to Arizona.

It was interesting to see it parked beside the very modern 5700XE highway tractor out there in the desert. A contrast, yes, but the roots are still very much evident in the newer truck.

THE PRESS WAS GATHERED there just outside Phoenix mainly for the introduction of Western Star’s all new XD-25 off-road truck. The newest member in its line of XD OffRoad trucks, it’s a 25-ton hauler aimed at smaller off-road jobs like construction, mining, and quarry site hauling. Despite its size and bulk, it can manage on-the-road speeds up to 65 mph or 105 km/h, so in some cases it can be treated as an on/off-road machine.

While it looks something like an ordinary 4900, much more steel is involved in its construction. It’s by no means a converted highway truck.