In the early years of trucking, there was no such thing as too much power. One operator had his 1951 Kenworth equipped with a Hall-Scott V12 sporting 2181 cubic inches and 600 hp.
Founded in 1910, the Hall-Scott Motor Car Company is now defunct. But in its day, the Bay Area, California firm was a well-regarded manufacturer of large, high-quality gasoline engines for marine, aviation, and truck use. (With Jesse Vincent, Elbert J. Hall co-designed the Liberty aircraft engine of World War I.) One of Hall-Scott’s more noteworthy products was the Series 400, a giant but remarkably sophisticated 1090 cubic-inch inline six with a single overhead camshaft and hemispherical combustion chambers. The monstrous gasoline six (5.75-in bore, 7-in stroke) could produce 290 hp and 950 lb-ft of torque, humbling the available diesel truck engines of its time.
By combining two Series 400-type cylinder blocks on a common crankcase and crankshaft, Hall-Scott produced a 2181 CID V12 that was similar in configuration to the famed Hall-Scott Defender engine of World War II. This V12 was intended for industrial and marine use, but one tank-trailer operator in Portland, Ray Ogg, decided that the big brute was just the ticket for hauling over the mountains. He special-ordered a Kenworth conventional tandem-axle tractor with its chassis stretched one foot and arranged to have the Seattle truck maker install the V12, which was reportedly good for 600 hp but detuned for this application.
With nearly 2,000 lb-ft of torque on hand, the custom-built rig must have been an impressive hauler—and something to see and hear on the road—but unfortunately it suffered a fire and burned to the ground, truck historians say. Hall-Scott reportedly made plans to offer a production version of the V12 for trucks with a supercharger and up to 900 hp, but it never came to pass.
Would have loved to see this beast going over Donner!
In 1951 there wasn’t much in driveline offerings. I am wondering what there was that could handle that kind of torque?
I drove a v12 Detroit
Back in the early 70s it would out pull a greyhound passenger bus over donners it was quite a treat hot days pulling a grade would make the tires of the day peel off in rubber shavings cool pics and info on the 51 kw
This is quite impressive for a v12. The 1910 Fiat S76 coined “The Beast of Turin” had a 28.5 liter 4 cylinder engine. The pistons were the sze of 1+ gallon paint cans. Crazy shit.
https://youtu.be/0TV2l6TOuGA
It’s interesting, getting that much power back then and attempting to run it through the drivelines they had back then. In the late 70s the Cummins KTA 600 became available in most trucks. The option price was somewhere around $10-$12K. While the engine itself wasn’t much more expensive than the 855 Cummins the cost was almost all warranty. I had a customer bring a full load in from Waterloo, IA during the winter. He drove his new KW with KTA600 through some heavy winds and some mountain driving through the Tetons. He happened to look at his gauges and realized to his horror that his diff temperatures were both pegged. He changed the oil as soon as he made it to a service center then kept his foot out of the lumber for the rest of the trip. He said that he was NOT going to allow anyone to drive his truck but him. I can only imagine what that kind of power did to the powertrain 72 years ago…
I drove one for about 5 years for a farmer bull rack/open deck and hopper bottom back out of her on the hills watch the head winds 3 and 5 trans that was a truck drivers truck
Awesome!!!!
I bet that war wagon would top the grapevine making everyone shake their head, back in the nineteen seventies my brother drove a cabover marmon with a v 12 Detroit to calif they said it would pull the mountains like nothing else.
My very first truck I drove had a 1693 cat T and A turbo charged and after cooled for all of you rookies, don’t remember the year model but it was a kw. Those were the good days
In 1968, drove a International Coaster, not sure what year model it was, with a Hall-Scott from Miles City Mt to Missoula,Mt. It was rigged up as a oil field boom truck with winches, and also a fifth wheel. It had two 100 gallon gas tanks, and the guy that I drove it for, put 2 55 gallon drums up on the deck full of gas.
The truck topped out at 42 miles an hour,as it was geared down. Took three days in August heat to get the job done, and filled up the gas tanks AND the 2 drums in Bozeman Mt.
By the time I got to Missoula, I was nearly melted, and almost out of gas.
Had I not been 20 years old, I probably would have gotten out of that oven before I got to Billings.
Only way to handle massive amounts of torque like that is with multiple speed transmissions. The high torque engines always had a 4 or 5 speed main box with a 4 or 5 speed auxiliary transmission behind it. Even as late as the early 2000’s if you speced a 600 hp Catapillar you had to have a 18 speed transmission behind it, it would eat anything less. Mack did the same thing until the 90’s, their engines produced so much torque they had to use duplex transmissions to handle it. When electronics came in, it became easier to control the torque curves.