PACCAR history

The destruction of Seattle Car's Youngstown plant by fire, coupled with the repercussions of the national financial panic of 1907, had placed the company in voluntary receivership.

In February 1908, the Seattle Car Manufacturing Co. opened a modern railcar manufacturing plant in Renton.

The company built a new factory in Renton and by 1909 was filling larger orders than ever before.

In 1911 the name was changed to Seattle Car and Foundry Company.

Pacific Coast Steel Co. open hearth furnace, Youngstown (West Seattle), 1914

The company later merged with Twohy Brothers of Portland in 1915 to become Pacific Car and Foundry Company, a name it retained for the next 55 years.

On July 1, 1917, Seattle Car and Foundry merged with its only West Coast competitor, Twohy Brothers of Portland, Oregon, owned by Judge John Twohy and James F. Twohy.

By 1920, the company had built more than 7,000 logging cars (valued at some $10 million). The firm specialized in innovating designs that fit the particular hauling situation of the logging customer.

Kenworth had been producing trucks in Seattle since its incorporation in 1923.

In 1924, William Pigott sold control of the company to American Car & Foundry Company.

1928 Wim and Huub van Doorne establish the engineering company that will become Van Doome's Aanhangwagenfabriek, abbreviated DAF, in The Netherlands.

William Pigott Sr. had died on July 19, 1929.

In 1930, despite the stock market crash, earnings rose, but as the Great Depression deepened, Pacific Car and Foundry soon became one of Seattle’s most depressed businesses.

In May 1931 Pacific Car acquired the Arrow Pump Company and plants belonging to the Bacon & Matheson Drop Forge Company.

1933 Kenworth becomes the first American truck manufacturer to install diesel engines as standard equipment.

Paul Pigott, son of the founder, acquired a major interest in the company from American Car in 1934.

Production of the company's refrigerator cars was highly profitable despite continuing poor economic conditions, generating enough surplus capital to permit the acquisition in 1936 of Heisers Incorporated, a manufacturer of motor buses.

1939 T.A. Peterman acquires Fageol Motor Car Company, changes the name to Peterbilt Trucks, and begins producing trucks for the timber industry.

In 1940, company sales were up by nearly 50 percent.

1941 Pacific Car joins the war effort by supplying Sherman tanks, components for Boeing B-17 bombers, steel for new defense factories, and logging and mining equipment.

Beginning in spring 1942 the company also built Sherman M4-A1 tanks for the United States Army.

Following a reorganization in 1943, the company retired its common stock, and compensated stockholders with new preferred shares.

Pacific Car and Foundry bought the business in 1944.

The company entered the heavy-duty truck market in 1945 with its first major acquisition, Kenworth Motor Truck Company of Seattle.

In 1946, it became a division of Pacific Car.

1949 DAF Trucks begins producing its first truck, the model A-30.

In 1953 Pacific Car & Foundry bought the Seattle facilities of the Commercial Ship Repair Company.

1955 Kenworth's first international subsidiary, Canadian Kenworth Ltd., is formed and begins producing trucks in Burnaby, British Columbia.

Kenworth, which opened a Canadian division in 1956, was Pacific Car’s largest, fastest growing concern.

While the MX engine was new to the North American market, DAF has been building engines in Europe since 1957.

Pacific Car and Foundry greatly expanded its heavy-duty truck capability with the purchase of Peterbilt Motors Company in 1958.

In the autumn of 1960 Paul Pigott was diagnosed with a brain tumor.

When Paul Pigott died in 1961, Robert O'Brien was named to succeed him as president of the company.

1962 Pacific Car and Foundry fabricates steel for Seattle's iconic Space Needle, built for the 1962 World's Fair.

In 1965 Robert O'Brien was promoted to chairman of the board and was replaced as president by Charles Pigott, grandson of the founder.

Kenworth moved into Mexico with 49 percent participation in an affiliate company, Kenworth Mexicana S.A. de C.V., and in 1966 PACCAR entered the Australian truck market with the establishment of a Kenworth Truck assembly plant near Melbourne.

Pacific Car purchased a Canadian producer of automotive transmissions and industrial winches called Gearmatic and in early 1967 completed its acquisition of Sicard Incorporated, a manufacturer of snow removal equipment and airport vehicles.

Workers at all three Pacific Car plants in Seattle staged a crippling labor strike from April 5 to July 22, 1968.

Kenworth Australia purchased 28 acres (11 ha) of land at suburban Bayswater – 18 miles (30 km) east of Melbourne, in 1969, to build a factory and office complex.

Construction plans were drawn up and by 1970, the 56,000 sq ft factory and office complex was completed to produce trucks initially on a CKD (Completely Knocked Down) basis.

In November 1971 Pacific Car & Foundry created a holding company, incorporated in Delaware, called PACCAR Incorporated.

Believing "Pacific Car and Foundry Company" no longer accurately reflected the company's products and activities, directors and shareholders voted to adopt PACCAR Inc as its new name in 1972.

In 1973, two major divisions of PACCAR were founded.

Demand for higher quality Kenworth and Peterbilt trucks, however, was not seriously affected and production losses during 1974 were due more to the reoccurrence of strikes than to poor market conditions.

In 1975, it bought the International Car Company of Kenton, Ohio, a caboose manufacturer.

1979 Kenworth develops a 90-wheel transporter used to move the space shuttle from the hanger to the flight assembly building.

In 1980, the firm began construction of a Technical Center in Skagit County.

PACCAR's new Technical Center opened in July 1982, located approximately 65 miles north of Seattle.

PACCAR’s trucks came with the best warranty in the industry, and many trucking firms refurbishing their fleets with more efficient vehicles turned to PACCAR. In 1984 PACCAR posted record sales: $2.25 billion, $125 million of which were profits.

PACCAR was also interested in acquiring the Bell Helicopter division of Textron, a unit it first attempted to purchase in 1985.

Plagued by overcapacity, PACCAR was forced to close a Kenworth plant in Kansas City in April 1986 and a Peterbilt plant in Newark, California, the following October.

PACCAR continued to experiment in new markets and in early 1987 concluded an agreement with Volkswagen do Brasil to import Class 7 trucks (26,001- to 33,000-pound gross vehicle weight) for sale in the United States.

In 1988 PACCAR bought Grand Auto, Inc., another auto parts and accessories retailer, and folded the new stores into the PACCAR Automotive subsidiary.

In 1989, PACCAR sold Wagner Mining Equipment Company.

PACCAR Automotive also cut back its operations in 1991 when it abandoned its wholesale auto parts sales to focus on its retail outlets.

PACCAR's finances improved slightly in 1992, when profits rose to $65 million.

The prosperity encouraged expansion, and in 1993 PACCAR acquired a line of winches from heavy equipment manufacturer Caterpillar.

Robert Stovall, in a 1994 Financial World article, named PACCAR "the premier long-term investment in the heavy hauling business."

Profits rose commensurately, reaching $253 million in 1995.

In 1996 industrywide truck sales were down 25 percent from the year before.

The acquisitions helped push PACCAR's revenues to $6.5 billion in 1997.

The top-selling DAF 95XF wins the prestigious International Truck of the Year 1998 award and Kenworth celebrates its 75th anniversary.

In October 1999, PACCAR Automotive was sold to CSK Auto.

DAF Trucks are manufactured in the Netherlands, Belgium, Brazil and UK. It has a dealer network in nearly 2000 locations, where it has been selling in more than 100 countries and at present they are trying to expand their network to Asia as well.

2002 The DAF LF wins the 2002 International Truck of the Year Award.

2003 Kenworth and Peterbilt sweep the 2003 J.D. Power and Associates Awards for Customer Satisfaction among Class 8 truck drivers.

Kenworth ranks highest in customer satisfaction among vocational Class 8 trucks and medium-duty truck dealer service in the 2004 J.D. Power & Associates customer satisfaction studies.

2005 PACCAR celebrates its 100th year of operation with record revenues, net income and trucks delivered.

Presented to Mark C. Pigott by President George W. Bush on February 13, 2006.

2007 The DAF XF105 earns the 2007 International Truck of the Year.

2009 PACCAR Honored for Environmental Leadership — PACCAR's corporate office and its Kenworth Truck company manufacturing facility in Renton are named as leaders in King County, Washington's 2009 Best Workplaces for Recyclers.

The world class factory has produced over 130,000 engines since it was opened in 2010.

2011 PACCAR Establishes Technical Center in Pune, India with its partner KPIT, a leading technology solutions company.

2012 The DAF CF earned the U.K. Fleet Truck of the Year award for 2012.

In 2013, PACCAR expanded its global operations with the opening of a new DAF factory in Ponta Grossa, Brazil.

Ron E. Armstrong is named Chief Executive Officer, effective April 27, 2014.

2015 PACCAR introduces the PACCAR MX-11 engine for North America in October 2015.

2016 PACCAR launched a new proprietary tandem axle that is the industry’s lightest and most efficient axle in its class.

PACCAR announced its Silicon Valley Innovation Center in Sunnyvale, California in 2017.