James H. Sandt of Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania, is the third owner of this 1973 Kenworth W900. The truck was purchased new by Jim Burns in New Jersey, who later sold it to Paul Tarlow. When James bought it in 1978, the Kenworth had only 35,000 miles on it. He put it to work hauling for Tanner Co. until 1980, and then he hooked it up to a dump trailer and began hauling sand and rock salt. From 1980 until he retired in 2009, James racked up more than two million miles on his Kenworth, which he now drives to truck shows. The W900 is powered by a 350 Cummins engine with a 13-speed transmission and 38,000 SQHD rears. The engine still has the original crankshaft and has been overhauled four times, thanks to regular oil changes every 14,000 miles. After a million miles, the transmission was replaced with one that had been rebuilt, and it is still performing well. Being careful to perform regular maintenance on his transmission, James uses 90-weight mineral oil and changes it every year. He said, “Take care of your truck and it will take care of you.” Sounds like a good philosophy. To see more “weird and wonderful” old time trucks, visit www.oldtimetrucks.org today.
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John & Shirley Sponholtz
John & Shirley Sponholtz have been involved with old trucks for over 20 years. Shirley was editor at Wheels of Time for 12 years before going out on her own and starting Old Time Trucks magazine in 2004. John is an avid photographer who enjoys taking pictures of odd and/or rare trucks (he provides most of the pictures for this article and their magazine). John & Shirley, who are from Richmond, Indiana, have been regular contributors to 10-4 Magazine since 2006.
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With a bunch of examples still around in the U. S., Canada, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand, (and even a couple in Europe!) I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who thinks the W900A may be the best looking truck ever made-in my humble opinion! This one here with the ‘seminole’ paint is a classic!