62 10-4 Magazine / March 2025 Forty years ago this year, in 1985, Kenworth changed the landscape of the trucking industry forever when they introduced the T600A. With its sloped hood, set-back front axle and unique aerodynamic styling, it was a radical departure from the traditional design of trucks that manufacturers had been producing up to that point. It quickly earned the nickname “Anteater” by truck drivers and the trucking industry press. You either loved it or hated it, but no matter your opinion, the truck was quickly adopted by both large and small operators in the industry and became a workhorse in many fleets for decades. For this author, I fell in love with the T600A when it came out. It was the first truck I ever photographed. The T600 is my “Unicorn” truck. What do I mean by that, you ask? To me, it’s a mythical creature and impossible to capture. It’s eluded me my entire life, and I’ve never driven one or owned one, yet the T600 has been a central part of my interest in trucks. I can vividly remember seeing TMC Transportation’s fleet of beautiful black T600s in the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s, rollin’ down the interstate, and wanting to work for them, just so I could drive one of those trucks. I also remember when Bob and B.J. Montgomery won the first Pride and Polish event at the big Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville, KY in 1990 with their “Something Special” 1986 Kenworth T600A, which carried a mural memorializing the seven NASA Astronauts of Mission STS-51-L, who died aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger in 1986. Growing up in Indianapolis and seeing all the Canepa Designs styled T600A (and later T600B) IndyCar transporters parked at the track during the month of May was a sight to see. With all their custom enhancements, Bruce Canepa took KW’s already impressive design and truly refined the T600’s sleek look one step further. The initial T600 was produced from 1985 until 1989 and was known as the T600A. Then, in 1990, Kenworth introduced the second generation of the truck, the T600B. What’s the difference? You can spot the differences pretty easily, Truckapedia: By Mark Harter as the T600A had a stainless steel grill, used the traditional two-piece flat glass windshield, the marker lights were on top the cab, and they had traditional west coast mirrors mounted to the cab. The T600B was more refined. Gone was the stainless grill, having a new one-piece hood with a divider down the center, the cab had a curved one-piece windshield, its marker lights were built into the visor, and the T600B received aerodynamic mirrors that were mounted to the cab via one arm. Other options included a full fairing package that extended to the drive axles, as well as the Kenworth Aerodyne II sleeper, which had a more aerodynamic roof cap. Eventually, Kenworth removed the “B” moniker from the truck and it just became known as the T600. It received more enhancements throughout its production run until it ended in 2007 when the T660 was introduced. While similar, the T660 was essentially a T600, but this model is easily differentiated by its headlights. Production of the T660 ran from 2008 to 2017. Once a common sight up and down the highways of North America, the T600 is now becoming a rare truck you don’t see working in an over-the-road capacity much any longer. While you may see some running for a local outfit or operating regionally, owned by an owner operator, most of these trucks have been replaced by their more modern counterparts in larger fleets, such as the T680, nowadays. But there are still some nice examples of them out there that have survived and still work. While at the 2024 Kenworth Truck Show in Chillicothe, Ohio last year, I was walking the impressive lineup of KWs AN ORIGINAL UNICORN
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