Pacific Truck & Trailer Limited was a

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

, Canada based manufacturer of heavy

truck A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport freight, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame construct ...

s famed for their durability. Pacific built both highway and

off-road Off-roading is the act of driving or riding in a vehicle on unpaved surfaces such as sand, dirt, gravel, riverbeds, mud, snow, rocks, or other natural terrain. Off-roading ranges from casual drives with regular vehicles to competitive events w ...

trucks, particularly for the

logging industry Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidder, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or trunk (botany), logs onto logging truck, trucksheavy hauler A heavy hauler is a very large transporter for moving oversize loads too large for road travel without an escort and special permit. A heavy hauler typically consists of a Ballast Tractor and a hydraulic modular trailer. Some trailers may ...

s, and

fire trucks A fire engine or fire truck (also spelled firetruck) is a vehicle, usually a specially designed or modified truck, that functions as a firefighting apparatus. The primary purposes of a fire engine include transporting firefighters and water to ...

. In 1947, three former Hayes Truck employees set up their truck-building shop, Pacific Truck & Trailer. Initially based on a shipping wharf at West Coast Shipyards on

False Creek False Creek () is a short narrow inlet in the heart of Vancouver, separating the Downtown Vancouver, Downtown and West End, Vancouver, West End list of neighbourhoods in Vancouver, neighbourhoods from the rest of the city. It is one of the four ...

, in 1948 it moved to Franklin Street,

East Vancouver East Vancouver (also called East Van or the East Side) is a region within the city of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Geographically, East Vancouver is bordered to the north by Burrard Inlet, to the south by the Fraser River, and to the ea ...

. In 1967 it moved to North Vancouver. By this stage, it had manufactured 350 trucks and many trailers. While this is may be a low volume compared to higher-production truck brands, Pacific was well regarded for their hand-built quality and ability to respond to custom requests. In 1970, the business was sold to

International Harvester The International Harvester Company (often abbreviated IH or International) was an American manufacturer of agricultural and construction equipment, automobiles, commercial trucks, lawn and garden products, household equipment, and more. It wa ...

. International managed worldwide sales, but left Pacific the design and manufacture of the products; however, some of the Pacific models featured International cabins. In addition to the Canadian and USA markets, Pacific sold trucks in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

, and

South East Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

. Among their most impressive orders was a request for five ultra-heavy road tractors to pull massive loads of up to 370 tons for the

South African Railways Transnet Freight Rail is a Rail transport in South Africa, South African rail transport company, formerly known as Spoornet. It was part of the South African Railways and Harbours Administration, a state-controlled organisation that employed h ...

. These units were delivered in 1972, featuring 800 hp

Cummins Cummins Inc. is an American multinational corporation, multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and distributes engines, electric vehicle components, and power generation products. Cummins also services engines and related equipmen ...

engines. Photos show the "largest on-highway vehicle in the world", consisting of the five tractors hauling a 370 ton Siemens generator stator totaling an 860 ton

gross combination mass Vehicle weight is a measurement of wheeled motor vehicles; either an actual measured weight of the vehicle under defined conditions or a gross weight rating for its weight carrying capacity. Curb or kerb weight Curb weight (American English) or k ...

and length of 160m. In 1981, International Harvester sold Pacific Truck and Trailer to

Inchcape Berhad Inchcape or the Bell Rock is a reef about off the east coast of Angus, Scotland, near Dundee and Fife, occupied by the Bell Rock Lighthouse. The name ''Inchcape'' comes from the Scottish Gaelic ''Innis Sgeap'', meaning "beehive isle", probably ...

(Singapore). In October 1991, the last Pacific truck was built and the manufacturing plant was closed and torn down, with only the parts department left in operation in Vancouver. In 1994, the remnants of the company were sold to

Crane Carrier Company Crane Carrier Company (CCC) was a manufacturer that specialized in construction truck and garbage truck chassis. Located in New Philadelphia, Ohio, it was established by Robert Zeligson in 1946, along with the affiliated Zeligson Trucks. In 20 ...

Tulsa Tulsa ( ) is the second-most-populous city in the state of Oklahoma, after Oklahoma City, and the 48th-most-populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tul ...

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

, USA. In the summer of 1995 the Vancouver depot built the last Pacific Truck in the back of their parts warehouse. A hand-built 100 ton capacity ore tractor, model P12W3. Crane continued until 2002, finally selling the ''Pacific'' name, intellectual property, and rights to

Coast Powertrain A coast (coastline, shoreline, seashore) is the land next to the sea or the line that forms the boundary between the land and the ocean or a lake. Coasts are influenced by the topography of the surrounding landscape and by aquatic erosion, su ...

New Westminster New Westminster (colloquially known as New West) is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada, and a member municipality of the Metro Vancouver Regional District. It was founded by Major-General Richard Moody as the cap ...

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

, Canada. Some amount of the brand lives on through Coast Powertrain, continuing to make OEM parts and sub-assemblies for old Pacific trucks under the name Pacific Truck Manufacturing.Pacific Truck Manufacturing
Coast Power Train The well-known

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

M25 tank transporter The M25 tank transporter (G160) was a combination 6x6 M26 armored heavy tank transporter/ tank recovery tractor and companion 40-ton M15 trailer introduced into US Army service in Europe in 1944–45. Manufactured by Pacific Car & Foundry Co. ...

(also known as ''Dragon Wagon'') truck, commonly referred to as ''Pacific'' was not a product of Pacific Truck and Trailer but of

Pacific Car and Foundry The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

. Again, the well-known ''Pacific School Coach'' was a

Kenworth Kenworth Truck Company is an List of American truck manufacturers, American truck manufacturer. Founded in 1923 as the successor to Gersix Motor Company, Kenworth specializes in production of heavy-duty (Truck classification#Class 8, Class 8) ...

model CT school bus, made from 1949 onwards; Kenworth itself being a

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company, or daughter company is a company (law), company completely or partially owned or controlled by another company, called the parent company or holding company, which has legal and financial control over the subsidia ...

of Paccar since 1945.

References

External links

Current Pacific trucks rights owner websitePacific trucks Club
Truck manufacturers of Canada Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1947 1947 establishments in British Columbia Manufacturing companies based in Vancouver {{Truck-stub Heavy haulage