Each year during the Walcott Truckers Jamboree, the folks at the Iowa 80 Trucking Museum throw a huge birthday bash, complete with a beautifully decorated birthday cake.
But this party isn’t for a person — it’s for a truck! And it’s not just any birthday — it’s for one of the museum’s trucks that’s reached the 100-year mark. That’s quite an accomplishment!
This year’s birthday honoree is a 1925 Kenworth KS 3-Ton truck.
“This is one of the earliest Kenworths ever made; they started building trucks in 1923,” said Dave Meier, curator of the museum.
In those early days, most trucks, including Kenworths, were “assembled” trucks, meaning they were put together using components made by a number of manufacturers.
This 1925 Kenworth KS 3-Ton is no exception.
The gasoline-powered engine was made by Buda, a company based in Harvey, Illinois. The four-speed transmission was crafted by Wisconsin-based Cotta, and the rear axle is a Timken. (Fun fact: Both Cotta and Timken are still in business a century later!)
“Back then, (assembly plants) didn’t turn out 100 trucks a day, or even a year,” Meier noted. “You’re not going to ever see this truck out on the road — that’s for sure — and it’s highly unlikely you’ll even find one at an antique truck show.”
Take a close look at this truck and you’ll notice that the front and rear tires don’t match. The rear tires are hard rubber, but the front axle is fitted with newer pneumatics, which likely helped soften the ride along the rough roadways of the time.
“Once they were available, adding pneumatic tires would’ve been a very common change,” he said.
The KS 3-Ton had a top speed of 25 mph. That’s pretty slow by today’s standards, but nothing to sneeze at 100 years ago.
The Iowa 80’s tradition of celebrating a century-old truck began back in 2010. Meier says he had a “silly idea” to highlight the museum’s exhibits — and the rest, as they say, is history.
The honoree at that first birthday party was a 1910 Avery. According to Meier, about 300 people showed up for the celebration, which featured birthday cake and coffee.
Jamboree attendees are invited to join this year’s celebration — scheduled for 2 p.m. Friday, July 11 — in the museum lobby. If you’re traveling along I-80 in eastern Iowa, stop in, enjoy a bit of air-conditioned comfort, check out the museum’s many exhibits … and, of course, have a piece of cake!
Linda Garner-Bunch has been with The Trucker since 2020, picking up the reins as managing editor in 2022. Linda has nearly 40 years of experience in the publishing industry, covering topics from the trucking and automotive industry to employment, real estate, home decor, crafts, cooking, weddings, high school sports — you name it, she’s written about it. She is also an experienced photographer, designer and copy editor who has a heartfelt love for the trucking industry, from the driver’s seat to the C-suite.
