Kenworth was founded in Portland, Oregon in 1912 by brothers George T. and Louis Gerlinger, Jr. as a car and truck dealership known as Gerlinger Motor Car Works. In 1914, they decided to build their own truck with a more powerful inline six-cylinder engine, the first put into a commercial truck. The Gersix, as it was known when introduced in 1915, was framed in structural steel, which along with its power, made the truck ideal for logging in the rugged Northwest. In 1916 the company moved to Tacoma, Washington, where Seattle businessman Edgar K. Worthington was managing his mother’s commercial building. He became intrigued by the Gerlinger company, which was doing quite well, or so it seemed, as the Gersix became a popular fixture in the Northwest. In 1917 Worthington and his business partner Captain Frederick Kent bought the business, renaming it the Gersix Motor Co.
In 1919 Kent retired from the business, and his son Harry Kent became Worthington’s new partner.[4] In 1922, Gersix made 53 trucks at its factory on Fairview Avenue at Valley Street. Under the new name, the company moved to 506 Mercer Street and later to 1263 Mercer Street. Trucks and motor coaches were assembled in individual bays rather than on a conventional assembly line. In 1923 Kent and Worthington reincorporated the business as the Kenworth Motor Truck Company, a combination of the names “Ken” and “Worth”. In 1926 they started making buses, and in 1933 Kenworth was the first American company to offer diesel engines as standard in their trucks. In 1945 Kenworth was bought by The Pacific Car and Foundry Company.
The 1970s television series “Movin On ” featured a Kenworth tractor. In the 1989 James Bond movie Licence to Kill, James Bond drives a Kenworth W900 Semi-truck as he duels drug dealer Franz Sanchez.
- Highly detailed plastic pieces molded in white and clear.
- Chrome plated parts and soft black tires
- Fully detailed 6 cylinder diesel engine
- Positional front wheels
- Opening doors
- Waterslide decals
- Illustrated instructions
- Scale: 1/25
- Length: 10-5/8″ (269.87mm)
- Width: 4-3/16″ (106.36mm)
- Height: 6-1/4 (158.75mm)
- Skill level: 5
- Parts: 284
- Manufacturer Stock# 85-2514
- MSRP: $49.99
- Street Price (approx) $44.99
Here we share a preview of the recently released 1/25 Kenworth K-100 AERODYNE in 1/25 scale. After removing the clear wrapper and opening the box inside the studio for the pictures below, we encountered so much chrome parts that a trucker can dream of. These sprues can be the envy of every truck stop across America and trust me, I’ve been to a few 😉
The Revell Kenworth K-100 is a classic among truck enthusiasts. The kit in my my most sincere opinion still hold to the test of time. The print is finely there with flash around parts. It will need some cleaning but *personally* this is part of the tooling age and I could make my usual exception with realistic expectation. The tires included with the kit are very nicely injected and have the Michelin logo on the sidewalls. Darn it! You can even read clearly printed under a magnifier the 295/80/22.5 size. That’s a treat and compensates in my humble opinion the flash that we have to inevitably deal with.
They might not have a brand name on them but the decal sheets is nicely printed. No dot matrix look like other models in the price range. Good job Revell!
It will need some time to clean the parts but there is no doubt that it will end up as a nice build for truck builder. Another thing I couldn’t help to notice with my scratch building eyes. Look at the parts count and the pictures. There’s plenty of asymmetrical parts that can be used for your scratch built space ship.
Highly Recommended!
With my sincere thanks to Revell USA for the review sample.
