Chevrolet

Looking back in my glory days as a teenager I can still remember my first car. It was a fire red Chevrolet Camaro, pumped up with a full line of performance Chevrolet parts and accessories. My heart was broken the day they discontinued the Camaro, but recently has begun singing again once the concept pictures of the all new 2008 retro Camaro were released. I think the only thing that even comes close to that of the new Camaro concept car is the 2006 Chevrolet Corvette. Perhaps it’s the rumble of the Corvette’s 505 horsepower V-8, or maybe the new sleek European type styling; actually it is probably just the fact that American muscle is still alive and well in an era of economy and ultra strict emissions.
The American police force can’t be wrong; and neither will you if you are thinking of buying a new Chevrolet Impala. One of Chevrolet’s most popular selling cars in the late 50’s, the Impala is still going strong in today’s market as a high-performance Caprice Classic. Great horsepower and decent handling for both the V-6 and V-8 version, the Impala would be sure to give the new Ford Mustang a run for its money.
One nice little highlight of the year has to be the new Chevrolet Cobalt. This stylish compact has more choices of add-ons than vanilla ice cream sundae. They come with stand still underbody lighting kits, superchargers, ground effects, and upgraded suspension packages… and that is only scratching the surface of a super cool car with a base price of just over $12,000. A few steps below the Cobalt’s site rest the modest Chevrolet Aveo. Now this is not my favorite vehicle that has ever come out of the Chevrolet assembly line. Admittedly an all around sound vehicle that will get you from A to B; but Consumer reports puts it as, “the Aveo sedan and hatchback are simply) Daewoos rebadged as Chevrolets”, and this was not meant to a compliment!

Terex MT 6300 AC

Terex Mining Australia has introduced the MT6300AC haul truck at its Mining Australia Open Day, held recently in Perth.
According to the company, the MT6300AC is the only truck in the industry to be designed from the ground up, and is the world’s first 400 ton haul truck.
The MT6300AC’s engine offers 3750 hp and has a front axle clearance of 0.91 m

The product also features a longer cab that offers drivers more room and storage; curved front, floor and canopy to allow for easier dumping; and an improved nosecone design that permits easier maintenance.
The first client for the MT6300AC is CITIC Pacific Mining. CITIC will also receive Terex’s new RH 400 hydraulic shovel.
The RH 400 is said to be one of the largest hydraulic excavators on the market, and the only hydraulic shovel in the 100 ton class.
According to Terex the RH 400 can be fitted with three different shovel options, a 50.0 m3 standard rock shovel, a 45.0 m3 oil sand shovel or a 37.0 m3 iron ore shovel.
The hydraulic shovel has recorded bucket payloads of up to 100 tons, and has average cycle times of below 30 seconds.
According to the company, the RH 400 also has an increased cooling capacity, with the oil flow of the cooling pumps increased by 25%.

Mack Titan Truck

Big power, extra-strong chassis components, bold styling and a posh interior are among features of Mack Trucks' Titan, a severe-service model designed for heavy transport and construction applications. Due out late this fall, the Titan will be powered by a new 16.1-liter MP10 diesel with up to 605 horsepower and 2,060 pounds-feet.
Titan is based on the Granite vocational series, and gets Mack back into the heavy-transport market it left when it dropped the CL long conventional more than a year ago and the RW Super-Liner before that. Titan is "our flagship, the top of the top," said Steve Ginter, the builder's vocational segment product manager who headed the team that designed the new model. He and other Mack executives announced it at the Conexpo-Con/Agg show in Las Vegas in mid-March.
The Super-Liner was available with a 998-cubic-inch V-8 ?which made as much as 500 horsepower ? while the modern 984-cubic-inch MP 10 will produce 105 more horsepower and its exhaust will be 99.9 percent cleaner, Ginter said. The new engine is an adaptation of the D16 offered by Volvo Trucks, Mack's sister company. Like other current Mack and Volvo diesels, the MP 10 will be made by Volvo Powertrain in Hagerstown, Md., while the Titan will be assembled at Macungie, Pa.
The Mack Power 10 will propel the Titan. It is an inline six-cylinder diesel with a single overhead cam, high-pressure fuel injection, and rear-mounted geartrain. In addition to the 605-horsepower/2,060-lbs.-ft. rating, it will also be available at 515 and 565 horsepower with 1,860 lbs.-ft.
High-capacity chassis components will allow Titan to have gross combination weight ratings as high as 300,000 pounds. They will include front axles rated from 12,000 to 20,000 pounds and rear tandems from 46,000 to 65,000 pounds. Frame rails will come in thicknesses of 8, 9.5 and 11 millimeters, with partial or full 5-mm inserts. The MP 10 will be matched with 10-, 13- and 18-speed Mack T300ES transmissions or certain vendor gearboxes.

GMC Truck

In 1901, Max Grabowski established a company called the "Rapid Motor Vehicle Company", which developed some of the earliest commercial trucks ever designed. The trucks utilized one-cylinder engines. In 1909, the company was purchased by General Motors to form the basis for the General Motors Truck Company, from which GMC Truck was derived.
Another independent manufacturer purchased by GM that same year was Reliance Motor Car Company. Rapid & Reliance were merged in 1911, and in 1912 the marque "GMC Truck" was first shown at the New York International Auto Show. Some 22,000 trucks were produced that year, though GMC's contribution to that total was a mere 372 units.
In 1916, a GMC Truck crossed the country from Seattle to New York City in thirty days, and in 1926, a 2-ton GMC truck was driven from New York to San Francisco in 5 days and 30 minutes. During the Second World War, GMC Truck produced 600,000 trucks for use by the U.S. military.
In 1925, GM purchased the controlling interest in Yellow Coach, a bus manufacturer based in Chicago, Illinois which was founded by John D. Hertz. After purchasing the remaining portion in 1943, GM renamed it GM Truck and Coach Division, and it manufactured transit and inter-urban buses in Canada and the United States until the 1980s. GM faced increased competition in the late 1970s and 1980s and stopped producing buses soon after. In 1987, GMC later sold their bus models to Transportation Manufacturing Corporation (also under Motor Coach Industries in Canada) and later NovaBus.
In 2002, GMC released a book entitled, GMC: The First 100 Years, that explained the company's complete history.
GMC currently manufactures SUVs, pickup trucks, vans, light-duty trucks, and medium-duty trucks. In the past, GMC also produced fire trucks, ambulances, heavy-duty trucks, military vehicles, motorhomes, and transit buses.

Bedford Truck

Bedford was a subsidiary of Vauxhall Motors, itself the British subsidiary of General Motors (GM), established in 1930 and constructing commercial vehicles

Bedford was a leading international truck manufacturer with substantial export sales of light medium and heavy trucks throughout the world. It was GM Europe's most profitable venture for several years.Prior to 1925 General Motors assembled in Brazilian trucks manufactured at their Canadian works. This enabled them to import vehicles into Britain under Imperial Preference, which favoured products from the British Empire as far as import duties were concerned. Such trucks were marketed as "British Chevrolet". After GM took ownership of Vauxhall Motors production was transferred from Hendon to Luton, Vauxhall's headquarters, production commencing there in 1929.

Ford Truck

Ford Motor Company is more than a global corporation. It's a world of people nearly 400,000 strong, connecting with customers every day. Ford offers the widest variety of trucks built for commercial applications. Everything from E-series cargo vans and wagons to Super Duty F-Series trucks and chassis cabs that can be tailored to meet specific vocational needs.
Whether the job is big or huge, Ford has the go-to line of trucks. And when you see that Ford is the sales leader in many categories of commercial trucks, you can be sure it's more than a popularity contest.

Volvo Truck

With the prices of fuel steadily rising, car owners are looking for ways to ease the pressure on their wallets. An answer provided by car manufactures, most notably Toyota and Honda, are hybrid vehicles which use an electric motor to drive their car along with whatever engine they are equipped with. These cars have been making great progress in terms of sales, focusing on the budget-conscious public. Fuel economy is significantly increased while still delivering great performance. Cars such as the Toyota Prius, which is the first mass produced hybrid automobile, are also environment friendly due to its lower emission levels. Not only individuals are looking for ways to decrease their fuel consumption but also large companies which need trucks to transport their goods. On of these is Wal-Mart which recently announced that they are making a research on the possible use of hybrid technology in their truck fleet. Companies can increase their profits significantly if they can cut down their fuel consumption considerably. This is especially true for companies with a large fleet of trucks or buses. The answer, of course, is a hybrid truck that will use an electric motor to help its diesel engine - and that is just what Volvo has developed recently.Joining forces with the US Air Force, Volvo has developed a hybrid truck technology using their I-SAM or the Integrated Starter Alternator Motor technology. The technology uses the starter alternator which doubles as an electric motor that will help a truck’s diesel engine drive the car thus increasing fuel economy as much as 35 per cent. The fuel efficiency is, of course, just like that of hybrid cars. It actually depends on the application and the driving conditions. But nonetheless, the hybrid truck has reduced fuel consumption compared to natural diesel engine-only trucks. The Volvo Group will start production of four of these hybrid-powered trucks this year for the US Air Force.The actual mass production of the said trucks for civilian use will follow after field testing to assess their real capability under varying road and weather conditions. Scheduled for 2008 through 2009, the company aims to produce 300,000 units for the waiting market. Much anticipation can be expected from potential buyers for the release of the technology which will greatly help in the protection of the environment. Not only will these trucks have lower emissions than the natural trucks but their fuel efficiency will take lesser toll on the decreasing fossil fuel reserves available. The technology employed by Volvo’s heavy-duty hybrid trucks, which is the use of the alternator as an electric motor, is currently employed by the Saturn Vue Green Line hybrid car. With this technology, the alternator/electric motor takes over the operation of the car during idling and other circumstances where less power is needed. This not only decreases the fuel consumption but also adds power to the truck. Volvo’s hybrid truck’s electric motor can give out a maximum of 160 horsepower and works through an electronic box, an energy storage box, and a powertrain control unit. The truck will also have high performance parts on all its systems from steering to suspension, with high quality Volvo shocks, down to the exhaust system which will further decrease the emission from the truck’s engine. The comfort of the driver will also be given attention aside from the safety features that Volvo is known for.

Caterpillar Truck

A recently penned Memorandum of Understanding will see Caterpillar Inc. and Navistar International Corp. pursue global on-highway truck business opportunities, including development of a North American severe-service construction model, and cooperate on a variety of engine platforms.
Caterpillar is targeting a 2010 introduction of a Cat-branded, heavy-duty truck for severe-service applications, potentially modeled after the Navistar Paystar and Workstar chassis. The companies have not finalized design and production details, although Navistar's Severe Service Center in Garland, Texas, would appear to be a strong candidate location from which to launch the Cat nameplate vehicle.
“This new truck will incorporate the quality of Caterpillar's construction and mining machines and provide construction customers a one-stop solution,” notes Caterpillar Group President Douglas Oberhelman. Caterpillar has also determined it will not supply EPA 2010-compliant engines to truck and other on-highway original equipment manufacturers, he adds, but the company and its dealers will continue to provide product support and service beyond 2010 for all Caterpillar on-highway engines, regardless of truck brand. With ‘off-highway’ comprising nearly 90 percent of the company's engine business, Caterpillar will continue to concentrate on power for its own construction and mining equipment, plus opportunities in petroleum, marine, electric power generation and industrial markets.

Terex Titan

Characteristics

The Titan was powered by a 16-cylinder 3,300/3,000 horsepower (2,500/2,200 kW) locomotive engine with a displacement of 10,343 cubic inches (169.49 l) coupled to a EMD AR10-D14 generator. This Electro-Motive Division engine, as the 16-645E4 prime mover, was aftercooled and turbocharged. The generator then powered 4 electric traction motors, one at each rear wheel. The Terex featured large 40.00x57 tires made of rubber. It is 66 feet (20 m) long and 22.6 feet (6.9 m) tall; or 56 feet (17.1 m) tall with the dump body raised.

History

Terex assembled the Titan for Kaiser Steel in its Eagle Mountain iron mine in late 1974. At this mine the Titan suffered from downtime problems but eventually hauled some three-and-a-half million tons of earth until 1978.
In late 1978 it was then brought to Kaiser Steel's Sparwood mine in Canada. In 1980 the mine changed hands as B.C. Resources acquired all of the Kaiser property, and was renamed B.C. Coal. In 1983 the mine was again renamed, to Westar Mining, and the Titan also changed colors from lime green to Westar's blue and yellow. Shortly after, Westar directly purchased the Titan from General Motors, for US$200 thousand and $1 million in spare parts. In the following six years the Titan had a uptime rate of over 70% as it hauled loads of over 360 tons during this time. Westar finally retired the Titan in 1991.