When Chevrolet's Titan 90 ran like a Deere

[Dirtymilkman]

Deere was running a Caterpillar style head/injection last I saw. 

[RoadwayR]

The 1980's was a time of constant reorganization and last minute changes at GM.  Groundwork was being laid for eventual bankruptcy, but GM still had so much money it was well into the future.  Too many executives primarily concerned about their own careers above all else.  Detroit Diesel was suffering from near total neglect, what had been another GM license to print money by the early 80's was producing outdated product with no future.  I knew they were in deep trouble when all the General, Astro 95, and Brigadier sales literature were showing Cummins and Cat powered trucks!  The 60 Series was a big surprise because it was looking like GM was going to let Detroit Diesel go out of business.  Maybe that is where the Deere rumors came from, no one could believe GM was capable of designing a diesel like that.  A great engine, I believe it was getting close to 50% or the class 8 diesel market by the mid-90's. 

The announcement of the formation of what was then the Volvo-GM Heavy Truck Corp. was not a surprise.  The Astro 95 (and cabovers in general) were fading from the scene, the General was still a contemporary truck but the Brigadier was getting old.  Believe it or not the Brig was outselling all the Louisville LN's at the time (because of Yellow?), maybe that's why it continued as a WhiteGMC for a few more years.  Some Generals and Brigs had 60's in them starting in mid-1986.

GM intended to stay in the medium duty business.  While all this was going on the '530' series 1990 TopKick/Kodiak was under development.  Some of the work on that truck was done by Bedford in England, and it used the new GM light duty cab.  Was supposed to have a 5.9L Deere diesel in addition to the usual GM gassers, but as explained above that didn't happen.  Cat was working on a new family of turbo/aftercooled 6 cylinder diesels to replace the 3208, and GM was able to secure an exclusive on that engine for a few years.  Pretty good truck, the new Cat had a few issues but the rest of the truck was pretty good.  Very solid chassis, cab was small but had good visibility.  Welded-on door hinges were a problem, had to keep them lubed and replace the pins and little bronze bushings when they wore out.  The doors were unbelievably heavy on those trucks.

Funny, I had a little insider information around 2004 that GM was looking to reenter class 8.  They had even gone so far as to renew the trademarks on 'Brigadier' and 'Bison'.  Not sure what the product would have been, maybe a later TopKick/Kodiak with a longer hood and a 10+L diesel?  They may have an idea for a 'baby 8' Chevy again, but I think if they do it would be with a certain partner.......

                     

[james j neiweem]

Roger Penske did not do this country any favors by selling Detroit Diesel to Germany.as well as Consolidated Freightways selling Freightliner to Germany or Mack selling Mack to France.

[Truck Shop]

The company I work for mainly has DD15's and only a few Series 60 DDEC IV 14L rated at 550 hp 1850 torque. The 60's will out pull the DD15 rated at 565 hp plus the mileage is the same.

I hated to see the Series 60's go away and DD15 take over, we had way better luck with the 60. IMO

[kscarbel2]

7 hours ago, Truck Shop said:

The company I work for mainly has DD15's and only a few Series 60 DDEC IV 14L rated at 550 hp 1850 torque. The 60's will out pull the DD15 rated at 565 hp plus the mileage is the same.

I hated to see the Series 60's go away and DD15 take over, we had way better luck with the 60. IMO

The creation of the Series 60 was as important in American truck engine history as the high-torque rise Mack Maxidyne powerplant.

[kscarbel2]

I had another lunch today, this time with that Chevrolet heavy truck dealer principal himself.

What I was told is all true, except the trucks were two C65 mediums instead of Titan 90s, and they had 5.9-litre John Deere "6359" engines.

.

[Bennett Farms]

I remember seeing a pair of C70 Chevy 10 wheelers with John Deere engines in Marshall Mo during the mid 70s.

I believe they belonged to MFA