White Motor Company once held 10% of the truck market in the entire US, selling everything from light urban delivery vans to heavy-duty semis. But in its quest for market share, White had made multiple costly acquisitions – Sterling, Diamond T, Reo, Autocar – piling up debt along the way. Compounding its problems, the company founded a new division – Western Star – in 1967 in British Columbia, later moving production to Utah. As its debt began to bite, White shifted strategies to pursue financial viability. It sold Western Star, which later became part of Daimler. Today’s featured truck is from the classic White era; it’s for sale here on craigslist with a price tag of $9300. Pick it up from Gardendale, Texas. Thanks to Jack M. for finding this beautiful beast for us!
Beneath the tilt-forward hood is a 14.0-liter in-line six-cylinder Cummins diesel, with output ranging from about 290 on up to 350 hp. The transmission is a 5×4 twin-stick mechanical ‘box. The new owner will be embarking on a pretty steep learning curve with that thing, unless he drove similar trucks in the ’70s! Reflecting its original manufacturing location in Canada – a land rich in resources – these trucks were built to navigate mining, logging, and oil operations.
Western Star advertised its willingness to customize the cab to the operator’s preference, emphasizing comfort to differentiate it from other makers. This version is austere, with foam-padded vinyl seats, no door panels, and a black plastic wrap-around instrument panel. But buyers could choose suspension seats, tucked vinyl upholstery from the headliner to the door cards, deep carpet, even walnut veneer on the dash. Any gauge could be mounted if required by the buyer’s industry; other options included air conditioning, an am/fm stereo, and a floor-level window to mitigate blind spots.
This truck has clocked 91,000 miles (barely broken in), and it runs fine. We have a few comparable trucks to compare for values: here is a short-nosed 4800 with an automatic transmission for sale with an asking price of $18k; this beautiful 4964 sold for $18,150 a couple of years ago and it has an Eaton Fuller 10-speed manual. Compared to these two, this ’75 is on the cheap side, but the 5×4 gearbox is an impediment for most users. Would you tackle running this beast over the Alcan highway?
:),,,oh boy, you know, you wait and wait( The waiting is the hardest part,,Tom Petty) when it happens, not sure what to say. Seasoned readers know I’ll conjure up something.
1st and foremost,,,a thank you ( and big internet hug) to the author. I’ll try and be brief,,my 1st truck as an owner operator was a 1982 WS 4964 ( see photo, I hope) I had a great company by the hour local driving job, but always wanted my own. In the late 80s, used trucks were hard to find, everyone had the same idea, I wanted a Pete( gotten later) but had to “settle” for the WS. It was a,IDK, 180 wb, fresh 350 Cummins BC, 10 speed, and 40inch bunk, paid $22,000 in 1988. Initially, it had the White “Reyco” spring ride, that proved unacceptable in Chicago, and I had the back cut off behind the sleeper, and had a Peterbilt Air leaf frame grafted on, with excellent results. I made money with that truck, it rarely failed.
In 1980 WS dropped the “White”, and became its own company. My WS was essentially a White, with a different hood, Autocar too, and went through a bunch of owners, but still made today, and while the same company as Freightliner, they are still separate makes.
The feature truck ( finally) is a beast. Dual headlights, like mine, were an option, this is a bare bones truck compared to mine( more like the ad) and the “14 liters”, just won’t fly posting something like this crowd, dear, its an 855ci! ( 855 has more zing!) Probably a small cam 290( BC came out in ’76) and I’d bet the farm this has “Armstrong” steering. If used as mentioned, it could have 90K, but I highly doubt it. More like 590K! Set of clubs( sticks) will keep you busy, and really not needed with a Cummins, and I can’t quite see, but probably spring ride rear as well.
Lastly, recently, there has been a push to buy pre-emission trucks to skirt current regulations, pre 2000, I think, and FB is inundated with older trucks such as these. I believe time is running out on that, and ALL trucks will have to comply soon. Same thing as classic cars, the people that drove these are, passing on. Put a new driver out of school in this, they wouldn’t make it out the driveway. I think this is an outstanding find, I hope generates a ton of interest, many of us cut our teeth on these rigs, it was the best we had. Thank you doesn’t cover it, but you get the message.
Oh wow Michelle, this is great!!! And Howards Western Star too. If this thing has manual steering like Howard suggests then, between that and the twin sticks this one will keep an individual quite busy. Actually if its empty you’d probably barely even have to shift the Brownie Box just use the main, especially with the bottom end grunt of the Crummins like Howard already said. But man, it would be fun just to take this thing for a ride on some back two lane road with no traffic and run it through the gears. I’m going to echo Howards sentiment, thank you very much for writing this old workhorse up Michelle. And a lesson in Western Star history. I learned something today!!
Look at that front end. 🤌 One tough looking day cab. Perfect w white paint.
Howard’s truck with the great colors, and the classic looks 👍
Long nose Western Stars maybe my favorite, but really it’s hard to pick one. Kelowna BC was the headquarters. Beautiful spot. Hot summers, dry climate, great skiing in winter. Dave saying this will keep you busy is an understatement.. there was a twin stick in my truck driving school. Wild experience, and trust me you’re paying attention all the time. This trucks low miles are puzzling, it was obviously a prime example of a bona fide work truck. Thanks for the article Michelle.
Sweet looking truck. Unrelated, but what was the name of that movie where a big rig was possessed, and chasing someone throughout the movie? There was another one where they were trapped in a gas station…
Maximum Overdrive had them trapped in the truck stop. Had the big evil face on the grille of the truck.
I wonder what this was used for. There’s no fifth wheel on it and it has a few extra switches by the seat. Whatever it was, the body that was on it is gone now, we may never know why it sat around instead of being used up. I worked on one of these that had low miles like this once, it was a cable pulling rig for power lines.