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.
You’re very welcome Howard, I know you pinged me via pm and I can’t make that work for some reason. But your thanks are noted and I appreciate it.
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.
One of the best movie soundtracks ever.
Duel , maybe what your thinking of,it did have a driver,but you never really could see him.
Duel truck driven by stunt driver Cary Lofton. About all you see of him in the movie is his arm.
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.
My guess it had a tank on the back since I see no provisions for a trailer as a road tractor. It would also explain its relatively good condition. Tankers usually didn’t go very far.
They forgot to add –
* Except in California
Nice find Jack 👍👍.
5 speed with a 4 speed auxiliary transmission is easy peasy to drive if you know how, hard to explain. I’ve taught several people with varying degrees of success. Hands on is the best.
Lot of mystery with this truck, the seller is probably telling all he knows but doesn’t know all there is to tell. 90k is 2k a year, I drive more than that hauling livestock for butcher. No under hood pics, is it a 290? 350? Jake? power steering? Suspension? if it’s for heavy haul it might have rubber block Hendrickson, that’ll shake up those kidney stones! IMHO this baby’s been sitting in clean dry storage for a long long time.
Hey Jim, it says 290 Cummins, I’d imagine a Small Cam, unless changed at some point. I’d bet it has manual steering, in fact, it almost looks like center point with those front hubs. This could be easily fitted with a 5th wheel, heck, I’d sure drive it. Can’t see the suspension, but more than likely the rubber pad you mention, especially if a tanker. Be a nice truck for the farm, I could see a “cattle pot” behind this. $10 grand is peanuts, the drivetrain alone is worth that.
Hey Howard, these pre- def / pre-computer rigs are really coming out of the woodwork, same with pickups and especially farm tractors. Guys will throw 10k at an old farm tractor right now because they know some computer glitch won’t leave them sitting in the field.
Check USRA Tractors, this company is building new tractors with rebuilt 12 valve 5.9 and 8.3 Cummins, mechanical transmissions and valve operated hydrulics, no computers!
Well I’m like a babe in the woods with this unit. I have an A.S.E. HD Master Tech Certification. But never had to twist wrenches on any of them for a living. I just “directed” repairs. I think I see an air line for air seat. But that is all I can add. I would love to learn how to drive/shift this monster. But with no power steering, it doesn’t sound like any fun driving it in the city! Cool looking rig!
Wow! I learned to drive in a 1967 White 4000. 250 Cummins and 5 x 4 transmission and a Tulsa 64 winch and gin poles. Youd put one arm throgh the steerin wheel so you could shift both boxes at one… But you were in troble if you ever messed up and got both boxes in neutral-just pull over on the shoulder and start over…Loved that truck. If I had a place to put it, I’d have to give this one a closer look. I wonder if they’d just let me take her for a ride??? A real truck from the days of 2 or 3 logbooks; knowing the ways to dodge all the scales; and every trip was a full upper body workout!!! Love it!
if it had p/s and air ride it would make a great r/v tower
Lots of these out west. Worked on lots of them as well. Cummins or Caterpillar power, I don’t think I ever saw one with a “Green Leaker.” Nothing wrong with them other than they were always clad in work clothes.
Some talk about what would be under the hood. 90% of the Western Stars that I worked on ran Cummins. NTC 350, CPL 0021, SC. You would get the odd surprise when a rare 400 SC showed up.
first truck i owned a 6/71 detriot,no troque ane 5by 4 transmission.lots of shifting
In 1974 & ’75, I drove an old Diamond Reo 10 wheel dump truck that had a Detroit 6V-53 engine and a 5 X 4 transmission set up. Engine would run up to 3,000 RPM and if you let it fall below 2,500 RPM while loaded, you were in trouble! That engine was completely gutless. I had callusses on my hand from constantly shifting & trying to keep the RPM’s up. Truck came with an AM/FM radio but I could not hear it because of the screaming Detroit. I could shift that 4 speed so fast it sounded like an automatic transmission. The gears were ratioed so close together you could not use the the clutch. Just blip the throttle and shift as fast as you can. When it came time to shift both trannies, I had to be on a straight patch of road, push in the clutch, put my left arm thru the steering wheel & shift the 5 speed then the right hand would shift the 4 speed at the same time. Had to do this as quickly as possible. Had to drive with that engine pegged on the govenor most of the time. This truck had the rubber pads for rear suspension and no A/C back then. Best part of the truck was a Bostrom Air Ride seat.
I never found it necessary to use two hands to shift a 5×4. On road, I almost always just used 3rd and 4th on the auxiliary to split the gears on the main.
There were 20 combinations possible, but many were duplicates or near-duplicates.
I will go along with it originally being a tanker or dump.. Some one mentioned the air button on the seat. That is the seat ride height for the air bag underneath. That is a National Standard seat that the bottom cushion comes forward and up for us long legged drivers. At this price it is a very good entry level truck into the antique hobby. Just put a flat bed on it and cruise to shows.. As someone said with NO load you would not really need to use the auxiliary box except in the top two gears to keep your cruising speed in a good engine RPM range. Buy it, Cruise it, and Show it!!!!!!