Kenworth Model 853

The Kenworth Model 853 was a heavy six-wheel-drive desert truck that Kenworth designed for the Arabian American Oil Company, Aramco, for its pipeline from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean and for oil exploration and refinery construction. A trade history describes a big rig with twin side by side radiators, large flotation tires, a 300 gallon fuel tank and a 318 horsepower Hall Scott gasoline engine. Kenworth's own company history records that in 1951 the company received an order for 1,700 Model 853s from Aramco in the Middle East. Built to a customer's particular needs, the truck illustrates the custom engineering approach for which Kenworth became known, and it was one of several lines the company developed for hard service in remote regions.