Boeing decided to put a jet turbine on a Kenworth truck in a very bold experiment

In the 1950s, Kenworth built a truck that didn’t sound like any other because Boeing had swapped its diesel for a jet turbine.

The airplane giant wanted to prove turbines could power semis just as well as jets and helicopters.

For two years, the oddball truck roared across North America, belching heat and noise like nothing else on the highway.

It looked like the future of trucking… until the fuel bills and mechanical headaches told a different story.

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The strange Kenworth truck that sounded like a jet

The Boeing 502-8A jet turbine was a compact power unit weighing just 229lbs.

That’s nine times lighter than a period diesel. 

In the Kenworth, the turbine sat so low there was barely any need for a hood. 

With no radiator, the heat just shot upward through tall stacks. 

And the mechanics were even stranger.

The turbine spun past 22,000 rpm, yet a reduction gearbox knocked it down to 2,500.

Therefore it could link to a normal transmission and be driven from the usual cab controls.

Even better, it would sip anything flammable – diesel, kerosene, gasoline – making it look versatile and future-proof.

And for a while, it fooled everyone. 

Drivers reported it handled like a regular truck, only with an otherworldly soundtrack.

Why turbine trucks never made it

Then the ugly truths rolled in. 

The cab was deafening. 

The clutch kept misbehaving. 

Exhaust temps climbed to oven levels. 

And the big one: fuel burn. 

On long-haul routes, the turbine slurped a jaw-dropping 235 liters per 100km. 

That’s roughly one mile per gallon.

Fine if you’re a helicopter, catastrophic if you’re hauling freight.

The project fizzled, but it lit a spark. 

Ford, GM, British Leyland, even Soviet giants all tried their own turbine rigs in the following decades. 

Ford’s Big Red hit 70mph with a 600-horse turbine, while GM rolled out the cartoon-ish Bison and the more practical Turbo Titan 3. 

They looked futuristic, sounded insane, but all stumbled on the same problems.

Fuel costs were crippling and emissions laws in the 1970s were tightening.

By the end, the Boeing-Kenworth hybrid was mothballed, along with whole jet-truck era.

And that’s why you never saw one roaring down the interstate.

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