Profile

PACCAR Inc is an American Fortune 500 company and counts among the largest manufacturers of medium- and heavy-duty trucks in the world. PACCAR is engaged in the design, manufacture and customer support of light-, medium- and heavy-duty trucks under the Kenworth, Peterbilt, and DAF nameplates. PACCAR also designs and manufactures powertrains, provides financial services and information technology, and distributes truck parts related to its principal business. In 1905, William Pigott, Sr. founded Seattle Car Mfg. Co. to produce railway and logging equipment at its plant in West Seattle. In February 1908, the Seattle Car Manufacturing Co. opened a modern railcar manufacturing plant in Renton. The destruction of Seattle Car's Youngstown plant by fire, coupled with the repercussions of the national financial panic of 1907, had placed the company in voluntary receivership. The new plant gave the business new momentum and company president William Pigott and in particular the company vice president Oliver D. Colvin successfully shepherded the company through this difficult period. The company later merged with Twohy Brothers of Portland in 1915 to become Pacific Car and Foundry Company, a name it retained for the next 55 years. In 1924, William Pigott sold control of the company to American Car & Foundry Company.