Paymaster Truck at the Pacific Northwest Truck Museum

1971 Paymaster Tractor on August 3, 2008

This 1971 Paymaster Tractor, Unit #1, was designed and built by Dean Hobbensiefken, a truck driver and small fleet owner, in Lyons, Oregon from 1969 to July, 1971, with the goals of improving fuel mileage, lowering maintenance costs, improving ride and lowering noise levels. The design resulted in the issuance of seven U.S. Patents and the resulting two-axle tractor could pull the same payload as a three-axle tractor, with a 40% increase in fuel mileage. This truck has approximately 500,000 miles on it.

1971 Paymaster Tractor on August 3, 2008

In 1974, Ryder Systems of Miami built 10 units of a similar design. The project ended due to the oil crisis, but a third prototype was built in 1978, and two additional trucks were built in Lyons in 1980, for a total of 14 Paymaster trucks. One of the 1980 models is owned by George Nielsen of Junction City, Oregon and is known as "Ye Old Dragon." Nielsen and "Ye Old Dragon" set a World Speed Record in the Highway Hauler Class - 3 Axle at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah in 2004 with a speed of 164.298 miles per hour, and they hold the current record, set in 2007, of 176.898 miles per hour. For more information, visit PaymasterTruck.com.

1971 Paymaster Tractor on July 31, 2010

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