UD Trucks

UD Trucks Corporation (UDトラックス株式会社, UD Torakkusu Kabushikigaisha) is a Japanese company whose principal business is the manufacture and sales of light, medium and heavy duty diesel trucks, buses, bus chassis and special-purpose vehicles. Its headquarters is located in Ageo, Saitama, Japan. The company is owned 100% by the Volvo Group since 2007. Until 2010, it was known as Nissan Diesel, the company changed its name to UD Trucks. Already before the name change, the UD name was prominently displayed to separate the identity from that of their former owner Nissan Motors.

The UD name was originally used for the company's Uniflow Diesel Engine (known as Two-stroke Engine), developed in 1955, but is now marketed as meaning "Ultimate Dependability".

On February 15, 2010 it was announced that UD Trucks had taken over the import and sales of Volvo trucks in Japan, as a consequence of Volvo's ownership.

History

1935-1949

In 1935, Nihon Diesel Industries, Ltd, in Kawaguchi, Japan on the outskirts of Tokyo was established. The company started production of KD-series 2-cycle diesel engines. In 1940 production of 4.5-ton-payload TT6 series trucks started. In development of 7.5-ton-payload TN93 series trucks, featuring the largest payload capacity in the Japanese market, and the nation's first monocoque-type BR3 series buses with rear-mounted engines. In 1949 development of 7.5-ton-payload TN93 series trucks started.

Trucks!

Trucks! is an American television program that airs weekends as a part of Spike TV's Powerblock. It is hosted by Kevin Neils Tetz and Ryan Shand. The program focuses on automotive mechanics involving trucks and SUVs, ranging from improvement, to customizing, to creative works.

The show is involved with racing and/or customizing trucks, and in the past the show included segments called "How It Works" where the host would visit with various technical instructors at Wyotech to discuss automotive related topics such as how a particular mechanical device operated or the specialized equipment it takes to diagnose or repair a vehicle.

The show was originally hosted by Stacey David and Mel Fair, who was also the program's director, writer, and producer. Fair left the show at the end of the first season to pursue an acting career leaving David as the show's only host. In 2005, David left the show to pursue another automotive show concept entitled "Stacey David's GearZ" which debuted on ESPN2 in March 2007.

Truck

A truck (United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, also called a lorry in the United Kingdom, Ireland, South Africa, and Indian Subcontinent) is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, with the smallest being mechanically similar to an automobile. Commercial trucks can be very large and powerful, and may be configured to mount specialized equipment, such as in the case of fire trucks and concrete mixers and suction excavators.

Modern trucks are largely powered by diesel engines, although small to medium size trucks with gasoline engines exist in the US. In the European Union, vehicles with a gross combination mass of up to 3,500 kilograms (7,716 lb) are known as light commercial vehicles, and those over as large goods vehicles.

History

Steam trucks

Trucks and cars have a common ancestor: the steam-powered fardier Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot built in 1769. However, steam trucks were not common until the mid-1800s. The roads of the time, built for horse and carriages, limited these vehicles to very short hauls, usually from a factory to the nearest railway station. The first semi-trailer appeared in 1881, towed by a steam tractor manufactured by De Dion-Bouton. Steam-powered trucks were sold in France and the United States until the eve of World War I, and the beginning of World War II in the United Kingdom, where they were known as steam wagons.

Trucks (short story)

"Trucks" is a short story by Stephen King, first published in the June 1973 issue of Cavalier magazine, and later collected in King's 1978 collection Night Shift.

Setting

"Trucks" takes place in a truck stop in the United States. The truck stop is located off a freeway and it features a diner, a gas station, and a convenience store.

Plot summary

The story's narrator and a handful of strangers find themselves trapped together in a freeway truck stop diner after semi-trailers and other large vehicles are suddenly brought to independent life by an unknown force and proceed to gruesomely kill every human in sight. The six survivors hiding in the diner include the narrator, as well as an elderly counterman, a trucker, a young man named Jerry, his girlfriend, and a salesman named Snodgrass.

As the story begins, the counterman and the trucker attempt to radio any other survivors, but the two-way radio fails for unknown reasons. Snodgrass, cracking under the strain, attempts to flee across the stop's parking lot and is hit by a truck. Snodgrass gets propelled into a drainage ditch, taking hours to die from internal bleeding. The situation worsens when the diner's power goes out. The counterman instructs the survivors that they will need to consume the perishable meats and collect good potable water from the restrooms. While the employee's restroom is inside the diner, the men's and ladies' room are by the outdoor gas station, and the narrator's attempt to gather fresh water from those places nearly costs him his life when the trucks realize what he is trying to do.