Good Moves—1966
By 1966, there were 46 domestic dealers selling Kenworth trucks throughout the country. Combined with international sales, Kenworth sold over 3,900 trucks during the year, a new high.
With this increase, Kenworth realized the need to reorganize its record storage and retrieval system. In 1967, with "custom" chassis records taking up more and more space, Kenworth developed a system using microfilm—a decision which dramatically helped the dealers' record keeping.
Once again, tariffs played a role in Kenworth's decision to expand. Kenworth opened a plant in Melbourne, Australia, in 1968. Within two years they were producing right-hand drive conventionals and COEs for the Australian market.
The 50th Anniversary of Kenworth in 1972 marked the first year in which the company hit the five-digit sales mark. To commemorate the year, Kenworths featured gold-background hood ornaments (Kenworth Bug), replacing the normal polished aluminum ornament.
Chillicothe, Ohio was the location of Kenworth's next expansion, bringing its production capability to 16,000 trucks in 1974.
