The Dynamic Age

Perhaps no other decade has contributed more to the development of the truck than the 1950s. Petrol engines and rudimentary pre-chamber-combustion diesel engines were superseded by efficient direct-injection diesel engines. The emergence of stronger, more efficient engines also contributed to heavier and longer truck combinations.

One of the most famous Volvo trucks of all time was the "Titan", which was introduced in 1951. It played a pioneering role when it became one of the first trucks in the world to be fitted with a turbocharged engine, in 1954. The result was astonishing: with an increase in kerb weight of just 25 kg, the engine output was increased by 35 bhp (from 150 to 185 bhp).