Amswed, Inc. By Brian Hoover, Senior Editor
Has a Long and Storied History with Volvo Construction Equipment and Holds the Honor of Owning and Operating the Longest Working Volvo Articulated Truck in North America
T
he Volvo articulated truck commemorated its 50th anniversary in 2016 and Volvo Construction Equipment (Volvo CE) decided to celebrate by holding an attentiongrabbing contest. As part of their yearlong celebration, Volvo CE decided to scour North America in search of the oldest Volvo articulated hauler still actively working. After careful review and a thorough investigation, they determined
the winner to be Tom Stenvall of Amswed, Inc. out of Chula Vista. Stenvall had been running the 1968 Volvo DR860 on an almost daily basis at his recycling/diversion plant in Chula Vista since the early 90s. Tom Stenvall had no idea that this contest was going on until Mike Burrell from Volvo Construction Equipment & Services (VCES) decided to visit him in 2016. Burrell knew that Stenvall had been
operating an old Volvo articulated truck, but just how old remained a mystery. “I knew his (Stenvall) DR860 was the oldest that I had ever seen; we just didn’t know how old,” says Burrell. We couldn’t find any serial numbers stamped in the frame but eventually found an identification plate on the transmission. We sent the number to Volvo, and it came back within the range associated with the 1968 production year. That’s when we
Top right: Tom Stenvall, Amswed, Inc. Below: Oldest working Volvo articulated hauler shown here in Amswed, Inc. yard in Chula Vista. Pictured with the Volvo 4,000 gallon articulated water truck is Mike Stenvall (left), Tom Stenvall and Mike Burrell of Volvo Construction Equipment & Services.
