Champion of Motor Graders Lives On

I have been contacted by an American friend who wishes to remain anonymous, who wanted to share some material with us about a surviving classic Champion 100T motor grader that he was recently privileged to spend some time operating.

When the Champion 100-T, was first introduced in 1975 it was the largest production grader ever built, and in fact still retains that title to this day, thanks to the demise of the one off giant ACCO grader.

Pictured above: The Champion 100T on display at an American machinery show in the 70's.

The 100T was powered by a 700hp motor, either a Cummins VT-1710-C700 or in this example a Detroit Diesel GM 16v-71T engine and weighed in at 202,000 pounds, designed primarily for maintaining haul roads in giant surface mines it was equipped with a massive 24-foot blade.

Our friend had been contacted about going to see this fine example after the owner had seen video clips of him using his Cat 16 motor grader at a classic equipment show. The owner invited him down to a retired coal mine in Kentucky which is where the 100T had been in use as a spare grader until 2008.

So, as most of us would be, he was very keen to go and see this beast of a grader and to get hands on with her, so much so that he drove 800 miles one way to take up the offer!

One has to say for a machine that was designed in the mid 1970’s the 100T still has a very modern look to it and a giant panoramic cab was fitted for good measure!

Check out this video clip and enjoy that throaty sounding Detroit Diesel powerpack, from an era when engines just sounded right!