ACCO Dozer Legend #FlashbackFriday

The giant one of a kind ACCO dozer has long been a talking point on social media over the years, and I’m always interested to see new videos featuring this beast of a machine, one of which I came across last weekend.

We have of course featured this dozer on the blog a number of times, but its always good to take a look back, especially when some new material on it has emerged.

In recent years the ACCO Superdozer has become something of a tourist attraction as it lies at rest under a motorway bridge in the Northern Italian town of Portograro near Venice. Visitors like to climb on board and pose for photos, and to be honest, who wouldn’t, its an amazing old piece of equipment!

A bit of background for those younger followers out there, and those who are not familiar with machine. The giant ACCO bulldozer was originally built in the early 1980’s to work on a land development contract in Libya. It was part of an order which also included the equally giant ACCO motor grader.

Unfortunately, both machines never made it to Libya, due to the infamous Col. Gaddafi’s alleged involvement with international terrorism in those days, which led to the United Nations endorsing large trade embargoes against the country. As such the machines had been lying in storage in Italy ever since, and have never turned a track or wheel in anger, even sadder is that the giant grader was eventually cut up for scrap.

The dozer tips the scales at an amazing 183-tonnes and power comes from not one, but two Caterpillar 675hp engines, which offer a combined power output of 1,350hp (1,010kw)

Built using many major Cat components, this awesome machine was bigger than any dozer Caterpillar themselves had ever made, with the blade measuring 23ft (7.0m) wide and 9ft (2.7m) tall, the machines total length from blade to the ripper was 40ft (12m). Although this machine might look rather dated by today’s standards, it was revolutionary at the time with its high drive track set up.

Its still a dream of mine to make a pilgrimage to see the ACCO while I still have time to do so, it’s a must for any heavy equipment enthusiast I would say!

Checkout the latest video to appear on the Andrew Explorer You Tube channel featuring the ACCO below.

Credit: All photos used in this post come courtesy of the ACCO Dozer Facebook page.