PHOENIX.  Founded in Kelowna, British Columbia in 1967 as a custom truck builder for truly heavy duty logging and mining applications, Western Star celebrated it's 50th anniversary with a ride-and-drive event here in the desert to show off its entire modern lineup of on-highway tractors and vocational trucks, as well as two special trucks -- one an original 1968 Western Star that was in everyday service until 2015 and the other the newest "Spirit of the American Trucker" tour truck.

Here's a gallery of Western Star's on-highway lineup carrying a new 50th anniversary paint scheme updated from a design originally offered in the 1980s.

You'll find a separate gallery of Western Star's 2017 vocational trucks, as well as it's XD off-road models here.