C.O.E. what happened to 'em?

Discussion in 'The Bench' started by Mark Demko, Aug 20, 2018.

  1. Mark Demko

    Mark Demko Well-Known Member

    While I always preferred the looks of a conventional (Movin'on) verses a cab over (BJ and the Bear) The Kenworth Aerodyne was cool, even cooler were the stunts they used to do, and Greg Evigan actually drove the KW, but what happened to cab overs, they gone for good???
     
  2. sriley531

    sriley531 Excommunicado

    I feel like I've actually seen a few more of them than usual recently for some reason. They are pretty cool imo
     
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  3. DeeVeeEight

    DeeVeeEight Well-Known Member

    Mid 50's GMC, Chevy's and Fords had some cool looking C O E's
     
  4. TrunkMonkey

    TrunkMonkey Well-Known Member

    I *think* cabovers went the way of Corvairs for similar reasons.
     
  5. TexasT

    TexasT Texas, where are you from

    If you would have ever driven one, you would know why they went away. First and foremost, you are first on the scene in a frontal crash. The shifter is difficult, to say the least, especially on high mile units. To do work on em you have to tilt the WHOLE cab up. Not so cool when a guy has his whole life in the sleeper and now it is all over the cab.

    I'd much rather have the wheel base and long nose out front. Much better ride.
     
  6. pbr400

    pbr400 68GS400

    I always figured fuel economy was worse due to poor aerodynamics. Anybody know?
    Patrick
     
  7. Bill Nuttle

    Bill Nuttle Well-Known Member

    I’ll second that sitting here in my Volvo 780 after a 700 mile day
     
  8. CJay

    CJay Supercar owner Staff Member

    Man, that's some 70's references right there! You could of said a Rubber Duck conventional too! lol
     
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  9. TurboCrazy

    TurboCrazy Well-Known Member

    Guys are restoring cab overs, now. I am starting to see a lot of them on the road during my drive to work (80 mi one way). Not over the road guys, but farmers in West central Illinois & Southeast Iowa. I drove a cab over off & on for 3 yrs the last farm I worked for. It was a gold 73 C.O.E. Pete (Old Goldie) that had been a military vehicle early in it's life (everything was camo when you lifted the cab). Everyone hated Old Goldie, except me. She had a 350 big cam motor that had been turned up with a Holeset turbo. She would run with a 400 big cam until the higher gears! You could move the shifter 6-8" side to side when it was in any gear!o_O That's why everyone else hated her, but I almost never missed a shift. Old Goldie was 2500 lbs. lighter than all the other trucks. That meant $$$ at the end of the day! :D That was 38 yrs ago, but I still miss driving a semi once in a while.;)
     
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  10. yachtsmanbill

    yachtsmanbill Well-Known Member

    When I was just starting out as a draftsman, I worked at Hendricksom Mfg. in Lyon, Il. They built off road (read construction tractors) that had few creature comforts and tandem rear axles (and beyond) that could be custom ordered to 75,000 lbs and above. Some of them were monsters. Then a lumber guy from Oregon, Dean Hobbenseifken, developed his "Paymaster" and had us build several units for field testing. His claim to fame in the early 70's were the aerodynamics with a 15% increase in fuel economy, plus the fact that they were a modular unit and could swap and engine trans or rear end in a matter of a few hours and put it back on the road. Most of them had 8-71Ts with Allison autos' if I recall. He sold the patent rights to Ryder Systems where they never really took off.
    We also build a bunch of Alyeska Co. (Alaska pipeline) drilling and excavating earth haulers, firetruck chassis and school bus chassis. One of my jobs was to do photo journals for all the equipment and components that buyers ordered, hence the reason for all the pics I post LOL.

    I think economy and access to the chassis with the cab up were the knives in the back that killed the COE's. ws


    https://www.google.com/search?q=197...j69i57j0l2.12049j0j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

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  11. ragtops

    ragtops Gold Level Contributor

    My buddy is doing his part to preserve the COEs. This is a 66 White Freightliner crew cab. It was a one year only body style. The rear doors were the sleeper. You had to exit the truck and enter the rear doors to access the sleeper. It had a divider partition between front and back. Very rare today. Everyone asks if it a old fire truck, it is not.
    It sits on a 1974 one ton Chevy truck chassis with a 502 crate engine with an Everyday Performance Quadrajet, and a 400 turbo, complete Wilwood brake system, homemade bed. He just stripped it to bare metal (Aluminum cab, steel bed) and repainted it this past winter.
    It wins all kinds of awards at the local shows. The interior is all new with the divider removed and a back seat in place of the bed. It rides great, and sounds pretty good with 6" pipes and no mufflers.
    This was a small, 110 entrants, show near my home in July this year. I won "Best of Show" and a $75 cash award with the 66 Olds I built for my Son in 1996. It is holding up pretty well!
     

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  12. Mike B in SC

    Mike B in SC Well-Known Member

    I thought this thread was going to be about these:

    1952_Chevroler_COE_Car_Hauler_For_Sale_Front_resize.jpg 959730-4-large.jpg
     
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  13. Briz

    Briz Founders Club Member

    My dad was a OTR driver in the 70's and I went with him on some hauls. He always had the cab over trucks. He had air ride seat. I did not. That thing would beat the crap outta me and forget trying to sleep in the back while the truck was moving. Couple the design along with the rough northern state roads and you got medical issues in your future. No wonder those guys wore girdles.
     
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  14. 70staged

    70staged Well-Known Member

    South America and Europe still use Cab Overs I believe. As far as Cab Overs here, I know they made them up until the early 2000's
     
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  15. John Codman

    John Codman Platinum Level Contributor

    I believe that Europe has tighter length restrictions then the US.
     
  16. jmos4

    jmos4 Well-Known Member

    Hi all,

    Not sure if this is correct, but I had heard that cab overs were created because of a length restrictions that limited the capacity or load a truck could haul. Shorter the cab the longer the trailer could be.

    Regards,
     
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  17. 70staged

    70staged Well-Known Member

    you would be correct. Back in the day there was a regulation on how long your truck and trailer could be
     
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  18. Ken Mild

    Ken Mild King of 18 Year Resto's

    I miss the cabover days man. Especially the detroit diesels.
     
  19. BennyK81

    BennyK81 Well-Known Member

    This is true...we only have cabovers. The Trailer would have to be shorter if you have a long Truck. Shifters and stuff is no problem as all the trucks are automatics nowadays.


    Still american trucks look way better. there are a few driving around here. Mostly promo trucks...man do I like the look of an old peterbilt :)

    A Peterbilt 362 Cabover is the best looking truck ever built!
     
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  20. LouV

    LouV Silver Level contributor

    Mack still builds and sells a lot of COE. They even have 2 models, the LR and TerrePro. Most garbage trucks in big cities use them for easier access in to alleys and loading docks. Also, the side loaders that pick up the cans from the side of the street are COE as are the front loaders. Concrete pumping trucks are also Mack COE. I still see some Western Star units around here but I don't know how new they are. They are occasionally seen around the Allison test track in Indianapolis but I don't recall specific brands. A lot of school buses are styled like a COE with the driver right behind the bumper as are city buses. Fire trucks often are too.

    My dad used Hendrickson suspension systems on his trucks. If I rfecall they aere a walking beam system. He also had a Hendrickson truck. It was neat to be able to watch them build the truck. The order sheets fascinated me as they detailed every part almost on the truck and you had your choice of most items.

    Lou
     

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