Finding cabover trucks for sale in North America can be quite difficult. You’ll find the reason why it happens below at typestrucks.com.
Looking for Cabover Trucks for Sale? Read This First!
For new truckers, driving a cabover truck might be an extremely rare chance. Meanwhile, cabovers hold a special place in every veteran trucker’s heart. It might be a bit difficult to find cabover trucks for sale, especially because it’s no longer produced by many truck manufacturers. However, that doesn’t stop some people to own the vehicle for nostalgia purpose. Due to huge demands for old cabover trucks for sale, the price of this vehicle might be pricier than any other type of old trucks. Here are all interesting things you need to know before you purchase old cabover trucks for sale.
What is a Cabover
So, first thing first, you’ll need to understand what a cabover is. If you were born and grew in an era where cabovers are still largely used, you mgiht not need an explanation. However, younger generation do have little or no knowledge about this vehicle. A cabover, or also known as Cab Over Engine (COE) is truck, bus, or van with a vertical front, “flat face” or a semi-hood, and the truck cab sitting above or forward of the front axle. In contrast, the engine of a traditional truck is situated in front of the driver. The first cabover trucks for sale was launched by Autocar in 1899. It is followed by other car manufacturers as the demand for this cabover semi trucks for sale increased.
As early as 1907, the Wisconsin-based Sternberg firm developed their first vintage cabover trucks for sale. However, by 1914, only their seven-ton model had a cab-over. With their “Camel Back” variant, which allowed the cab to be rotated to access the engine, they resurrected the cab-over configuration in 1933. During that time, more people are starting to consider to purchase a cabover semi trucks for sale to get their job done.
Soon after, an industrial designer Viktor Schreckengost is credited for developing the first contemporary cab-over arrangement in the United States when he teamed with engineer Ray Spiller to create a cab-over truck for the White Motor Company in 1932. Other designers, like Raymond Loewy, who created the Metro series of vans and trucks for International Harvester, eventually joined Schreckengost. At that time, the company is probably the biggest manufacturer who provide vintage cabover trucks for sale.
The Metropolitan Body Company originally created the bodywork for these cars (MBC). Up until 1948, when International Harvester acquired them, the firm built a wide range of truck and commercial bodies for numerous automakers, including Chevrolet, Ford, Dodge Bros., and others. In the 1930s, MBC played a key role in the formation of COE route delivery entities.
On highways, the legal maximum truck length at the time was about 42 feet. The length of the tractor was reduced by several feet when the cab was positioned above the engine and front axle, allowing additional feet to be added to the length of the trailer without exceeding the truck’s permitted dimensions. The concept was registered by Schreckengost in 1934.
With the Model U, which Autocar revived in 1933, the engine-under-the-seat design was once again popular on American highways and in the military through World War II and far into the 1950s. The first tilting cab-over design by White-Freightliner was unveiled in 1958, allowing the entire cab to tilt forward for access to the engine.
Cabover’s Advantages and Disadvantages
For several years, many people are looking for the perfect cabover semi trucks for sale. The vehicle provides numerous advantages that help you with your business. But on the same time, it also hold some disadvantages, which eventually leading to its declining popularity. Here are some advantages offered by the cabover truck:
- Great Maneuverability: Cabover trucks’ layout made them very agile and easy to maneuver. Nothing can match to a cabover truck, according to Smart-Trucking, when it comes to “backing into loading docks and winding through congested traffic”. The truck is “not simply easier to drive, but also safer, as drivers are better equipped to react to changing road conditions when necessary” due to its significantly smaller axis, according to TruckStops. Due to the need to drive on increasingly congested and constrained highways, vintage cabover trucks for sale are more common in Europe than in North America.
- Clear Visibility: Because the cab is located above the engine, it provides clearer visibility for drivers than it is on a traditional semi-truck. When the driver is seated on top of the truck engine rather than behind it, they have fewer blind spots to worry with and have a greater 360-degree view of their surroundings.
- Great Efficiency: Efficiency is probably one of the main benefits of cabovers that are hardly talked about. In terms of efficiency, Cabover trucks in Europe have set a new norm for their convenience. While American semi-trucks use 33 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers on average, European Artic trucks use 37 liters per 100 kilometers. Without a doubt, their reduced truck size contributes to this. Hence, small cabover trucks for sale grabbed more attention than the original ones.
While it’s clearly have so many advantages for you, small cabover trucks for sale also have its own downsides, such as:
- Inconvenient Sleeper Bunk: The sleeper bunk of the cabover is located in the most inconvenient place. To reach the sleeper bunk, the driver have to crawl through a hole. Worse, the engine is located between the seats of the truck, so the driver must crawl over it while standing up on the seat. You’ll have to do the same thing every time you need to get out from the sleeper to reach or to grab something.
- No Safety Features for Drivers: A long hood rig is said to be more secure than cabovers. The cabovers have shorter hood and there’s no barrier between the driver and the object outside the vehicle in case a collision happened. Most cabover drivers often died instantly in case of a collision. The typical long hood vehicle still performs better in accidents even if new cabovers are equipped with greater structural safety elements to safeguard the driver. Newer model might boast better safety features. However, it also makes the cabover trucks for sale become more expensive. Hence, more people are starting to find better and safer vehicle than cabovers.
Read Also: