Here's a CBE that was for sale at Mecum in East Moline (2022). The truck sold for $35,200 1959 Kenworth TCF 521 CBE Rare Cab-Beside-Engine design Marketing Icon for Yellow Transit Freight Lines Also known as the Half-Cab Truck or Telephone Booth cab Restored condition Cummins 175 HP turbo-diesel engine Yellow Transit determined the Cab-Beside-Engine layout was best for their operation due to ease of maintenance, engine compartment accessibility, lighter weight, improved visibility and driver comfort Yellow Transit used the color Swamp Holly Orange so their trucks would be easy to see from a far distance Yellow Transit ordered 200 trucks to be built and the fleet eventually grew to 350 trucks From the Hays Antique Truck Museum Here you can see that the engine was really beside the cab: Click image below to view the auction + more photos
Article about the Mecum auction truck from the above post on the Just a car guy blog: Friday, March 15, 2019 A strange looking rig, it's a 1959 Telephone Booth Kenworth in the National Auto Museum This 1959 Kenworth CBE commercial tractor was a marketing icon for Yellow Transit Freight Lines and symbolizes an impressive period in corporate history. In 1955, Yellow Transit Freight Lines of Kansas City, Missouri, extensively researched the best equipment for their operation. The CBE, cab-beside-engine design, matched the specifications, including diesel power, ease of maintenance, engine compartment accessibility, lighter weight, improved visibility and driver comfort. Two-hundred CBE Kenworth tractors were custom-engineered and built, and equipped with Cummins turbodiesel engines. Plus, 400 Freuhauf aluminum-bodied trailers replaced their entire fleet and increased shipping capacity by 30%. This total equipment purchase was one of the largest in the trucking industry at the time.
Here's a 1958 CBE for sale, asking price is $2,000 Click photo below to view the advertisement 1958 Kenworth Cab Beside Engine . Extremely Rare and made at the same time as the Bullnose Cabovers . Hydraulic Lift 5 th Wheel , pintel hitch and Air Clutch . 555 Cummins Engine and 5 speed standard . Aluminum cab and engine cover is fiberglass . Needs body repair but very little corrosion , just dents . A rare classic that you can use in your trucking business . The hydraulic pump and line are too small so 5 th wheel operates slow but i will include a proper pump and hose with the truck . Has 5 11R22.5 recap tires with 90% tread and 1 nearly bald Bias tire . Engine fires right up and runs well with no excessive smoke. Condition: Used “Operating Condition Yard and Off Highway use . Has not been on the road in many years .” VIN (Vehicle Identification Number): 70857 Year: 1958Kenworth Fuel Type: Diesel Model: TCF 521 For Sale By: Private Seller Type: Semi - Daycab Cabover Transmission Type: Manual Class: Class 7 (26,001-33,000 lbs.) Transmission Speeds: 5 Speed Mileage: 100,000 Tire Size: 22.5" Vehicle Title: Clear Suspension Type: Spring Number of Axles: SinglE.
Article on The Autopian about COE bolt-on RV conversions by Livlab: How A Mysterious Company Turned Semi Trucks Into Campers In The 1980s In decades past, owners and operators of semi-tractors had to work around vehicle length restrictions which limited the overall size of their rigs. Cabovers maximized the available length and weight, but complicated the small available space for driving teams who sleep on the road. One company tried to solve this problem by grafting a fiberglass, balsa wood, and metal home onto the back of semi trucks, providing 500 cubic feet of fully-equipped living space. For decades, regulations on semi-tractor weight and length meant that cabovers ruled the road. As Heavy Duty Trucking writes, the 1930s were a time of increasing regulations in the trucking industry. The Federal Motor Carrier Act gave the Interstate Commerce Commission power to regulate trucking. Carriers had to prove to the ICC that they were fulfilling a needed service to obtain authority to operate. The decade also saw some of the first rules on how long a trucker can drive in a day and as Heavy Duty Trucking notes, it also saw the rise of states imposing limits on the overall length and weight of trucks. Cabovers Used To Rule The Road These early length restrictions motivated truck manufacturers to build semis that cut down on length and weight by selling models with their cabs situated above the engine, otherwise known as a cabover. These types of trucks have actually existed for a while before this. Truck manufacturer Autocar claims to have built America’s first truck in 1899 when it constructed the “engine-under-the-seat” Autocar delivery wagon. The company says that this was the predecessor to the cabovers of later decades. Autocar Due to those restrictions, Cabovers continued to rise in popularity to the point of becoming America’s dominant truck. The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 limited semi and trailer length to a total of 65 feet. For truckers, regulations meant that a cabover maximized their load since length wasn’t lost to a hood as you’d find with a conventional. One of the disadvantages of a cabover semi is that you have to tilt the cab to service the engine. This can make for a large work area for repairs but at the expense of anything inside the cab. In the case of sleepers, your pillows will find themselves scattered all over along with anything else that wasn’t bolted down. For inventor Gene H. Miller of Livlab Inc of Lake Park, Florida, this was a problem that needed to be solved, so he built a camper that could be grafted onto the back of a semi that had a neat trick. The Livlab Sleeper This was originally found by the folks of Curbside Classic. That article was a few pictures and a couple of paragraphs, but it sent me down a rabbit hole of trying to figure out why Livlab sleepers exist and how they work. A lot of information about Livlab is a bit fuzzy. I have not been able to figure out when the company was started or when it presumably disappeared. However, I have been able to find out a ton about the Livlab units, including an advertisement and patents. According to the book, Special Use Vehicles: An Illustrated History Of Unconventional Cars And Trucks Worldwide, Livlab introduced its campers in 1981 to give truckers a mobile home on the back of their rigs. These units bolted directly onto the back of popular semis from Freightliner, International Harvester, GMC, Ford, and Mack. The company said that its mobile home units did fit other brands after modifications. Since the Livlab was a direct bolt-on unit, it could be fitted to the back of a conventional or cabover semi. When fitted, it essentially added an 8-foot wide apartment onto the back of your rig, extending the cab back by 6.3 feet. And inside was a self-sustained camper. Typical sleeper arrangements of the day more or less just offered a place to sleep and put your things. This? It was closer to some of the sleeper designs of today where it was a fully working camper back there. According to Livlab, its unit had a queen size bed with a built-in vibrator, a full bathroom, a full kitchen, storage areas, and a dinette. Features included a ceramic cooktop, a color television, wall-to-wall carpeting, air-conditioning, heating, an oven, a hot water heater, and even a 4kW generator. These also carried 50-gallon water and 50-gallon waste tanks, good for a decent haul before needing to dump. An archived brochure page illustrates the truck being used by a driver team, which this seems like it would be pretty great for. The Livlab was more or less a tiny house grafted onto your truck and the way it works is pretty neat. According to a patent from Livlab’s inventor, Gene H. Miller, the Livlab is constructed of a fiberglass-balsa wood core supported by an aluminum structure. This structure consisted of 1.5-inch square tubing, 0.125-inch fiberglass, 0.5-inch balsa core, 0.75-inch insulation, and 0.25-inch of interior wall. The Livlab adds 520 cubic feet of living space to the semi truck and just 1,900 pounds of weight. It’s noted that installation may require rerouting the truck’s exhaust and air intake. A question that one might have is how the camper will interfere with engine maintenance. After all, the queen bed is shown to be flush with the top of the truck’s cab. How are you supposed to get to the engine? According to the patent, a set of outriggers and shocks tilt the front of the camping unit slightly up, allowing the cab of the truck to tilt forward. Given the weight of the sleeper unit, the tilting motion is said to be actuated manually through a hand or foot pump, which causes hydraulic fluid to do the lifting. The inventor pitched a pneumatic system as well. Information about the Livlab gets thin from there. At least some units were made, but I couldn’t find how much they cost or just how many truckers opted for the semi tiny home. To elaborate how hard it is to find information on these, most of the information on this piece came from archived magazine articles found on the Wayback Machine. There is a possible explanation for why you don’t see these and it’s the same reason that you don’t see many cabover semis anymore. As trucking site Smart Trucking notes, in 1976, length restrictions began easing. When the Livlab was introduced in 1981, the conventional semi was already making its comeback, thus making the nifty Livlab unnecessary for everyone but those sticking to their cabovers. In other words, it came too late to solve the problems brought on by length restrictions, assuming it could have even achieved the goal given pre-1976 length restrictions. And with length restrictions cut back, truckers have been able to graft even larger mobile home units to their rigs. Today, you can find larger versions of this with toterhomes and similar. Yet, I’m still captivated by this concept. It’s like something that our Daydreaming Designer would make, but someone went through the work to make it real. If you happen to know anything else about these, please drop it down below or send me an email at mercedes@theautopian.com.
Here's the article on Curbsideclassic.com that was mentioned in the above post: Vintage Ad: 1979 Livlab More-Than-Sleeper Semi Truck Cab – Posted on February 27, 2023 This was a bit ahead of the times. I’ve seen what amount to trailer mounted behind the cab of some trucks from time to time, but back when length regulations were more restrictive, one had to be more creative. If you’re going to be a husband-wife driving team, better to bring as many comforts of home along. I wondered if these were actually made; sure enough, I found several on the web including a description by the relative of one that owned one: Here’s one being shown at a truck show. And a happy co-owner, this one mounted on an International. Another GMC. Here’s what someone wrote up about his uncle’s: My uncle owned one. I believe it was one of 20 ever built. It had everything described and the artists drawings are 100% accurate. The table/seats where the woman is sitting was removable. The post came apart stuck into a hole in the floor carpet and in the bottom of the table. Looking at the pic on the right (her left) was the crawl thru to the cab. The bathroom/shower was on the drivers side rear with a small sliding window/screen. It had a sink and a hot plate built into the counter. A microwave built into the wall to the left of the sink and I think the fridge was under it. It had an Onan gas generator with the control panel to start and monitor it on the wall behind where the woman is sitting and a separate stereo/cassette next to it for the sleeper. His was behind an International day cab cabover (very similar in color a little different stripe design) it had a 400 CAT 13 spd 3.55 rears. He bought it used in 1982 I think.. not many miles on it original owner sold because he found out he was terminal with a short time to live. I think he bid on it and won. He got pulled over by cops once because they wanted to see inside it. He was always being asked “can we look inside” by everyone. He crashed it in 1984 (rolled it on it’s side) and put the motor, trans, rears into a glider kit. He got the 1985 first year redesigned International conventional they went from a big square hood to just about what they have today.
COE's with double sleepers: Double Sleepers and More You all have probably noticed these double sleeper trucks from past decades, where there are all kinds of configurations, two small sleepers attached to the chassis in tandem, or sometimes two big ones, or a bigger sleeper and a drom box together behind the cab. All kinds of configurations. It may be that Tyrone Malone’s “Super Truck” started the trend of these double sleepers, according to Wolfcreek Steve, and others have agreed that Malone’s truck was one of the first they’d seen with this configuration, although it might not have been the very first to do it. What do you guys think is better? Two sleeper boxes or just one? You see quite a few older photos with the two-sleeper arrangement, and not too many new ones, but maybe that’s just because now there are so many companies that specialize in truck conversions like ARI, Cowboy Coach, Kinglsey, and a lot of other custom sleeper companies, that less people double up on regular sleepers. Click thumbnails for a bigger photo Related Posts: Click photo
New video on the Restored (former Turnin Rust) YouTube channel: Relaxing ASMR Diesel Truck Rescue. No Talking Just Working. Oddly Satisfying Recovery. On this episode of Restored, we step outside the box and simplify things a bit to focus more on the work at hand. Rather than bringing you a video packed with music and dialogue, we give you an oddly satisfying experience of what it takes to rescue and recover an abandoned vehicle from the woods. Showing you the step-by-step process, we've included all the natural sounds of nature and the machinery it takes to pull these things out of their resting place. So sit back and enjoy this relaxing ASMR video as we show you what it takes to get this forgotten International Transtar Diesel out of the woods and back to the shop with absolutely no talking - just working!
New video, posted 9 days ago on YouTube: THIS Is Why America Stopped Making Cab-over Trucks THIS Is Why America Stopped Making Cab-over Trucks. In this video, we dive into the fascinating history of American cab-over trucks and explore why they disappeared from the market in the 60s and 70s, while the rest of the world still produces them. We cover the advantages and disadvantages of cab-overs versus long-nosed trucks and the reasons behind the switch. Join us as we explore the rules and regulations that led to the decline of the cab-over and the rise of the long-nose truck. We also discuss the possibility of the cab-over making a comeback in America and what that would mean for the industry. So, grab a seat and let's explore the world of cab-over trucks together!
Check out Scania's (and Swedish built Volvo) A-pillar crash testing. Imagine doing that to an American truck....
This bloke likes Scania and Volvo COE trucks a lot. His latest "American reacts to" video is about the FH16 American Reacts to In Depth Tour of Volvo FH16
Look what Heavy D bought in his latest video....... What I Bought On Facebook Marketplace Has Everyone SHOOK!
Saw 3 of 'em on the road today in Maryland. Only got one pic. Other two were going opposite direction. One was the car carrier type noted earlier.
Recent article on BarnFinds dot com: Vintage Big Rig! 1972 Peterbilt 352 Peterbilt Motors was created in 1939 through a couple of acquisitions. They’ve been in the business of manufacturing medium and heavy-duty commercial vehicles ever since. The 352 was a popular Cab-Over-Engine (COE) type of vehicle, built largely in the 1960s and 1970s. This 1978 edition is said to be in running condition and looks good overall for its age. It may be located with a dealer in Springfield, Missouri, and is available on Facebook Marketplace for $15,500. The model 352 is said to be Peterbilt’s first tilt-cab COE, providing easier access to the engine. It should have a 350 hp Cummings or Detroit diesel engine and may be paired with a 13-speed manual transmission. Mid-way through its 22-year production cycle, the 352 acquired the nickname “Pacemaker” perhaps because it set a lot of standards for OTR truckers. We assume the last time this truck was used to move freight was when Lee R. “Bud” Aycock was behind the wheel. At least that’s what the faded lettering on the doors says and Bud was likely an owner-operator out of Boise City, Oklahoma. But that was probably a long time ago, and yet the seller says this truck is still a “runner”, but we don’t know if it would be up to the challenge of pulling a loaded trailer. The seller describes this 352 as a “complete builder” but what would you do with it if you acquired it? Surely, you wouldn’t want to put it back on the road to move stuff from Point A to Point B. Maybe restore it to a period-correct hauler and hire it out for production companies making 1980s movies? What would be your goal?
This cool old set up was just posted to Facebook. Trailer is so old it still has dolly wheels! https://www.facebook.com/reel/266439712454873
Chris from NoNonsenseKnowHow posted this short video. The pogo stick for the airlines and electrical connections was stuck under the trailer when he made that turn..... That's pretty serious, I informed Chris about it, hopefully he can tell it to the driver. Here's the video:
This weekend it's Truckstar Festival weekend in The Netherlands. 1000's of trucks are on their way, in convoys from all over the country, to the TT race track in the city of Assen to have a bit of a party. Here's an impression of the A-28 convoy, all COE trucks:
