Cabovers

Ha, ha.....I remember those days well. Just after I came on this side of the Atlantic I had the experience of driving stuff like that. Went into service then when I got out they were a little better, but not by much. Well, the trucks improved by leaps and bounds over the years......but some things are worst.....like allot of corrosion on the frames in this new ones and too darn much plastic.

Man! You sure brought back memories!

 

Really I've never seen so old US and European cabover, but the same style KAMAZ and MAZ500 still on road, not so many, but they keep running.

IMO, early cabovers were too ugly, rought, noisy.... Ouh... But later K100, FLA, 9600 and 9800 were much better. European cabovers from 80-s were sweet. simple and reliable.

 

I have the pleasure (snickerz) of driving a cab over. The pro's are pretty much as been stated, as well as the cons. I personally dont like it. Its an old wal mart special cab over with at detroit. Its currently having a steer box installed. The ac is out. The hydrolics with air assist for tilting the cab sucks, mostly have to hand jack it up part way before it finally goes up on its own. People tell me all the time "i love them trucks! Wish i had one again!" Humph! they never offer to take mine. lol

 

dont know how it rides but it looks very ''cool''

 

I don't think that there ever were trucks produced in Euro as bad as the trucks produced here in the 60's and 70's.....from the ergonomic design point of view. Yea, those things had a strong drivetrain and the materials were better, like better quality steel and such, well, some engines were a nightmare too, like the DD 8v92's, and the CAT's were good but too expensive to fix. the NTC 400 big cam Cummins was a big power engine, but it had it's problems. Ya couldn't kip the top together in those things, but cheap to fix.
Anyway, I would compare the American trucks of the 80's with the Euro trucks of the 60's and early 70's. The 90's with the Euro late 70's and maybe early 80's as far as better ergonomics....except the size of the sleeper which got allot bigger on this side. Engines improved on both sides about on the same pace, all though the American engines still drink more fuel even to this day and seem to have allot of problems with the environmental crap they added on in the later years. The transmissions here are mainly of the same technology like in the early 1900's with minimal modifications that gives a one stick instead of two and some of the newer ones an automated pneumatic shifter which I personally don't wanna have anything to do with it whatsoever. Today's trucks here, as far as driving comfort is concerned, would probably compare with the 1990's Euro trucks, except for the 4 point cab suspension which we don't have.

 

That's not an American production! It's an Aussie truck! May look the same but totally different animal. You take an american built truck to Australia and it wouldn't last 2 weeks. You take an Australian truck to America and probably you'd be driving that thing for the rest of your life.

 

Agh yeah we did! Especially English brands like AEC, Bedfords, Commers, fodens etc etc, brakes were an afterthought of design, and didn't really work, you always kept a spare engine cos with a service life of about 200,000 miles and the knowledge it could just blow anytime before that! My dad used have a few of these, then in the late 60's the swedes arrived, they took the Market overnight, they had actual bunks, synchro gearboxes, you weren't deaf and blind from fumes and noise, they started every morning and there was no need to stock engines and they had brakes that actually worked and you didn't need to turn your front wheels into the hedge to stop them rolling on a hill cos they actually had a new thing called a handbrake!

 

You have lots of problems with it cause that thing is a poorly maintained old beater. Just as easily you could get a conventional truck that was poorly maintained and you'd probably never have the same reaction cause it's a conventional and you like conventionals no matter what.
Right?

 

i notice that you mix f8 for f7 you wrote for 1966 one with semitrailer that it is f8 ....f8 come in 1979

 

Oh well, now I know where the American truck crappy design originated from.

No, I don't know much about the British truck brands since I only saw them in pictures. lol