Mega-carrier oddballs of the past

Back in the late 80's-early 90's, I drove for JB Hunt. Back then, there were only 2 models which made up the vast majority of the trucks they had; one was the older International 9670 C/O single-bunk with a 300 big-cam Cummins mated to a 7-sp shorth-throw Eaton, and the other (newer) ones were International 9700 dual-sleepers with the same engine, but all except the first year had a 9-sp Eaton-Fuller road-ranger. Trainer models had the dual-bunk high sleeper, and a very few of the early 9700's were single-sleeper, but that was about it, except......
Back on about 1987, JB bought maybe 10 Peterbilt cabover single-sleepers. These were a bit of a hack-job, since they also ran the old 300 Cummins with a 7-speed, and in order to keep the 5th wheel height common, it had what today you might call a "Carolina squat", where it was raked such that the FRONT tilted upward from the rear.
Also, somewhere around 1992, they also had a few dozen 'test trucks' using a Cummins L10 with about 330 hp. I drove one of these for about 6 months, and enjoyed it. It was a motor lacking in torque, and it revved about 200 rpm's higher than the larger big-cam motors, but it came with (gasp!!) cruise control, which would also require me to idle-up to near 1000rpm when idling, making far a MUCH smoother sleep time. I drove one of these through the worst d@mn Canadian winter in decades, and had few problems. I often wondered how well these worked out in the long run; I hear they wore out quicker than the larger motors.

 

Actually, the Petes were complete strippo models; not a SINGLE option! No radio, plain vinyl seat, single bunk, leaf springs all around, and no Jake. They DID have A/C and an air-ride driver's seat, though....