with Rudkin-Wiley Airshield. He told me he took out over $2500 in bronze copper and aluminum shavings. But now a sighting of a working cabover truck on the road is more rare. In 1943, General Motors absorbed Yellow Coach, a Chicago-based bus manufacturer, forming the GM Truck and Coach Division. Its great to know so many truckers still appreciate these trucks. Maneuverability. !, and please SUBSCRIBE, LIKE, COMMENT, hit the NOTIFICATION BELL, and have a look at our other channels:https://www.youtube.com/automototube - AutoMotoTube - Car and Motorcycle walkaround videoshttps://www.youtube.com/c/motorcycletube - MotorCycleTube - Motorcycle walkaround videoshttps://www.youtube.com/c/BoatTube - BoatTube - Motor and Sailing yachts walkaround videoshttps://www.youtube.com/c/Bicycletube - BicycleTube - Bicycle walkaround videoshttps://www.youtube.com/c/atvtube - ATVTube - All Terrain Vehicle walkaround videos In past years, it had been E.R.C.O.A., as in the Electric Reel Company Of America, maker of battery-powered fishing reels. If I remember I bought it for only $2000 and was used just as a yard truck. I also have a soft spot for the Astro along with the Brigadeir and General. You can connect with him Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Left Hand Drive. They were spun-off from Volvo during the Mack acquisition as the combined company would have had to big a share of the Low Cab Forward Truck market. . there is no reaching into the sleeper to grab something, when sitting in the drivers seat! Tahoe where I used to work had a tough time getting to stuff on our Pete 320 LCFs. Isuzu Bedford might be the name down under, the blue one is very clearly a (Euro) Bedford TM. The last GMC B-Series left the assembly line in 2003. Ever since those got retired (replaced by conventional White-GMC or Volvo-White rigs) I've seen few to no Astros. A lot of the later Astro 95s were Cummins powered. This went on after the HD line was sold off. In a surprise win, I ended up with both the seventeen-footers and one of the two unfinished sixteens for just a few hundred dollars. Gauges for the trailer air supply and pressure were Its a working truck, too! Radhe also tries different gadgets every now and then to give their reviews online. These continued to remain as GMC's main class At SMART TRUCKING, were also avid fans of the cabover truck. The first major update to the Astro was the Special Series trim In the shuffle, Ercoa managed to grab the pontoon business and run with it. The interior is ruff, Dan is rebuilding the engine so as to keep it orignal. This included special paint, a larger chromed front Not running. Numbers 1 and 2 could be done from the engine compartment. 118" WB, 104" cab to rear, 184" overall. The top speed was right around 60 mph, the speed limit those days was 55 mph so many trucks were geared to keep the top speed down. From what I have seen, Although Volvo GM would continue sales of COE trucks under the White GMC and Western Star brands (the WhiteGMC WH and Western Star Cabover; both versions of the White Road Commander II), the GMC Astro was never directly replaced by Volvo GM, Volvo, or General Motors. There were approximately seven built, all told; they were prototypes for a new line that never got off the ground. With their squared-off styling and strange proportions, GMC's aluminum cabover trucks of 1959-68 quickly earned the nickname "Crackerbox.". Downtime means lost income. Oh man, how I love those old cabovers and the other rigs, especially the Petes. The only GM heavy truck that was built after the merger was the Brigadier, and it lasted until the Pontiac heavy truck plant closed in late 1989. "Crackerbox" by operators and fans. The wrap around dash was a natural because it sits on top of the engine. The total length of the cab was a mere 48 . You had to jack the front of the cab up to get the valve cover off. Expanding the product line to the Chevrolet brand, the replacement for the GMC Crackerbox sought to expand interior space, visibility, and driver ergonomics. An uncomplicated and clean design, thats what makes a design timeless. time were adopting. If anyone knows about these powerplants in They were quite safe if they were driven with respect. Oddly enough they still use what cabovers are left for boat transport. Many memories are attached to the old cabover trucks models.Many truckers and retired truck drivers alike, lament about the classic cabover truck models, that once ruled the highways of North America. In contrast to the Crackerbox, the cab of the Astro was lengthened nearly six inches into a 54-inch BBC length with two sleeper cab configurations available. So an auction was scheduled, and the companys assets were bagged, tagged, and sold to the highest bidder. Truck has dual power windows tilt wheel, extra gages. I had lots of scares over the years but that one was probably the most tense because it took a quite of bit of time to pull this off and get that cab sitting back down on its mounts. If I recall correctly, there were a few of these made with GMC badges on them when White and GMC merged their heavy truck operations in the late 80s. 1983 Freightliner COE Rig This gorgeous rig was on display at the Clifford Truck Show. (c) 2000, Evan McCausland. The cabover truck is an icon. This gives good access to the motor for maintenance and repair. Buyer's Premium . Stock Number. By the way nice buy on the boats. There was a point when the cab would go over center, meaning gravity took over and the hyd system that was lifting the cab was now used to control cab movement by restricting the oil flow. They have a special look. before, and some were cut as cost-savings. Every downturn claims some, Boats and RVs are big discrentionary extras subject to consumer confidence. Description. Jun 7, 2019 - This Pin was discovered by Lieutenant 107. The base engine was the Detroit Diesel 6-71N, with the Detroit 8V71 and Cummins N-Series diesel engines as options. This style of old semi trucks are incredibly maneuverable. 1986 GMC Astro cabover day cab. He ran one as an O/O for a few years in the mid 1970s and then again as a company driver for Thrifty-Payless Drug stores in the early-mid 80s. Easily find what you need from 2,312,977 parts available. The funky hitch is called a stinger and its usually used on car haulers. But, unfortunately, its also the one big truck for which Im most starved for pictures. These trucks were as tough as nails! Used. We had a fair number of Brigadiers with 6-71s in them, not nice to work on. The Road Commander cab has certainly outlived the Astro, granted only tangentially as the White/WhiteGMC/Volvo/Autocar/etc Xpeditor, further modified as the modern day Autocar ACX. I drove a COE for the first ten years or so of my driving career. All three are currently relaxing behind the shop until my project backlog is a bit shorter. The simple fact that these big rigs didnt have a hood, created better visibility for the driver. It looked similar to the above shot when I last saw it, but I bet its cockpit was much more awe-inspiring in its younger days. They were indeed good-looking trucks. In the period from 1978 to 1988, General Motors offered the GMC Brigadier, a heavy-duty class 7-8 short-hood truck available in straight-truck and semi-tractor configurations. And so it was that I got my one and only surviving picture of the trucks at hand. The replacement for the F/D-series "Crackerbox" COEs, the Astro was marketed by Chevrolet as the Titan, serving as the largest cabover trucks ever produced by General Motors. Following the launch of the cabover product line in 1969, the GMC Astro quickly exceeded the Chevrolet Titan in sales and market share. 1982 Marmon COE A 110P, with the rare option of a V-grill and V-bumper, which is known as the VIP package. Comfort. The Ercoa staff were good friendly folks. Can anyone tell me where this picture was taken. Ive spent my whole life in the marine industry and its amazing that I still find new boat companies all the time. The first 1,000,000 miles of my driving was in trucks like these. [1] In 1972, the Detroit 12V71 became available as an option; though rarely ordered, the V12 engine would remain through 1978. One legacy of the Astro is the windshields. The GMC Astro is a heavy-duty class 8 cabover truck that was unveiled in 1969 as the replacement for the GMC cabover semi truck produced during 1960-1968 that received the nickname Crackerbox for its boxy-shaped cabin. Alongside a 702 cubic-inch GMC V12 gasoline engine, the truck was available with the Detroit Diesel 6V71 and 8V71 engines. But as you can imagine, by this time there wasnt much left of them. 1979 Peterbilt, 352 Cabover This Peterbilt has been beautifully restored by its owner! . But no more please, too uncomfortable. A walk-in version was added in 1985. Cabover interiors use a different system from other car interiors in the same way that a car interior uses a different system. 1950s. I liked the little window in the passenger door. Some models had quite large sleeper berths. This is not one of them. Air brakes. They look like something out of the 90s rather than the 60s. In 1986, General Motors created the VolvoGM joint venture with Volvo Trucks, leading to the discontinuation of the Astro in 1987. IHC dealers usually at least understood that an out-of-service truck meant someone wasnt making their wages. Safety. That thing is so deliciously 80s. And their parts guys knew the product a lot better. I thought the International Cabover was somewhat claustrophobic. Thats a nice one! Their heyday may have started in the mid 80s, but those boom years were fading away by the early 00s. Buyer's premium included in price USD $458. It wasnt exactly a dignified end for such a long-lived piece of machinery. The large carriers who were the big buyers of cabovers, switched over to the conventional style rig, and the bottom rapidly fell out of the market for them in North America, thus the fall in popularity of these trucks. And so came the companys latest investment, circa 1987: a fleet of new-to-them tractors with brand-new trailers. In 1977, GM started producing the GMC General, its largest conventional-cab semi truck powered by a diesel engine. A cabover interior is a very useful tool in that it can make sure that the contents of the car is hidden to anyone who might be looking. Thats probably half the reason I was brought in: I worked cheap, I was willing to horse around with their archaic equipment, and I could manage to keep a sense of humor about it. The neighbor has one Brigadier- a 1979 thats on its last legs. Cab won't release to tilt. Thats code word for farmers. When I worked at Peterbilt in the late 70s to early 80s, we definitely paid attention to some of the features of the Astro as well as Ford CL9000, especially the cab air suspension of the latter. On various occasions, I walked in to find the President working a welder and the VP forming sheets of aluminum ahead of him! Single rear axle. GM engineers began working on a new truck that would meet Out here, the farmers still run Brigadiers, Generals, and Ford Louisvilles. The cabover truck design is outdated for the North American highway infrastructure. Feed Body, model unknown cabover Great guy I understand hes still working on peddle-boat designs somewhere. Visibility was not very good and made life tough in some of the tight spots in the old cities and towns I delivered to. The big windshields and door glass gave a full view of the road. It was easy for the younger drivers, but not quite so easy for the older truckers! When I was a kid, my parents would drive me to the nearest truck stop, so I could take pictures of the big rigs, and talk to the truck drivers. It seems like there must be hundreds of RV, boat, etc manufacturers that have shuttered or consolidated in the past 2 decades. When backing in to loading docks and winding through heavy traffic, nothing can compare with a cabover truck! Additional information is available in this. That was all there was to drive at one time. For some reason most of the few I saw were rag-tag owner-ops out of Quebec. GMC's Astro story originally begins in the early USD $1,018 . The new model has replaced the line of C/M 90/9500 trucks. Comfort is a big issue especially for long haul trucking. [1] In an option that became standard a year later, in 1979, GMC and Chevrolet offered the SS (Special Series) package. It was a nice truck but harder to get into tight spots and I was partial to the cabovers. These gems were a challenge to drive without power steering. I would sleep across the doghouse in my cabover. The cabover has black, red, and white interiors. As of current production, GM has not marketed another Class 8 cabover truck (as the configuration has effectively ended production in North America). Drove them back in 88 when I started driving with Schneider National. Special Series. Astro featured many things that made it popular and innovative at the The new model featured better visibility and improved driver ergonomics. Back in the 70s when I started selling parts I had a few customers that ran the BowTie versions called the Titan and Bruin. At the time I was trying to obscure the trucks location to prevent unwelcome tourists (as I commonly did with any roadside pics). $182.00 . A third-party browser plugin, such as Ghostery or NoScript, is preventing JavaScript from running. They would haul trailer loads of potatoes in from Idaho with these rigs. This retro truck style is rising to the surface once again for particular working applications. I wouldnt be so quick to write the Road Commander off as an Astro copy, Larry Shinoda of Mustang and Corvette fame was the man behind the design. Please email mewith questions and comments! In 1976, another 9 of length was allowed, for a maximum 75 allowance. He believes that Content and Social Media Marketing are the strongest forms of marketing nowadays. And so it went. MN. The plastic type is often found in the back of a truck, but it can be found in a few other areas as well. $4,000.00 1979 GMC Astro cabover semi tractor Detroit 892v 13 speed 54,276 actual mileage 2,324 hours Starts and runs great. (Powerliner). We take a look at the exterior and interior of the vehicle, so you can receive a general idea and appreciation of a certain brand or model.Our coverage is from Truck, Auto and Commercial Vehicle Shows in USA, Europe and Canada.Thanks for watching!! Updated: Mon, Nov 14, 2022 1:32 PM Get Shipping Quotes - (Opens in a new tab) Apply for Financing - (Opens in a new tab) No image. The nose of the semi is flat and the truck cab sits on top of the diesel engine and steering axle. Tires are good. It seemed certain that these once-proud rigs would be fed to the crusher soon. I had a Grand National at the time and it was very tempting for me to consider trading it off for one but I didnt want another car payment so that was that. Generals were actually a pretty good truck, at least competitive with the Transtar 4200/4300 and better than the various Loiusvilles from Ford. $20? Definitely a product of White Motor Company or one of its spin offs. The California Air Recourses Board made me put a 2002 N-14 engine in it and a super large catalytic converter/particulate filter, but it dynoed super clean and the Astro 95 can be used until 2027. 1 of 11 ever made by General Motors. You're a power user moving through this website with super-human speed. Old Dutch plant located in Minneapolis. When I was bob tailing, and would hit a bump, Id have a new dent in the headliner. Broken lights and lenses throughout. When it comes to clutter, some say its nothing more than postponed decisions. Depending on when it was made its Road Expeditor II, an Autocar or a Western Star.