WERE the original truck manufacturers on the right track thirty years ago when the “cab-over-engine” or, as called in those days, “motor-under-the-seat” type of design was considered standard practice?
Why was this type of design abandoned for the “engine-under-the-hood” type, and why was the revival of the cab-over-engine delayed or stifled until recent years?
Is the cab-over-engine truck design destined to take the place of the conventional type altogether, or will its adaptation be confined to a few vocational applications or a limited number of operators?
Has the wider usage of the cab-over-engine type been restricted due to mechanical limitations or has its higher cost, as compared with the conventional chassis of equivalent specifications, been the outstanding handicap, and to what extent will mass production of this type influence the shrinking of this price differential?
If the cost element differential could be eliminated, does there remain a place for the conventional engine-under-the-hood type in truck transportation?
Reasons why and wherefore, based on sound practical facts, are analyzed in this paper and, although the author refrains from making any definite predictions, nevertheless, it does not require a great deal of imagination to picture the cab-over-engine design taking a gradually more important place in truck transportation.