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  • 2 weeks later...

Does anyone know why the manufacturers in NA stopped offering COE trucks? THey used to be popular, I think because of length restrictions. But when those restrictions were lifted, why were they abandoned?

Honestly, I always thought the Euro trucks were better looking than their modern NA counterparts. Kind of surprised brands like Volvo have never really tried to market their COE here.

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12 hours ago, iamsuperdan said:

Does anyone know why the manufacturers in NA stopped offering COE trucks? THey used to be popular, I think because of length restrictions. But when those restrictions were lifted, why were they abandoned?

Honestly, I always thought the Euro trucks were better looking than their modern NA counterparts. Kind of surprised brands like Volvo have never really tried to market their COE here.

That's exactly it.  When the Surface Transportation Assistance Act became effective in 1982, the size and weight regulation changed, and the truck market went to conventionals almost overnight. The old size and weight rules were state regulations mostly based on the overall length of the combination tractor and trailer.  The Feds changed the rules on the Interstate and designated highways so length is based on just the length of the trailer(s) - the length of the tractor is not included.  States had to change their regulations to get federal highway money.  Drivers preferred conventionals for more space in the cab (no engine tunnel), better ride, and  easier to get into.  Fleets changed over to conventionals to retain drivers.

edited - rephrased a couple of things for clarity

Edited by Muncie
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10 hours ago, Muncie said:

That's exactly it.  When the Surface Transportation Assistance Act became effective in 1982, the size and weight regulation changed, and the truck market went to conventionals almost overnight. The old rules were state regulations mostly based on the overall length of the combination tractor and trailer.  The Feds changed the rules on the Interstate and designated highways so length is based on the length of the trailer(s) - the length of the tractor is not included.  States had to change their regulations to get federal highway money.  Drivers preferred conventionals so the fleets changed over to retain drivers.

 

11 hours ago, iamsuperdan said:

Does anyone know why the manufacturers in NA stopped offering COE trucks? THey used to be popular, I think because of length restrictions. But when those restrictions were lifted, why were they abandoned?

Honestly, I always thought the Euro trucks were better looking than their modern NA counterparts. Kind of surprised brands like Volvo have never really tried to market their COE here.

Still see some cab overs here in Wisconsin, the guy I drive for has two Freightliner Argosy's and a 1996 KW K100 flat top. I noticed that years ago, it seemed like over night cab overs just disappeared..

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 months later...

Kenworth are still building coe's in Australia, checkout the K 200, not too sure about the grill yet but the rest looks fantastic, I think I still prefer the K 104 though ( a bit more old school like me) maybe the new stile grill will grow on me in time, anyway both are still great looking cabover's.

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That's true, they all seam to look bigger than there American counterparts, probably the roo bar and extra fuel tanks that sets them apart, the one that really does it for me though is the SAR, both the early narrow grill one and the later wide grill version really have stile by the bucket load.

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