Vintage Trucks: Corbitt COE’s – The “Highboy” Has A Sleeper Compartment Right Below and In Front of the Dash

In addition to conventionals, Corbitt also built COE (Cab Over Engine) trucks. And one of those, the legendary 600 Series “high boy” had a sleeper compartment in front, over the engine and directly below and in front of the dash. One can just barely make out a vent for it under the air horns.  And it used a British Gardner diesel engine to boot.

Here’s one in action, in the early ’50s. About ten of these were built specifically for Turner Moving Engineers, which apparently specialized in long and oversized loads. And since this kind of work often required a larger crew, these trucks also had a huge bench seat running the full width of the cab, to seat 4 or even 5 men, in a pinch. Or one might prefer to be down in the sleeper.

 

Here’s another closer look, at the one remaining truck of this series. The open door is for storage compartments. The sleeper is directly above that, and accessible from inside the cab.

Corbitt also made more conventional COE’s too, like this D800 Series.