1938 Ford Model 81W Cab Over Engine Platform Truck

1938 Ford Model 81W Cab Over Engine Platform Truck
Chassis no. BB81-4535217
In working to maximize the mutability of any given model, one solution to making the working bed of a truck longer was to move the driver forward. With the trusty, 85bhp V-8 in the way though, the work around Ford devised was to put the operator and passenger on top of the engine. The resulting layout, called Cabover Engine (or COE) would prove to be a useful bit of packaging that is still in use in most trucks today. In 1938, while you didn't get a bigger engine, you did get all the heavy-duty bits from the 1½-ton trucks, plus three wheelbase options: 101 inches (2565mm), 134 inches (3404mm) and 157 inches (3988mm).

This example is the middle, 134-inch, wheelbase version, the Model 81W fitted with the Type 950 Platform body. It is handsomely finished in bright red over black fenders with a black painted grill and bumpers. The platform has been redone with newer, nicely finished timber that shows well.

Coming to the Netherlands in February of 1955, its Kenteken-Bewiks details its early history. The Modern Dutch Registration indicates that it joined the Hartogh Collection in 2014.

These trucks, while common in their day, are rarely seen today. Most were worked until the wheels fell off, and the few survivors were often snapped up by ambitious hotrodders who admired the truck's stout front end and handsome good looks. The opportunity to acquire this example is a certainly not one to be missed.