COE or cab-over-engine trucks are becoming quite desirable. If you want a cool vintage truck that stands out in a crowd, COE’s are the way to go. They can make really cool hot rods or haulers and share a lot of parts with their light duty cousins. This particular truck is a 1941 Ford 10-wheeler and can be found here on Craigslist with an asking price of $4,500. Located in Underwood, Iowa, this truck probably saw duty on a farm for most of its life. The costliest part of this build might just be the 10 new tires!
Check out the engineering here! Twin drive shafts, twin axles, dual tires. How about the reversed leaf spring packs? With that many leaves, this truck probably has a massive payload capacity. Too bad there isn’t much information in the ad regarding the history of this truck. It could have had a flat bed, wrecker set-up or fifth wheel plate. What would you do with it now?
For being nearly eighty years old, this truck doesn’t look too bad. The ad indicates it is sold on a bill of sale, so the buyer will want to be familiar with the antique vehicle laws in their state. It may take a bit of paperwork and time to get it registered without a title. Either way, this is a very cool truck and should make a good project for a new owner.
All I’d want is the cab the rest you could scrap. I’d then be looking for a late 90’s 3500 series dodge cumins diesel duelly from which I’d want to strip the body off. I’d restore and mount the COE cab on the dodge chassie and build a vintage looking truck box with a fifth wheel attachment in the box. Now you can haul any trailer you’d like behind it and how cool would this combination look. To leave it original and restore it you’d have a super expensive project on your hands and what would you do with it once it was back on the road. It would be to slow and under powered to be of any real use. JMHO.
You can save yourself a TON of work by just driving the ’90s Dodge 3500 as is.
Hello, I’m interested to know if this vehicle is still available.
Thank you
James Kimball
727.365.0809
Why are you surprised to find tandem axles they’ve been arou nd since trucks have been
While what Canadainmarkseh said, probably best to plop the cab on a modern chassis. It’s true, tandem axles have been around since the beginning,(some actually had chains or big rubber belts connecting the front and rear axles) however, I did some research, and they were not offered by the truck maker. A company called Thornton made these tandem setups. It’s an unconventional setup, with what looks like a power divider behind the transmission with 2 driveshafts coming out. ( modern trucks have the power divider on the front axle and one driveshaft for all) I suppose, as is, it would be neat at a show, that rear suspension would gather a lot of looks, for sure. Be a slow, rough ride, tho, with a top speed of maybe 45, probably should be trailered. Love the trucks, thx again.
Sidenote: those rear tires were common before truck inspections, “Run ’em ’till they blow”, was the motto.
All I see is a money pit.
I think he was referring to the way it is set up. I have never seen where there were two separate drive shafts one for each axle. I have seen the inverted leaf spring packs though.
A person would really be stuck between a rock and a hard place with something like this. Myself, it would be restoration with a nice stake bed, and a new life hauling other antiques to shows. I could have a lot of fun with it doing just that. I don’t like the idea of pulling the cab and mounting it on a modern chassis; there’s no chance of returning it back to its former glory because there’s so much work involved just to get the cab to fit the new chassis. I do have to admit that there are some real nice jobs out there that are just that. I’ve got a good friend building a crew cab RV hauler out of a couple of Chevy LCF cabs. I don’t like the idea that he had to butcher (2) complete trucks to get this but it’s going to look real good when it’s done….
Yeh, I’m not a fan of this sort of thing, but I also respect others’ right to not be a fan.
the first job I had out of high school 1964 was at a wood Toy factory , they had one of these Ford COE with a flat head v8 and 4speed transmission with a 2 speed axle, also it was a single axle . I believe this truck was a 1946 or older , it had a flat bed rack body, this truck was mainly used to go from the main building to the warehouse to get cardboard boxes for shipping . The truck always started no matter what the weather and the motor ran like a swiss watch, kinda of a neat old truck. At times I would have to go across town and pick up supplies , it was neat driving that big boy and shifting behind you , for a truck that old and big it didn’t drive that bad . often wonder what happened to it
All manual on steering and shifting. A truckers truck.
Probably used a divorced transfer case turned around. Drive in 2 wheel would be the same and adding in the second rear axle would be the same as engaging the front on a conventional 4×4.
As for scrapping the frame, what a waste. Much easier to find a good body on a regular truck frame than to destroy such a rare vehicle as this one. JMHO2.
seen that back frame chopped dwn’n whole thing lowered to make a pick up…
Hello I am interested in buying this for 5,000$ cash. Please call me at 909-435-6349. I have a truck and trailer ready to pick this up ASAP.