The CCI “Skyscraper” wasn’t the only home-brew tall-boy car carrier tractor. Portland, OR based Convoy, a major player in the West and a very innovative one, not only had their own in-house trailer builder (Westland), but also built a number of these tall COE trucks. They started out as early ’50s Fords, as the cab makes known, but had their constituent parts rearranged. This was of course to make room for two cars on the tractor, for a total of six. Why they didn’t just use a Freightliner or such is a good question, but then Convoy did things a bit differently, and very well; they knew what they were doing.
Back then, cars built in California were shipped via sea to Seattle and Portland, and Convoy then distributed them to all of the greater Northwest. But was the T-Bird built in CA too? Maybe in this case, they were sent out via rail, and the then Convoy took over. In any case, it’s not the typical load or tractor.
I can’t get past what looks like some protective covering between the body and the hardtop – it seems to be on every one of the cars.
Those lower windows in the cab firewall are fascinating – you would think that the dash and other controls would get in the way of a view, but clearly (sorry) they were there for a reason.
JP, That caught my eye as well. While those protective coverings are very common today, they were quite rare back then. Are those removable hardtops? If so, the protection might be for install / removal, until delivered to the customer –
IIRC all 1st gen T-Birds have removeable hardtops.
Interesting. Maybe the carrier had figured out that the hardtops were mounted without enough weatherstrip, and scraped off the paint on the body when the cars bounced? They couldn’t solve the problem permanently, but at least they could deliver the cars without incurring liability for scrapes.
My guess (not clear on this) for the lower windows were to see if there was a person (or objects) standing directly in front of the truck. Although the lower windows were still relatively high.
Great subject on a piece of automotive history that I didn’t know existed.
Much of the dash could have been removed, but surely they’d have to mount some instruments somewhere.
According to Wikipedia, Long Beach assembled early TBirds.
Thanks. That explains it, as Convoy almost exclusively distributed cars built in CA and then shipped by sea to the ports in Seattle and Portland.
I would have thought that practically all T Birds of this vintage came with wheel covers and white walls. One of these has neither, one wheel covers and black walls and one dog dishes and whitewalls.
Left coast folks always had to be a bit different. 🙂
Seriously, sports cars were really big on the West Coast, and I strongly suspect that some of these (without fender skirts and wheel covers) were bound for genuine sports car buyers. Most likely had the manual transmission too.
Just tangential, but here’s PM surveying ’55 T-Bird Owners, with info about those with sports car experience to compare with, etc:
“Too flashy and memorable for use in bank robbery getaway.” – Escaped Alcatraz inmate
True story
Three with and three without skirts.
This does have the 48-52 era Ford cab, While Freightliner sold its first truck in 1949 they didn’t really start selling them until 1951 when they entered into an agreement with White to be their distributor. So based on the cab I could see this being built before Freightliners were available for general sale.
I do have to wonder if someone from IH saw 1 or more of these on the road, since they introduced the Sightliner for 1957.
After I wrote that, it did occur to me that Freightliner hadn’t started sellingto the public then. And their flat faced cab didn’t arrive until 1953; before thta it had a bubble-nose.
And yes, the International Sightliner also came to mind when I saw this truck earlier. It really does seem to have been influenced by the Convoy trucks, a fair number of which were built.
Scoutdude hit the nail on the head regarding the windows for sight as being adopted from the IH Sightliner. Fun configuration on the Ford COE, by the way. Or, to be perfectly vulgar: It’s a pisser. Thanks for the essay and the information from the rest of you about T-bird build and ship methods. “We’ll have fun, fun, fun till your daddy takes the T-bird away-ay.”
Scoutdude hit the nail on the head regarding the windows for sight as being adopted from the IH Sightliner.
No, it was the other way around; the Convoy truck was built years before the Sightliner. You must have misread his comment.
Driver far so far up he could run over a kid on a bike and not know it. On the launch of the Renault Magnum this was pointed to the sales man at the wheel. He said “not going to be a problem” then backed in to a poor person taking a photo!.
Backed into a poor person? Tut-tut! Poor people don’t matter.
That’s a conventional cab with a reworked firewall (hence the odd windows) on a cabover chassis. Also why that grill opening looks so odd and out of place, it used to be the start of the trans tunnel.
No power steering most likely, bet that guy had some forearms on him.
In 48-52 Ford used the same basic cab for both the conventional and COE trucks, and the same fenders and grill. I believe they started with a conventional F-8. From what I can find in a quick search indicates that the biggest COE Ford offered in this era was a class 6 (F-6) which used 5 lug front wheels.
The cab’s origin is a bit of a mystery. Was the cowl hacked up so much that the wipers had to be raised to the top of the windshield?
Then the B-Pillar, or back of cab… on a common Big Job the cab corner seems to be only slightly wider than the “window frame” of the door. Roughly about the width of a large fuel filler cap. Meanwhile these same areas seem much larger on the Convoy cab.
Was the cowl hacked up so much that the wipers had to be raised to the top of the windshield?
Most definitely. The old cowl is totally gone; just a flat panel and windows.
As to the thick B Pillar, it’s a good question; one I can’t answer. But otherwise it’s clearly a Ford cab of that era.
Well it is possible that they just used the doors and some other pieces. This sleeper cab for a F-8 is a good example using the brand specific doors and windshield and making the cab fit those lines. This is intended for a Flat Back Cowl and Chassis.
Here is an IH with a similar sleeper, that may be from the same mfg, which follows the lines of the IH doors.
Homebuilt…
Oh ok
Whose home were these built in now?
Never heard that term?
Of course “in-house” simply means a project undertaken within an organization’s own control, nothing to do with a domestic dwelling place.
So too “home shop” is common motor carrier language for a fleet’s own maintenance facility.
Thus home-built or shop-built is generally understood to mean a project undertaken in-house.
In this case home-built indicates a project executed at Convoy’s own home shop.
Looking closely there seems to a flat piece of steel inserted between the rear of the door frame and the curved OEM cab corner. I’ll bet they had to lengthen the cab to move the seat rearward so the huge steering wheel (needed without PS) would fit between the windshield/ dashboard and the driver’s belly, presuming the wheel is mounted “flat” (like in a coach bus). Nearly all later model flat nose tilt cabs have the wheel nearly horizontal, both for leverage and directness of the steering shaft and I suspect the same here.