[Shepherd777]

Originally Posted by Galane

Since nobody else has, I'll mention the 1988-1993 Peterbilt 372. 10+ MPG cab over! It managed that with a flat, though V'd, windshield, a full size, flat grille that was slightly recessed and a big honkin' sun visor.

A truck ahead of its time, when fuel (diesel trucks burn *fuel*, not gas) was cheap. Hidebound traditionalists just didn't like the looks of the thing, even though it would've saved a lot of money. (About half of them hate the looks of that retro styled International Lonestar.)

The 372 is the Geo Metro of semi tractors. The companies boast of 29~30 MPG today. Pshaw! Yonder rusty Metro 20 years ago got FORTY-FIVE with an auto and FIFTY with a manual! New truck gets 7.8 MPG with the moon in Saggitarius and a tailwind? 372 did TEN. So often when it comes to many technological things, a real innovation gets tossed out, then when something comes along years later that achieves even half what was done before, it's touted as "revolutionary".

Makes me wonder why some smart shipping company hasn't snapped up and refurbished every 372 they can lay hands on. Would be cheaper than a fleet of new, less efficient trucks. Combined with the current aero treatments on the trailers I bet they'd easily do 12 MPG.

Get hold of a 372, fix up the grille to be sleeker, replace the 4 piece flat windshield with a curved one and delete the visor. Apply the rest of today's state of the aero art and you have a more conventional looking truck with no approach angle issues, and 14+ MPG.

Here's my idea on how to do a curved attachment to the front of ordinary semi trailers. Make it detachable, with a system on the back of the cab to pick it off and hold it. Fixtures to attach it to the trailers would have to be relatively inexpensive, standardized, and not interfere with cargo handling of removable box trailers*. Want to be a bit slicker when deadheading? Have an inflatable liner in the trailer cap that extends outward, making the back of the cab curved to help smooth the airflow.

*Not all trailers are that type. Ever seen those special railroad cars designed specifically for hauling semi trailers? They have a central beam with platforms for the wheels and trailer jacks to rest. The trailers have to be put on and taken off with a crane.

I am intimately familiar with the Peterbilt 372, as they stole that design from me!

I built one of the first aerodynamic Class 8 trucks in the world in 1983 by retrofitting a Ford CL9000 COE tractor. That truck made the covers of both Heavy Duty Trucking magazine, and Land Line magazine, in 1984. And it was also in Autoweek magazine that year. Goodyear also issued some great press releases for us way back then.

Goodyear, who was a sponsor at the time, told me I could have spent tons of money enforcing any patents. And, the big companies like Paccar/Peterbilt would just steal the design anyway. Which they did.

So Paccar/Peterbilt stole my design and ideas, implemented them years later and then patented them.

Check out the similarities of the Peterbilt 372 to my original design. The only change Peterbilt did was to hinge the front end on the top, whereas I used a piano hinge at the bottom.

Again, I built mine in 1983. Paccar introduced theirs 5 years later.