Peterbilt 372: A Rare Visitor from the Future
Seeing this truck on the highway today is an impossible task. This is a Peterbilt 372, a run of 772 units. Today, Truck Fact will examine this unique cabover truck, thirty years ahead of its time.
In the late 1980s, Peterbilt engineers decided to revolutionize the truck industry. While the rest of America was driving boxy, wide-nosed trucks, they created a cabover truck with the sleek lines of a sports car. The nose of the truck was rounded, the windshield was raked, and the front bumper was integrated into the body. The result shocked the industry: this futuristic giant achieved record fuel economy—less than 21 liters per 100 kilometers (16.5 mpg). For a heavy-duty American truck of the time, this was pure fantasy.
Underneath this unusual cab were top-of-the-line engines producing 425 horsepower. But the engineers went further. To avoid the driver having to constantly tilt the heavy cab for routine fluid checks, a huge folding panel was installed in the front. It allowed for adding oil and antifreeze, and servicing the headlights.
But why are there so few of them left?
The truck was brilliant, but two factors ruined it. First, old-school American truckers flatly refused to buy a truck that looked like Darth Vader's helmet or a giant vacuum cleaner—they demanded the familiar chrome and long hood. Second, just at this time, the US lifted strict restrictions on the overall length of road trains. Cabover trucks became legal again, and the need for complex cabover trucks simply disappeared. Production ceased after just four years.