Photo: Barrett-Jackson
In the world of the automobile, cab over engine machines (COE) are a special breed. This term (or cab-over, forward control, or flat nose, depending on where you are), is meant to stand for vehicles whose cabs are located directly over the front axle and engine.
That kind of limits the reach of the breed to trucks, mostly, that are used for transportation of goods (Europe) or refuse collection (U.S.) – meaning not for passenger transport and joy rides. But this reality doesn’t limit the imagination of custom builders, who once in a while come out with incredible COE builds.
We’ve seen such things in the past, from the Viper Red 1939 Ford to the 1951 Ford Snowpiercer, but those were rather tamed beasts compared to this thing here.
What you’re looking at is called Decoliner, on account of it looking vintage enough to be mistaken with a motorized contraption from long ago, and being the result of “the builder’s fascination with the art deco styles of the late 1930s.” And it partially is vintage, having started life as a Chevrolet 3-ton truck more than half a century ago.
The builder we mentioned would be Canadian-based Dale Gerry Street Rods, a shop that spent no less than ten years, or 10,000 hours to be slightly more precise, transforming the 3-ton into this beautiful thing.
The truck is no longer its former self in more ways than visible to the naked eye. It sits on a completely new aluminum frame and a chassis and is an impressive 23 feet (7 meters) long. The front end is occupied by the four-people cabin – yes, four, as the cabin was stretched, and fitted with two additional doors and an equal number of new bucket seats. All four passengers are seated on Italian leather and stare at a 1960s Chrysler dashboard with the proper Dakota instruments.
The long rear end that extends behind the cab is there for show, of course, but also houses a storage area, which is revealed as soon as doors open “like the cargo bay of the space shuttle.”
The contraption is powered by a 502ci Ram Jet engine of unspecified power and tied to an overdrive automatic transmission. Power is sent to the front wheels (the ones closest to the rear are floaters), making all six American Racing Torq Thrust roll in sync.
The truck was not made exclusively just for show, as at one point it got to test its air-ride suspension system, Dutchmen axles, and C5 Corvette disc brakes on a full drive from Canada to California (exact mileage on the COE is not revealed).
At the moment, the truck is getting ready to star in the Barrett-Jackson auction set to take place in late January in Scottsdale, Arizona. It will go with no reserve, and no estimate is made as to how much it is expected to fetch.
We’ve seen such things in the past, from the Viper Red 1939 Ford to the 1951 Ford Snowpiercer, but those were rather tamed beasts compared to this thing here.
What you’re looking at is called Decoliner, on account of it looking vintage enough to be mistaken with a motorized contraption from long ago, and being the result of “the builder’s fascination with the art deco styles of the late 1930s.” And it partially is vintage, having started life as a Chevrolet 3-ton truck more than half a century ago.
The builder we mentioned would be Canadian-based Dale Gerry Street Rods, a shop that spent no less than ten years, or 10,000 hours to be slightly more precise, transforming the 3-ton into this beautiful thing.
The truck is no longer its former self in more ways than visible to the naked eye. It sits on a completely new aluminum frame and a chassis and is an impressive 23 feet (7 meters) long. The front end is occupied by the four-people cabin – yes, four, as the cabin was stretched, and fitted with two additional doors and an equal number of new bucket seats. All four passengers are seated on Italian leather and stare at a 1960s Chrysler dashboard with the proper Dakota instruments.
The long rear end that extends behind the cab is there for show, of course, but also houses a storage area, which is revealed as soon as doors open “like the cargo bay of the space shuttle.”
The contraption is powered by a 502ci Ram Jet engine of unspecified power and tied to an overdrive automatic transmission. Power is sent to the front wheels (the ones closest to the rear are floaters), making all six American Racing Torq Thrust roll in sync.
The truck was not made exclusively just for show, as at one point it got to test its air-ride suspension system, Dutchmen axles, and C5 Corvette disc brakes on a full drive from Canada to California (exact mileage on the COE is not revealed).
At the moment, the truck is getting ready to star in the Barrett-Jackson auction set to take place in late January in Scottsdale, Arizona. It will go with no reserve, and no estimate is made as to how much it is expected to fetch.
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