Had a conversation tonight with a mate about the best sleeper cab back in the late 80’s and 90’s, and I surprised myself in that the best sleeper in a standard cab worked out to be the Ford Cargo- massive amounts of room -Raised bunk and no major engine hump, the biggest bugbear was that the curtains only went round the bunk and not the windscreen.
Close second was the B/C series ERF
Easily the worst was the Sed Atki that required dexterity of a contortionist to get into the bunk closely followed by the SK Merc cab if you used the bottom bunk
Looking at todays flat floor cabs and lockers it is astounding just how far forward the sleeper has evolved- where does it go next? is the Scania longline the way we should go, we have moved a 100 miles in 20 years what will the next 20 years produce?
My choice must be the Volvo FL and FM models the worst lorries ever to grace our fleet I would of rather had my Jennings sleeper cabbed ERF back which was one of my first sleeper cabbed lorries I drove
Hi, as a kid I was a huge truck fan (still am really) but I’ve never driven any or been involved in the trade.
I always wondered what it must’ve been like to have a night out in:
An f10/12 and a globetrotter especially!
A scania 141,142…
A ford transcontinental
And an ng crabbed merc!
I’ve always thought that the volvo f7 have/had a huge sleeper compartment judging by the size of the windows anyway!
Truth is I would still love to have a go in any of the above! I’ve often thought about buying one to keep on the driveway! Sure the kids would love it too!
Discounting Globetrotters and Space Cabs, the best normal sleeper of the 70s/80s lorries is, without doubt, the Daf 2800/3300.
Very comfy beds and you could drop the top bunk to use it as a single bunk and use the bottom bunk space for storage, or have the too bunk in the higher position for storing your gear and sleep downstairs.
The LP Mercedes with its near flat floor was a surprisingly comfortable cab to spend a night in…much nicer than the New Generation or Sk that followed it. The 2800 was definitely a favourite…a great cab if you had female company…The Transcon was nice aswell
The Magnum was launched in 1990, if that’s your date criterion.
Most of the French and German cabs of the 1960s had a low engine hump. Of the popular makes, it was only Volvo and DAF (and all the British makes) which did not make some effort to offer a “walk-through” cab, IIRC. Surely a Berliet/Renault of the period would have more room/appeal than a Cargo?
Riverstick:
The LP Mercedes with its near flat floor was a surprisingly comfortable cab to spend a night in…much nicer than the New Generation or Sk that followed it. The 2800 was definitely a favourite…a great cab if you had female company…The Transcon was nice aswell
Looking at the photos, the NG seemed to have just as much space as the LP- was this not the case?
Late 80s the biggest hurdle appeared to be the storage trays fitted to the engine covers. Great for the pens and ■■■■ but made the job of getting into and out of bed a real challenge.
The 2/3 series R cab illustrates this perfectly. The bunk is mounted in exactly the same position but the extra clutter in the 3 series made the hop into the cot so much harder.
gazsa401:
My choice must be the Volvo FL and FM models the worst lorries ever to grace our fleet I would of rather had my Jennings sleeper cabbed ERF back which was one of my first sleeper cabbed lorries I drove
oh yeah - about the only bad thing I’ve had to say about Volvo’s (from the ones I’ve driven from mid-80’s models on) was the early FL cab. Nice little driver, but atrocious for sleeping in! I won’t mention Cargo’s as I’m biased; though would agree Daf (standard cab) was better for sleeping, purely because of that ridiculous curtain layout Ford did. Daf did have more room, not by a long shot, though only slept in a 2800 a couple of times.
[zb]
anorak:
The Magnum was launched in 1990, if that’s your date criterion.
Most of the French and German cabs of the 1960s had a low engine hump. Of the popular makes, it was only Volvo and DAF (and all the British makes) which did not make some effort to offer a “walk-through” cab, IIRC. Surely a Berliet/Renault of the period would have more room/appeal than a Cargo?
Riverstick:
The LP Mercedes with its near flat floor was a surprisingly comfortable cab to spend a night in…much nicer than the New Generation or Sk that followed it. The 2800 was definitely a favourite…a great cab if you had female company…The Transcon was nice aswell
Looking at the photos, the NG seemed to have just as much space as the LP- was this not the case?
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Hi Anorak,
The LP was very uncluttered with a near flat floor. It was nice and easy to slip in and out of the lower bunk and you could ‘nearly’ stand up in front of the passenger seat when you wanted to get dressed. As a previous poster outlined, the New Generation cab was difficult to get in and out of the lower bunk. The New Generation did however have more storage space in the windscreen overhead and under the lower bunk.
LP Merc /Transcon /or a 2800 every time .The only problem with the Merc was the batteries were under the nearside of the bunk so if you had to jump it the bedding used to have to come out .
hi, I drove a van plan removal lorry ( it was on a v plate ). it had a crew cab, sat about 9 people. the seats become 2 beds that were 3ft wide. curtains right round, no engine hump. it was the first one from van plan and you could walk right around the cab. the only drawback was you had to lift the floor to check oil and water. it was nice though. regards ray.
Hiya i had a S reg ERF B series with the factory sleeper. it was the one where the bunk was 4 inches lower than the bonnet
that was a great cab. on the later cabs the bunk was about 8 inches higher less head room but you got a fridge.
i had a 3300 space cab for 13 years which was the bees knees, i still remember the B series as been very good for a UK motor.
John
newmercman:
Discounting Globetrotters and Space Cabs, the best normal sleeper of the 70s/80s lorries is, without doubt, the Daf 2800/3300.
Very comfy beds and you could drop the top bunk to use it as a single bunk and use the bottom bunk space for storage, or have the too bunk in the higher position for storing your gear and sleep downstairs.
I have to agree wholeheartedly,Bunk down I would take the bottom mattress out invert it on the top and place the other one on top of that, very comfy.
My dad used to take mum and 5 kids in the marathan you could put your legs down behind the seats,it was a bit of a squash with 7 in the b series sleeper though!
