I've been thinking, as is the wont of Biglorryblog, about high-roof cabs on flagship tractors, and I was trying to work out who was the first manufacturer to really raise the roof. My guess is that it was Volvo with the original Globetrotter on the old F12/F10 cab. And as they both appeared in (I think) 1977 then the Gloebtrotter must have been sometime in the early 80s. Running pretty much parallel to that must also have been original Daf Space Cab. But for me the high-roof hauler really took off in 1994 when the Dutch launched the original Super Space Cab at the RAI truck show. And above is the cover of the original press pack.
With an internal height of 2.25m the Super Space Cab was not only 35cm higher than the bog-standard Space Cab, but 20cm longer too. AND it had a bunk mattress made of, wait for it 'Lastilux' (whatever that was....)
And in the press pack Daf had some rather clever pictures to accentuate the size of the cab like this view, shot with a wide angle-lens through the sun-roof..clever eh? However, the real significance of the Super Space Cab was that it reminded everyone that in order to make more room in a truck cab the only way was up...And so far the only manufacturer to take it one step further has been Mercedes with the Space Max which has a roof touching the 4.0m Continental height limit. And interestingly enough the man behind both those cabs, is none other than Bertrand Janssen. Coincidence or what?
No doubt some BLB readers will be shouting: 'What about the Renault Magnum?' to which BLB replies for sure Magnum raised the roof, but not as much as the floor--so Magnum's contribution to the Great Cab Debate was its flat floor, rather than its high roof. Actually the one cab that I thought was really under-rated was the original F2000 Roadhaus. But you know me I've always been Teutonically tempted...
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