I've been sent this shot of a mystery Volvo Eurotrotter which comes to me via the excellent Hank's Truck Pictures website and Martin Phippard who says: "It was photographed by Hank Suderman on the Trans Canada Highway a little to the East of Vancouver, Canada quite recently."
So what's so special about it? Well it's a short-cab with a top-pod F12 'Eurotrotter' 6x2 with single tyre tag axle and what looks suspiciously like European bodywork and a tail-lift. The Eurotrotter was developed to meet the needs of Dutch high-volume drawbar operators who were working to the 'Philips Concept' of short (even shorter than day-cab) cabs with a top sleeper pod.
Martin adds: "What makes it interesting is that the earliest Eurotrotter was built in 1984 and they were discontinued not too long afterwards when legislation effectively outlawed them by stipulating maximum body lengths on 6x2 truck-trailer combinations. So they were probably last built in the late 1980s which makes this fine example almost 20-years old."
"As yet we don't know why it's being used in Canada but we think it is probably the only example of a F-model there."
Terberg did sell some 8x8 oilfield trucks in Canada during the '80. These trucks did have a F-model cab.
In fact, to achieve Philips' demands with the Philips Concept dimensions, the Eurotrotter had to be shortened still further, and I recall that the engine had to be repositioned too.
Volvs built a special run of 8 of them for W. H. Bowker, plus a spare cab that was still behind the garage last time I visited, and never used.
Chris, was that a factory conversion you were talking about or a retro-job? The Eurotrotter wasn't too bad to drive (although I once drove a rigid and drag in Spain that had air suspension on the front axle too and that was scary!) but some short cabs had the driver so hemmed in he was virtually upright behind the steering wheel.
Martin, they were a special build by Volvo - Bowker ordered 10 and I understand that 12 were built. If that figure is correct, then it's surprising that Volvo did actually prepare a brochure for it in 1989.
Sadly, I left my copy behind in Bowker's archives when I left, as it featured one of the Bowker motors. Now there's a challenge for Mr. Stanier to come up with another copy!!
Another of the fleet was exhibited at the Scottish Show that year.
I do have various photos of the motors themselves if you'd like any copies.
Thanks Chris, that's all VERY interesting and I am worried now that I have no recollection whatsoever of these specials. WRT pictures I am certain that everyone visiting BL would love to see them if you can get them to Brian somehow. I will keep fingers crsossed!
I'm going to stick my neck out here and say this NOT a Eurotrotter. It's a standard Globetrotter - which looks like the former because the air intake has been mounted at the side of the cab. That would explain a great deal. Get it together guys... !
I think your correct Tom it has just got the air intake stack of a Eurotrotter.
If you were a Canadian flower wholesaler, for example, you might think about importing such a complete vehicle from Holland - just a thought. It’s also got that ‘I normally pull a close-coupled trailer’ look about it too…
I did look at the image quite closely before posting the Eurotrotter piece and toyed with the possibility that it was a GT. It's just that there appears to be such a small gap between the back end of the air horns and the back of the cab that I guessed it was a Eurotrotter. I'm still not convinced about it being a GT although I concede that the telephoto lens has done a great foreshortening job. (is that the correct term Tom?)
I don’t know about the foreshortening term Martin, but I’d put your forthcoming pension (and Swiss-engineered gold watch, carriage clock, etc.) on the fact it’s a Globetrotter… ! Imagine the same image, but with the air intake removed. The dimensions are way too big for it to be a Eurotrotter. During my (short but action packed) driving career, a company local to me (waste operator Shanks & McEwan), used day cab Volvo F10s and/or F12s to pull their ejector trailers. I went for a ride in one once or twice. From the rear of the door to the back of the cab was only a matter of a few inches - way less than we can see here. I think you’re right, it’s the way the image is taken - quite deceptive - a trait of long lenses, I’m afraid. There’s a second clue too: The Eurotrotter had a very distinctive forward protruding panel above the windscreen - whereas the Globetrotter is racked back slightly.
It is no Eurotrotter, it is a Globetrotter!!!
Hi, guys, I´m a swedish truckdriver who have driven several Volvo F12 Eurotrotters and Globetrotters. This picture clearly shows a Globetrotter, easiest recognized by the flat roof top. The Eurotrotters had a slight forward lean on their roof tops. The Eurotrotter was a regular daycab with a higher roof, one bunk over the drivers head and it was built and sold fully by Volvo and not like some kind of special or anything. It sold quite well during the late eighties/early nineties and it had good space and storage place for the single driver. It was well thought of by me and my colleges. There were some companies in The Netherlands, I think who built their own daycabs (Sometimes even shortened ones!) with high roofs but these were a different story..
Hello gentlemen,
I am proud to say this truck is mine, it is my old dutch Globetrotter that I brought over a few years ago.
I have a matching trailer to go with it, also brought over from the Neteherlands.
Regards, Fred de Boer, Mainland Floral Distributors Ltd, Aldergrove, BC Canada