Autocar Custom Driver Cabs

One of the great benefits to the White Motor Co when they acquired Autocar in 1953 was the Autocar Custom Driver Cab. White's standard cab, dating back to the 1930s, was SMALL! It was also narrow and as engines increased in size wider cab firewalls were needed.

There was also the issue of driver comfort. Most Whites were fleet trucks, the operators were not overly concerned about such matters, but there must have been some demand for better accommodation.

White used the Acar cab for many many years, and it also migrated to Western Star, Diamond T (which morphed in to Diamond Reo.) They discontinued the smaller cab in a few years, but did use the similarly sized Reo cab for vocational trucks.

Regrettably I do not have an interior view of an Autocar Custom Driver Cab, but I do have a shot of the old White cab.

1. Interior of the White cab. Based on a 1930s design, it was still in production in the 1950s. Stylish, but basic.

2. The White Super Power, gas engine tractor. Charron Transport, Chatham, ON, May 1966.

3. The tiny rear window was a trademark of the Super Power's cab.

4. Bigger gas engines demanded bigger hood, as in the White Mustang. Charron Transport, September 1975 had this one semi-retired.

5. The Autocar cab was put to use in several of White's trucks including the Diamond T (later the Diamond Reo) and the White Western Star. Seen here on the dealer's lot in Dartmouth, NS in 1977.

6. White diesel engined trucks really need a bigger cab! This old cab model was still running for Charron Transport in 1975.

7. A short hood, short wheelbase White Diesel bit well into the drivers leg room. 1966.

8. The Autocar Custom Driver Cab must have seemed like a living room by comparison. 1966.

9. A front end view of Charron 126- same hood and fenders as the White Mustang and earlier White Diesels. 1966.

10. Thames Valley Brick ran this White Diesel from Chatham, ON in 1966.

11. Connelly Transports Ltd of Chatham and London, ON ran a pair of White Diesels with Autocar cabs for St.Lawrence Cement. 1966.

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