The Ford Motor Company took its good old time introducing cabover trucks, so aftermarket suppliers like the Dearborn Line moved in to fill the gap.
Henry Ford was not just a car man. He was a truck man, too. Early on he saw the tremendous market in commercial vehicles, introducing the Model TT truck in 1917 and selling more than a million copies. Ford’s Model AA and V8 commercial haulers were equally popular, but there was a temporary blind spot in the company’s truck vision, evidently.
While GMC, Studebaker, White and all the rest joined the growing trend in cabover-engine trucks in the late ’20s and early ’30s, Ford conspicuously stayed out of that segment of the market. Aftermarket companies were bound to exploit this obvious gap in the Ford lineup, and in 1936, a Detroit firm, Transportation Engineers Inc., a subsidiary of Brooks & Perkins, introduced the Dearborn Line.
The Dearborn Line’s product strategy was dead simple: Offer the familiar and respected Ford V8 truck chassis, but in the increasingly popular cabover body style—ideal for use in the overcrowded business districts. “Now, a chassis fully realized,” the company boasted. “Dearborn Line Cab-Over-Engine Conversions give you a whale of a lot of room for payload and more profits!”
The body design was equally simple: The production Ford truck cab was relocated up high over the engine house on the standard truck chassis, with an awkwardly styled closeout panel bolted to the front. Overall, the look brings to mind a saying of Canadian TV comic Red Green: “If you can’t be handsome, be handy.” The company knew its customers well, it seems: owners and operators who wanted Ford trucks, but in a more efficient cabover configuration. Physical appearance was no deal breaker.
The Dearborn Line trucks were sold through select Ford dealers and curiously enough, the company’s Woodward Avenue business address was next door to Ford’s Highland Park factory. Dearborn wasn’t the only upfitter producing cabover conversions for Ford trucks, but it was the most widely promoted and advertised. In any event, all these products were rendered more or less obsolete in 1938 when Ford Motor Company finally launched its own cabover truck line. Dearborn remained in business into World War II producing panel vans and other specialty commercial vehicles.
Restored 1936 Ford Dearborn Cabover owned by Glad Acres Farm; photograph copyright Ron Waters. 
Let’s not sidetrack this post with a reference to Red Green, which I consider the biggest spoof/salute to the backyard mechanic, ever. While it goes over the heads of most non-mechanical folks, gearheads see an element of wisdom to his wackiness.
Can’t have a cabover post without an old gearjammer like me to chime in. Ford was the last in many things, last to offer hydraulic brakes, last to offer a diesel, so it’s no surprise, last for a cabover. In the 30’s, tractor trailers were not widely used yet, as most freight came in on the rail, and then delivered locally on straight trucks. I’m not sure why cabovers were used then, perhaps the easier to get around in crowded city locations. Later on in the 50’s, length laws practically required cabovers. A shorter tractor meant a longer trailer. Couple feet doesn’t sound like much, but over a year with bulk loads, it made a difference. When I began trucking in the late ’70’s, length laws were already being relaxed, and abolished altogether I believe, in the early 80’s, so a cabover was no longer needed, and fell out of favor for the better riding conventionals. Cabovers, either you loved them or you hated them. I knew drivers that would quit their jobs, if they had to drive a cabover. I hated them too, but drove what the boss told me to drive. My favorite cabover,,,,as if, was the IH 4070B Transtar. Just thinking about it makes my back ache once again. Thanks, MCG for the truck stuff!