1967 White COE

1967 White 3000 COE

Offered by Mecum | Indianapolis, Indiana | May 2024

Photo – Mecum

The White Motor Car Company was founded in 1900 and primarily dabbled in steam cars in the early years before adding gasoline options around 1910. By the time the first world war ended, White decided to focus solely on trucks.

It was a wise move, as the company stuck around until 1980, at which time it went bankrupt with its assets being purchased by AB Volvo, the truck company. White-branded trucks continued to be offered until Volvo and GM merged their North American truck marques. Thus White-GMC was born (remember seeing those semis on the highway back in the ’90s?). Eventually the White name disappeared.

This cab-over-engine semi tractor from 1967 is powered by a 6.6-liter inline-six and features an electrically tilting cab, a dually rear axle, and some interesting styling. The truck is selling at no reserve. Click here for more info.

Diamond T COE

1956 Diamond T 931C COE

Offered by Mecum | East Moline, Illinois | November 11, 2021

Photo – Mecum

COEs were seemingly everywhere even 30 years ago. Now seeing one on the road is kind of a treat, but in the 1970s they were much more commonplace. The cab-over-engine design is still popular in Europe, but different laws in the U.S. make them less appealing today than they were 40 or 50 years ago.

Something I find interesting about older semis is that it can be hard to pin down a year (or range of years) of manufacture. Trucks were generally in use until they were no longer functional. So some of the trucks you saw on the highway in the 1990s may very well have been produced in the 1970s, ’60s, or even earlier.

Diamond T is perhaps best well-known for its beautiful Art Deco pickup trucks of the 1930s and ’40s. But they were also building heavier trucks for commercial and military use. This 1956 COE model is said to have a “262 engine,” which I think means a 12.2-liter Cummins turbodiesel.

It’s one of the tallest COEs of its day and is well restored. It’s being sold on behalf of the American Truck Historical Society. You can read more about it here and see more from Mecum here.

Update: Sold $18,700.