Jeep Forward Control: the cab-over Jeep truck

The Jeep Forward Control is a cab-over truck built by Willys Motors, later Kaiser Jeep, from 1956 to 1965. The layout put the cab above and ahead of the front axle, which made the truck short yet gave it a long load bed and a tight turning circle. It was sold as a work vehicle for companies, municipalities, the military and private buyers, and it was also assembled under licence in India and Spain.

Jeep Forward Control at a glance

The article covers the whole Forward Control range; the FC-150 entry is the main record.

History of the Jeep Forward Control

A new kind of Jeep truck

Willys had been selling utility vehicles that changed little since 1947, and by the mid-1950s the market was more competitive. Management therefore developed a modern range of cab and body trucks. The independent designer Brooks Stevens, who had worked for Willys since the 1940s, took styling cues from full-size cab-over-engine trucks and made the centre grille panel imitate the classic seven-slot Jeep face. The layout and the “helicopter look” of the cab were too unusual for mainstream buyers, but the trucks found a niche as airport service vehicles, tow trucks and railway crew trucks that could run on the rails.

The FC-150 and FC-170

The FC-150 of 1956 used the CJ-5’s 81 in wheelbase but carried a 78 in load bed: a record six-foot bed on a vehicle 147.5 in long overall, two inches shorter than a two-seat Nash Metropolitan. Willys claimed it could climb grades of up to 60 per cent. In 1958 the FC-150 received a wider chassis, the track growing from 48 to 57 in, and a T-98 four-speed gearbox, with a gross weight of 5,000 lb. The FC-170 of 1957 had a 103 in wheelbase and a 108 in bed, a six-cylinder engine and a three-speed gearbox; a dual-wheel FC-170 DRW added a 120 in bed and gross weights of 8,000 or 9,000 lb. The 1958 updates were guided by a Willys goal of a one-to-one ratio between kerb weight and payload, which the Society of Automotive Engineers called the lowest then offered by a domestic maker in the light commercial class. Longer FC-180 and FC-190 models with tandem axles stayed on paper, and three operational “Forward Control Commuter” concepts, possibly among the earliest minivan-type vehicles, were built by Reutter in Stuttgart.

Selling a strange truck

The FC Jeeps were shown to dealers in a closed-circuit telecast on 29 November 1956 and to the public at the New York automobile show in December, and the FC-150 went on sale on 12 December 1956. Sales peaked in 1957 with 9,738 trucks; after the FC-170 arrived, FC-150 sales fell to 1,546 in 1959 before recovering to 4,925 in 1960. The trucks never became the big sellers Willys had hoped for, and total production in nine years was just over 30,000.

Design and features

• Cab-over layout: a short truck with a long bed and a tight turning circle.
• Seven-slot face: Brooks Stevens adapted the Jeep grille to the flat cab front.
• Special bodies: flatbeds, tow trucks, dump trucks and fire trucks from outside suppliers.
• Payload for its size: a one-to-one kerb weight to payload ratio after the 1958 update.
• Licensed abroad: built under licence in India and Spain.

Jeep Forward Control versions

• FC-150 (1956–1965): the short-wheelbase four-cylinder truck.
• FC-170 (1957–1965): longer wheelbase with a six-cylinder engine.
• FC-170 DRW: dual rear wheels and a 120 in bed.
• FC-180 and FC-190: paper projects of 1957 with longer chassis and tandem axles.
• Forward Control Commuter: three passenger concepts built by Reutter.

The Forward Control was built on the CJ-5 chassis; the conventional full-size Jeep pickup of the same years is the J-series. More models are in the Jeep collection.

Video: 1963 Jeep FC150 Cab Over (SOLD)

Video by MotoeXotica Classic Cars on YouTube.

Sources

• Jeep Forward Control, English Wikipedia: design, FC-150 and FC-170, production figures