Surprising outcome when 1990s American Cabover semi-truck put in a race against a European one

Like all cars, semi-trucks have benefited from the marvels of modern automotive engineering, but someone took an American Cabover semi-truck from the 1990s to race against a European model.

Before you ask — yes, the European model, too, was from the same era.

It was a different time back then, and these trucks were the heart of logistics back in the day.

So, which part of the world did it better?

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European vs. American semi-trucks

YouTuber Bruce Wilson is an enthusiast, and he used to drive several trucks before mostly going into content creation full-time.

In one of his recent videos, he took out two recognizable icons — a 1997 Scania 144 and a 1993 Freightliner Cabover.

It showed how the trucks were different across the world, and the differences were certainly interesting.

These trucks demonstrated true power for something developed in the 1990s and retired in the early 2000s.

Interestingly, Australia once tried pulling trains using semi-trucks, but only to get surprising results.

Bruce went into extensive detail and compared almost all the differences between the two semi-trucks.

If you’re interested, we recommend watching the entire video to learn how the Scania and the Freightliner were different.

However, we are here today for one thing — the race between the American and the European trucks.

Modern semi trucks are wildly different from models that came out back in the day.

Some have even gone electric, and the Tesla Semi, while being quite capable, stands out.

Which model can race better?

Before going in too deep, it’s essential to note that the Scania 144 had a slightly larger engine and a smaller truck bed than the Freightliner.

Naturally, you would expect Scania to win in all cases — you know, because of its larger powerhouse.

That, however, wasn’t exactly what happened.

You see, on non-highway roads, the Freightliner outshone the European semi-truck.

It could be due to the electronically limited low-power acceleration on lower gears, but the difference was certainly remarkable.

Bruce also showed how simply removing a fuse below the dash ‘fixed’ that problem, but it was there for a reason.

All things considered, both of these semi trucks were extremely capable, and could carry massive payloads with engines that send out above 400 horsepower.