Greeneville, Tennessee-based Cline Everhart, owner of Everhart Transportation Inc. (ETI), is an "old cabover guy," as reported in this Overdrive feature in 2016. It's well evident from the quality of two COEs Everhart owns personally -- the 2000 Freightliner Argosy featured here in the video above, and the 1997 Peterbilt 362E you saw a couple weeks back.
Video Editor Lawson Rudisill caught up with Everhart at the 2025 Large Cars & Guitars event at Bristol Motor Speedway back in May, where Everhart offered details on both prized cabovers.
Cline Everhart with his 2000 Freightliner ArgosyVideo and photos by Lawson Rudisill
When he's out in the truck, he's often stopped by folks who think it's truly a unicorn: that is, they look at it and wonder just when Freightliner started making U.S. cabovers again, seeing a brand-new unit in the quarter-century-old rig.
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The additional lights added to the rig can be seen here.
The Argosy model was built by Freightliner in Cleveland, North Carolina, and was one of the last such models to be built for the U.S. market until Freightliner moved them into the export-only category.
Everhart gave this truck the ETI signature red paint scheme when he bought it, already equipped with an APU at the time.
Features on the truck are closer to European-style cabovers than their classic American counterparts.
When the cab doors open, steps automatically pop out from the side of the cab, making for easier in-and-out than most.
Inside, there's no doghouse over the engine, giving the interior more of a conventional look and feel, with more room to stand and move around.
"It's a really comfortable truck for cabover," Everhart said.
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The Argosy is powered by a 500-hp, 12.7-liter Detroit with a 13-speed transmission. And unlike most American COEs, there's access to the engine compartment without having to raise the entire cab.
By lifting the grille, operators are able to fairly simply check fluids and other components.
Everhart noted that he will still take the truck out for a run on the rare occasion he's able to hop in it to haul a load for his now-70-truck operation.
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Cline Everhart: This truck is a 2000 Freightliner Argosy, and it gets noticed wherever you go. People thinks it's new. You know, it's 25 years old. I got this from the, from a college in Georgia. Seventh-Day Adventist school that used it to move their pastors and doctors around. It's powered by a 12.7-liter Detroit. I think it's 500 horsepower and a 13 speed.
It also has a APU on it that came with it. It wasn't red when we got it. I've actually done very little to it other than paint it and put some fenders on it and polish it up a lot. I added, you know, a few lights, but outside of that, it's like it is when I bought it.
These trucks were built in the States. You see them a lot in Europe. It actually was built right over here in North Carolina, Cleveland, North Carolina, where these cab overs were built. But for the last few years they built them, they were for export only. So in Australia you still see a lot of these, but they were probably the last U.S. company to build a cab over in this country.
It's got the electric stairs on it. Makes it really easy to get in and out of. I've got it on manual now where we operate it with this switch, but typically when you open the door, it would come out; when you close the door, it would go back in. You can take a look in there if you want to.
It's got the flat floor. It doesn't have a doghouse in it. Without that doghouse, you can stand up in it. It's just like a conventional, you know, you're not confined to having to crawl around. It's really comfortable truck for cabover.
For you to check the fluids and stuff up here is pretty neat. Old-school cabovers, we would have had to raise the cab to get to your fluids and electronics or anything, if you have an issue with them, you have to raise up for other things.
I actually run that truck myself on the few occasions I get to take a trip. It's a cool cabover, too. It's a nice one.
