Has anyone ever seen a kit for a over the road Peterbilt 379? I know that there are resin conversions and wreckers available but where do you get just a kit?

Would you have any pictures of this 379, cause I can't place this number, I know the most popular one was the 359, almost everybody wanted a 359, but I just can't picture a 379 in my mind, if you could give a picture of one, then if I see one in my surfing the net, I'll let you know, OK

Kerry

We are talking the same truck I believe, now I have never heard of it as a 379, all I ever heard is a 359 standard hood, or 359 extended hood, then they also had 359's with fiberglass hoods, that the people, that bought them, really complained about the spider webs, from all the cracks in the hood, after the first year.

Now maybe they changed the number when they put the turn signals up in by the headlights that one year, now I never did care for that model, but I think that year, was the only year they never made the extended hood, also, that the hoods, were actually slanted down towards the radiator a little, for better visibility, then everybody complained, that if they didn't put the extended hood back into production, that there was no reason to buy the Peterbuilt, so the factory changed their minds, and put the extended hood back in the line up again.

I think if you check them closely, you will see a sloped hood, on the ones with the turn signals, on the headlights, they were going for safety, and better visibility, but the owner operators wanted that extended hood instead, even Kenworth, went with an extended hood, but if you notice, it has a slight drop down, to the radiator, where all the old trucks, tried to have it going up, from the cab to the radiator, by lowering the cab mounts.

Now, I always thought that was awful looking, and it made it ride more rougher, cause instead of the rubber mounts, it used to ride on, it now set on the frame, I rode in a couple, and I didn't think it was worth the looks, for the rough ride.

Do you haft to have the turn signals on the headlights, cause that is only a newer trait, cause you know they had sort of round either single or oval dual, then they went to the square single, or rectangle duals, then they went with the ones with the turn signals on the sides of the head lights like the pictures you showed.

Here is a shortcut. I hope it works! The 379 is the 359 with a sleeper for over the road. It is sometimes called a "long nose pete" because it has the longer hood. I don't know why anyone doesn't make a kit of this as it is the "essential American truck" in most peoples'opinion! Thanks for looking! I think I've looked just about everywhere but I hope you know a few tricks that I don't! http://www.peterbilt.com/index_gal_pho_seg.asp?description=model+379#

I think Italeri used to have it in their inventory.

It may be OOP at the moment, but I am sure that one or 2 may pop up on e-bay

hth,

Richard

Well, I found 359's, but only one was a plain road tractor w/sleeper, and they are out of stock until December, so they claim, but they do have a heavy hauler one, called the Alaskan Hauler, w/3 drive axles, now it does have a sleeper, the only thing, it has 3 drive axles.

Then they got that wrecker in stock, that has a sleeper, you could always put the wrecker on something else if you want, then they got a single axle firetruck, that has a sleeper turned into a cabin for the crew.

This is all at Hobbylinc made by Revell of Germany
I hope this has been of a little help, you know you can always buy parts you need, there is places that sell all kinds of truck parts, you just about name it, and they make it.

The numbers has nothing to do with whether it has a sleeper or not, cause the 359's the way I see it now were the older style, it has to be, cause everybody I knew had a 359, and it has been over 5 years sense I been out on the road now.

This 379, has to be the new number they are using for this style, the only thing, they got the turn signal on the sides of the head lights, where the 359's were just head lights up there, if there is other differences, I don't know, cause I never seen them side, by side, maybe the cabs, may be different, and the hoods could be a little different also, like a slant to them, I have no idea.

Now the numbers just say the model, then they can come with or without a bunk, depending on how they were ordered, the same way with the amount of gears in the transmission, or what kind of transmission, it all depends on who orders it, and how they want it, but the number stays the same, the only thing, the 359 is no longer made by Peterbuilt, they just now call it the 379 now, I guess.

I have seen people take an Italeri Pete 377 sleeper and couple it on the chassis with the cab and hood from a Pete 378. I don't know if Italeri still makes these kits, but you could check it out if you want to go down that road.

~Chip