What cab layout did the Jeep Forward Control use?

The Jeep Forward Control used a cab-over layout.

In a cab-over, or forward-control, vehicle, the driver’s cab sits above or ahead of the front axle instead of behind a conventional hood-mounted engine. Willys used this arrangement to create a compact truck with a surprisingly large cargo bed. The design made the Forward Control look radically different from the familiar flat-fender Jeep.

The FC-150 arrived in 1956, followed by the larger FC-170 in 1957. Both were based on Jeep mechanical components, including four-wheel drive, but placed the cab at the very front. This allowed a long load area relative to the vehicle’s overall length and produced a tight turning circle, useful for municipal, industrial, airport, and delivery work.

The name “Forward Control” describes the placement of the driver’s controls over the front section; “cab-over” and “cab-over-engine” are broader terms for the same basic arrangement. It is not a half cab, club cab, or crew cab classification. Those terms describe cabin size or configuration rather than the Forward Control’s defining front-biased layout.