L36 and L37

Despite the success of the F truck in both Europe and other parts of the world, especially in the medium-duty segment, Volvo decided to carry on the development of reliable traditional conventional trucks, based on the existing generation of trucks.

A generation of modern trucks
When the L36/L37 family of trucks was introduced in 1954-56, it was a modern truck generation with numerous different components under the skin of the different versions. Side valve petrol engine, overhead valve petrol engine or diesel engine were obvious choices.

With the modest GCWs and the fairly modest quality of Scandinavian roads, around 100 bhp was more than enough for the intended transport applications, especially as these trucks were rarely used with a trailer.

Medium-duty class - heavy-duty performance
The mid and late 1950s was a time of fairly short daily transport distances when it came to medium-duty trucks, so a surprisingly large proportion of petrol-engine versions (L360 and L370) of this truck family was made, in relation to diesel engine trucks (L365 and L375).
Strictly speaking, this family of trucks belonged to the medium-duty class, but often the trucks were used in heavy-duty applications.

There were numerous tipper trucks based on chassis from this family, and L36/L37 trucks were often equipped with a crane, making them independent of loading tools and thus suitable for a large number of applications.