The Pick-up
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Catches On ANCILLARY transport. users are catered for more completely by the pick-up type of vehicle than by any other. The pick-up is designed and built to meet their special requirements. More correctly, they designed it themselves, for the pick-up developed from home-made machines consisting of the chassis and driving compartment of an old private car with a small lorry body in place of the passenger accommodation.
It meets a wide range of needs. For remote dwellers in under-developed countries, it serves as private transport into the nearest town on social occasions, and yet can be used to bring back half a ton of sand or some building materials, or, in fact, any of the thousand things that have to be carried to the distant home. Offering as it does the comfort of a private car and • the goods-carrying capacity of a light lorry, the pick-up is an essential vehicle in many overseas countries.
Among the first of the British manufacturers to market this type of machine in quantity was the Austin Motor Co., Ltd.. the first model to be produced being the A40. Powered by a lively and economical engine, this design has a private-car chassis and a roomy open body.
Independent front suspension gives a smooth ride and enables the vehicle to be used on rough farm tracks or building sites even when carrying a delicate load. Similar, but larger, is the A70 model, a type which may shortly he superseded. This has a capacity of B14 15 cwt. and a three-seater cab, and its powerful engine makes it suitable for the most severe overseas conditions.
Rather similar are the Morris Cowley and Standard pick-ups, Both are based on medium-sized private-car designs and have independent front suspension, the Morris employing torsion bars and the Standard coil springs. Like the A70, both have the gear-change lever on the steering column, thus enabling three passengers to be carried on the wide front seat.
The Standard was originally produced as an open utility vehicle having longitudinal bench seals at the rear, running over the wheel-arches and seating six. The later version has a drop tailboard and flanged body sides in which there. are hood-pole sockets and lashing hooks for a canvas tilt. The high power of the engine of the Standard model makes it suitable for larger loads than its body alone can carry and thus provision is made under the tailboard for a trailer-towing attachment.
Another powerful private car which forms the basis of a 12-cwt. pick-up is the Humber Super Snipe. This, too, offers saloon comfort for three passengers plus ample space for goods or equipment and has been specially designed for export. Independent front suspension is provided by means of a transverse leaf spring and wishbones. or maximum efficiency under extreme mditions, the radiator. fan is cowled, Id, where required, •9.00 by .13 sand Tes may be fitted; .
Dual Qualities
Another company of the Rootes Commer Cars, Ltd., has a light odel in the development stage. This ill be based on the Commer 8-ewt. van, id an earlier version was produced for ;port by J. H. Sparshatt and Sons 'ortsmouth), Ltd.
Two robust pick-ups are already anufactured by the Commer concern. hese are based on Superpoise chassis, td in consequence combine the quail of a light lorry with the comfort id 'appearance required of a family nabout.
The smaller of these, the medium-duty ck-up, has a three-seater cab, a pacious open body and an ability to hieve a road speed exceeding 50 m.p.h. Ireful design has eliminated wheelches inside the body, so that livestock ay be carried without fear of the imals injuring themselves by falling 'er such obstructions.
The other Commer model is the avy-duty pick-up, which has a larger, 1-cylindered engine and a bigger load pacity, whilst retaining the ability to crate, if necessary, at high speeds off e roads. A tilt or side strakes may be ted to the body, which is a steel uble-skinned structure. The spare tee] is mounted behind the cab in the ickness of the body side.
Despite the good appearance of this whine, it is no delicate piece of ;ichanism, an 11-in, clutch being an lication of the severe conditions tich it can overcome. All the Rootes adds are for export.
A number of variations on thp 1-up theme is available in the dford range. All of these arc sically Bedford K-type 30-cwt. whines. Particularly interesting is crew utility, in which provision is Ide for passengers as well as goods. me wide three-seater cab has an minium roof extending over the forert of the pick-up section.
The body sides are carried up to the roof, and small windows are fitted. Ambulance springs and shock absorbers improve the riding qualities. This type was tested by "The Commercial Motor" in Persia, and the report published in the issue dated December 2, 1949.
Three further models are available with steel bodywork by B. Walker and Sons, Ltd., Watford. Known by mark numbers, these machines have Bedford normal-control cabs. Marks 1 and Ill have bodies built out over the wheelarches, and differ in the method of stowing the spare wheel, which is underneath the longer body of the Mk. 1[1. The Mk. 11 model has a flat floor unobstructed by wheel-arches.
The largest pick-up manufactured in this country is the Fordson heavy-duty 2-tonner with a double-panelled steel body by P. and S. Motors. Ltd.. Teddington. This has an enclosed crew compartment behind the cab, which itself seats three. Half-drop windows are arranged in the crew compartment. Foot-holds are cut in the sides of the body at the rear to aid entry. The crew seat can be removed when an extralarge load is carried and the vehicle should be of particular value for telegraph-line maintenance men or oilpipe-line inspection gangs overseas.
Other models in the Ford company's list included pick-ups based on the now obsolete Pilot chassis, and the light pick-up on the Fordson 10-cwt. chassis. This is still in production and is available on the home market.
It differs, however, from most lightweight pick-ups by being based on a chassis specially intended for commercial use. This has semi-forward control, and thus the steel body is unusually long for a small vehicle.
New for Australia The newest vehicle of the type has recently been produced by Morris Commercial Cars, Ltd., primarily for the Australian market. This is the LC3U, similar to the LC van but equipped with low-pressure tyres and chromium-plated hub caps and a more comfortable cab.
It is exported with bodywork by Anthony Hoists, Ltd.. Ruislip. which concern also builds the Austin A70 and Fordson 10-cwt. pick-up bodies. Receptacles are situated in the sides of the Morris-Commercial body to receive the tilt frame and canvas if fitted.
Other bodywork of this multi-purpose nature has been fitted to Austin 25-cwt. and Morris -Commercial PV type forward-control chassis. These, however. represent the pick-up truck not in its fundamental form, that is a vehicle which can be used as a private car or as a goods carrier as the occasion demands, but are an application of the type to normal full-time transport duties, for which purpose it is well adapted.