Growing Field for Road Transport
Page 35
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
N0 better proof of the remarkable versatility of the commercial motor vehicle and allied products, including. road tractors and trailers, can be gained than by a visit to a fairly comprehensive agricultural show, such as the Royal.
Although this particular one is not now authorized by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders for exhibiting chassis or vehicles other than those allied to the farming industry, it is surprising hoW many types and makes are represented. In fact, if all were placed together they would form a very good show on their own.
Reference might be made first to the large mobile post office, then the banks are indicating a decided partiality for elaborately equipped vehicles or trailers from which all normal banking business can be conducted. There are not wanting mobile shops, some staged by manufacturers or agents for clothing, towels and other products of the soft goods trade, whilst many of the producers of specialized foodstuffs for animal or human consumption find demonstration vans to be of proved value.
Many Important Users Amongst these may be placed special kitchens in which the food products are actually cooked and mmples distributed. Such an important concern as Unilever visit the agricultural shows with their Stork margarine kitchen; the Fatstock Marketing Corporation make use of some finely equipped motor units; British Glues and Chemicals have an exhibition trailer which opens wide at the rear, making quite a fine stand. Then there are compact schools, such as that employed by the Petters McLaren Group, who send it around to different parts of the country giving users or potential users of their engines practical instruction. Many people in the industry will also know the Perkins mobile schools, which do such excellent work. Hoovers now have a mobile exhibition in which the five wide steps leading into the " showroom" fold up into the vehicle.
In some of these demonstration and other types of vehicle it would seem that cost has hardly entered into consideration, because many of them are most elaborately finished and equipped. Some, of course, are likely eventually to save their owners quite a lot of money, because they constitute excellently arranged stands and can move from show to show without difficulty and without involving anything else than the actual space which they occupy at the showground. They present also the advantage that in inclement weather they are clear of damp surroundings.
Bodybuilders vie with each other to produce designs which will fit these vehicles to their various tasks, and they must now constitute quite a lucrative addition to the work available, which in many cases has not been too satisfactory during the past year or so.
There is little doubt that this is a growing field for enterprise and one which does not seem to possess any definite limits. There are no doubt still hundreds, if not thousands, of concerns which could benefit by the increased employment of commercial vehicles in this way.
It is a tremendous asset to be able to take products to the buyers rather than to expect buyers to track them down. In some of the bigger models, particularly of the trailer type, even sleeping accommodation is provided, whilst others have their own little well-arranged cocktail bars or private rooms where customers can be interviewed and, if necessary, refreshed.
Where trailers or semi-trailers are concerned there is the additional benefit to the industry of the need for the provision of suitable towing media, _and it is essential that these should be as well equipped and constructed as the trailers, so that the complete vehicles present an attractive appearance.
Great Publicity Value From the advertising point of view great advantages are presented; the long and broad sides afford every opportunity of arranging an attractive display which will draw immediate attention to at least the most important of the products concerned, and some are indeed almost in the classification of works of art, which must certainly help in developing increased sales.
The mobile shop alone has become one of the essentials of life and comfort in many areas in this country, particularly where the spreading of our towns has removed many inhabitants from the leading shopping centres. With the unfortunate, but apparently essential reduction in some country bus services, such shops are almost certain to increase in popularity and use.