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Vehicle builders can always provide that something extra...
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Specially for you
BUYING a basic vehicle ex-stock is much like buying a ready-made suit off-the-peg. You get what you pay for: a good workmanlike tool, almost suitable for all occasions. However, it will be without that touch that sets a vehicle apart.
Just as the ready-made suit cannot be used on special occasions, like formal dress functions or morning dress affairs, the basic vehicle cannot adequately function on unusual transport operations.
That is why, like the men of Saville Row, vehicle manufacturers offer tailor-made versions of the basic product specially built to meet the customer's needs. These specially built vehicles can vary from the basic model by as little as a chassis extension or to the extent of a modified power unit, steering and custom-built body.
Any "special" costs more than the basic vehicle. Before it gets to the length of the drawing board, the need has to be identified and the concept evaluated in financial terms.
A local delivery vehicle making 30 calls a day and discharging 300 cases on kerbside delivery might make 40 calls delivering 400 cases if the wheelbase were lengthened and the loading height lowered.
The longer chassis would make the vehicle more productive, and the lower loading height would reduce driver fatigue and make him more productive. The vehicle would earn more, and while the driver could be paid more, the additional cost would be quickly offset.
Not all specials are so simple in concept, design or operation, but the illustration serves the purpose. Nor are all modifications likely to be so cheap.
The cost factor cannot be ignored, but it must be measured against the additional earnings or savings depending on whether the vehicle is on haulage or own-account operation.
Assume the modification costs f1,000 more than basic and the vehicle is to operate 500,000 miles before replacement. In this case the cost of the modification is 0-2 of one penny a mile.
Worked on an hourly rate, if the modification costs £1 ,000 and the vehicle is to operate for five years at 40 hours per week, the cost would be about 8 pence per hour.
If the modification causes the vehicle to earn more than 02 of one penny more per mile or 8 pence more per hour, the project merits further consideration.
We have gathered together a few examples of what manufacturers have produced following "specials" inquiries in recent years. They give some idea of the industries' versatility. The exhibitors at the Turin Show can always be depended on to produce a crop of eyecatching special bodies. Not only are they attractive, but also very practical. What we regard as the latest thing in mobile shops was long ago discarded by the Italians.
A mobile shop in Italy is more of an open shopping area. The sides fold up and down to give floor space and canopies and the fitments would do credit to any major store.
The "areasare used for
butchery, hairdressing, boutique displays, or any form of sales point. It could be argued that these bodies are only at home under the sunny skies of Naples or Rome, but the Italian influence can now be detected in Germany and France. Indeed there were very definite signs of it at the Amsterdam Show this year.
What better year for British bodybuilders to show what they can offer than this year at the NEC during the Commercial Motor Show?
Undoubtedly British craftsmen have the skill, and our designers would surely welcome the opportunity to practise their art.
This is their chance — the home market may be slow to respond, but there is ample scope on mainland Europe. CM will welcome design suggestions from either builders or operators, and we will make a small award to the most attractive and practical entry.