HORSE-VAN BODIES FOR LIGHT MOTOR CHASSIS.
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THERE is quite a number of light horsed vans still in service, particularly amongst email tradesmen -whose areas of delivery may not extend more than three or four miles from headquarters. Many of these traders, with limited means at their disposal, have probably observed with no small misgivings the incursions of some of their enterprising competitors who, with more money -to spare, have been able to dispense with their horsed vans and to adopt, light motorvans. The trader who wishes to retain a firm hold on his business connections is, sooner or later, forced to come into line with his competitors. Delay, however, in the adoption of more modern moans of transport than horsed vehicles is dangerous, and may result in the loss Of considerable goodwill which, in all probability, will be difficult to retrieve.
We wonder how many users of light horsed vans are aware of the fact that the bodies fitted to their vehicles can be very easily transferred to light motor vehicle chassis, providing, of course, they have not been subjected to rough usage.
Such, however, is the case, and those users of horsed vehicles who are interested in the proposition should not fail to get into touch with Messrs. T. Blanch, of 69, Church Street, Kensington, London, S.W. 3, who have effected quite a number of adaptations of this description at a saving of between 235 and 249 to the user of a pair-horse van..
The average horsed-van body is, with careful treatment., good for 20 years' service, but it is not very much use for conversion purposes after eight or ten years behind a pair of shafts. Most light horsed-van bodies can be adapted to fit the Ford ton chassis. In the ease of the single:horse-van body the motor vehicle cab is built on to the. existing partition, but in the case of the pair-horse-van body the driver's cab partition is built into the old body. In carrying out conversions of this sort the undercarriages, springs, and wheels of the old body have to be discarded, and if they have been in use for a number of years they will fetch little more than scrap value.
The illustrations which we reproduce on this page give an excellent idea of the workmanlike appearance of the body. after the conversion is carried out, and it would be impossible for the layman to detect that the body on the Ford ton chassis had originally done duty on a horsed van. It will be noticed that the rounded front of the old body has been straightened, the driver's side mirrors filled in, and a roof rail fitted.
Messrs. Blanch have effected many adaptations of this kind, and more than a dozen horsed-van bodies in use by J. Lyons and Co., Ltd., have been fitted on motor chassis. A conversion job of this description represents not only a considerable saving of money, but it can be carried out much more quickly than it would be possible to build a new body, and, therefore, the user is not unduly inconvenienced.