Bodies while you wait New milk floats
Page 28
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for Ford Transits
ANEW range of milk float bodies produced by Osborne Dairy Vehicles Ltd., Saffron Walden, includes a drop-on Dairymaid body which can be fitted to a Ford Transit 12, 17 or 22 cwt. 106 in.-wheelbase chassis/cab in the space of two hours. Another type is a conversion of the van and the two designs have been adopted by Ford as standard models for their Transit range.
The Dairymaid drop-on body is jigassembled and kept in stock at all times. Thus t,he delivery driver can wait whilst the body is fitted to the chassis/cab, avoiding a double journey. An all-steel underframe, side rave and wing construction is employed, and built-in name boards are fitted to the sides and rear.
Galvanized steel pipes, in. diameter, are fitted to the sides and rear at a height of 1+ in. from the floor. The pipes act as crate retainers and also allow easy deck cleaning with no dirt traps. The canopy roof is framed in hardwood and clad with 20 s.w.g. zinc-coated steel sheet with sealed joints covered with aluminium mouldings.
Capacity of the body is 25 crates per layer. The Dairymaid drop-on body is also offered on the 25, 30 and 35 cwt. 118 in.-wheelbase chassis/cab, giving a capacity of 30 crates per layer.
The factory van conversion is available on the 106 in.-wheelbase model only, and is known as the Transit Dairymaid Conversion. This is based on a factory van with sliding cab doors and no front division, and for open rear conversions rear doors are not required. Osborne state that conversions can be carried out to painted vans, extra care being taken to avoid paint damage.
On the Dairymaid conversion a flat floor is provided above the wheelboxes whilst space under the floor at the rear is enclosed by a hinged locker to form a spare wheel compartment. The roof is given extra support by the fitting of hardwood cant rails with
aluminium trim below the existing steel cant rails. The rear corners of the body are fully lined with 20 s.w.g. zinc-coated steel to form box sections for added strength.
Steel underframing is fully sealed-off in Sealastic to prevent corrosion and a pyramid steel crate bumping rave is fitted along the floor at each side to prevent paint chipping. The crate capacity is 21 per layer.
Full height and width food compartments can be built into the rear of the conversion body using the existing van doors. A full range of optional extras is available.