Strongbox construction applied to big Luton
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• A 2,400 Cu ft Luton van has been produced by A. Tidd and Sons, Scarborough Road, Finsbury Park, London N4, based on the company's Strongbox form of construction (CM May 14, 1971). The one-piece reinforced-plastics-faced plywood sides are combined with perimeter sections of extruded aluminium to provide a rigid structure without the use of pillars, the roof being a one-piece glass-fibre translucent panel with bonded-in roof sticks. Mounted on an Albion Chieftain 12-ton gross chassis, the van has an overall length of 36ft and a width of 8ft 2fin and is believed to be the largest pillarless van to have been produced in the UK.
Having a rated gross weight of 1 'Pitons, the van weighs Stens 18cwt unladen. It is fitted with Joloda tracks and is used for pallet-loading by fork-lift truck. The operators of the vehicle, the Smiths Food Group, use it for distributing potato crisps and other snacks from a depot in Portsmouth to customers in Plymouth and Bristol.