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To celebrate the launch of CM’s digital archives, we take a look at a selection of classic van advertisements
Words: Will Shiers / Images: CM Archive
Yes, that’s right, in the 1930s Raleigh also built vans. For their £78.15s buyers were treated to a host of standard features, including a horn, a reverse gear, a driving mirror and no fewer than three wheels.
During the Second World War Ford’s Dagenham plant produced 360,000 cars and trucks, while its Manchester factory made 34,000 Rolls-Royce Merlin engines. Note the blackout-slotted covers on the offside headlamps. This advert featured in the 11 May 1940 issue of CM.
JH Jennings of Sandbach was well known for its travelling shops, mobile libraries, horseboxes, bread vans and other unusual coachbuilt bodywork. Does anyone know what chassis this 1951 mobile canteen is built on?
In 1937 £142.10s would have bought you an 8cwt Jowett van, while an extra £1 allowed you to upgrade to the heavy-duty 10cwt springs. The Bradford-built Jowett promised industry-leading payload and an impressive 35mpg. Big men may well have bought Austin vans, but could they actually fit into the cab of an Austin A35 (background)? This ad dates back to September 1963, three years after the Austin/Morris J4 (foreground) was launched.
A fully enclosed cab and comfortable seats – those Dodge Brothers knew how to spoil ‘the black van man’ in 1927. Knocked-down Dodge vans were assembled in Park Royal, London from 1922. Production would later move to Kew, and then Dunstable.
The late British boxing legend Sir Henry Cooper had a close association with the Ford Transit – but in 1976 he was also publicising its arch rival the British Leyland Sherpa. In the ad the Sherpa is described as ‘big, tough and not too pretty’. Well, they weren’t lying about the latter!
The revolutionary Ford Transit was launched in 1965, and the longwheelbase version with its twin rear wheels and extended arches came along in the following April. This ad just screams 1960s Carnaby Street.
The Final Frontier – and the final death throes of an ageing van that had long since passed its sell-by date. By 1980, when this advertisement was published, the Dodge Spacevan (which started out in 1960 as the Commer 1500 FC), was nearing the end of its useful life and would remain in production for just three more years. The Spacevan’s largest fleet customers were the GPO and BT, which together bought 27,000 of them.