LIGHT DELIVERY VANS.
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A Demand Capable of Great Development. Conditions to be Met.
EVERY week I open my Commercial 1 fotor expecting to be greeted with a description of some new type light delivery chassis, but I seem to be doomed to disappointment, as with the exception of the 12 cwt. Belsize, the field up to 20 cwt. appears to be held by the Ford, and attachments. • With the above exception it appears that we have to rely on very second-hand pleasure car chassis that are too noisy and troublesome for passenger purposes. After having umpteen owners, some brainy person sass "stick a van body on it and give it a coat of paint, and we'll palm it off on a local trades.man." This may have been good enough during the war, but now the user demands something better. Surely it is time manufacturers gave this subject their serious consideration.
Some of the ramshackle vans one sees about the streets are a disgrace to the firms whose goods they carry, and these firms seem to ignore the immense value of a smart van as an advertising medium. In many cases, the user adopted such a motor vehicle under stress of war conditions, when his horses were commandeered, so that he does not yet realize what it is to own an up-to-date van that can be relied on all day, and every day of the year, with the exception, of course, of a periodical overhaul. This user will never backslide to his pre-war method of delivery, but on the contrary will require something better, though at present he has not a very wide choice.
• Nearly every garage haa one or two derelict vans in it that are-hung up for spare parts, and, a-s the chassis is usually of an obsolete type the wait is considerable. In the meanwhile, whilst waiting for the repairs to the vehicle to bai completed, the tradesman-owner has, to make other arrangements to deliver his goods, and he gets very disgusted, although be often looks upon these frequent breakdowns as a necessary evil with motors, whereas they should certainly be an exception. , A popular range of chassis would be .10 cwt., 15 ewt., and 20 cwt., exclusive of body of average weight, and any firm specializing in such a trio should be sure of a continued demand. I am not going to suggest any details of design for this proposed range of models, but they should be manufactured solely for business purposes and not be merely adapted pleasure car chassis, because it must be remembered that four people each weighing 12 4 stone only constitute a6-cwt. "live " load, and it is not the sanie thing, by a very, long way, to attempt to inflict a 10 cwt. " dead " load on a similar chassis, as is,so often done after merely strengthen ink the springs. Then, one has to e'onsider that these vans are generally drivenby youths who are not always skilful or considerate, whilst rough loading and unloading are general, and overloading is frequently the case. The chassis must be designed to meet these conditions, always remembering that the user requirei a vehicle that is reasonable in capital cost, thoroughly reliable and cheap to run and maintain.
What 'has become of the parcelc,s,r1 One never sees the names of Auto-Carrier, Warrwick, Girling, etc., etc., except in the second-hand columns. Does it mean that the makers of these handy little machines have decided to discontinue to manufacture, or does it mean that they have suryrises,in store for us in the shape of a "hush-model super-parcelear?
In future, much more attention must be paid. to the bodies supplied, as the tendency now is simply to'offer a roomy van body, which means that goods have to be accommodated to suit the body, whereas the opposite should be the case. It is quite possible to have what is practically a standard body for each class of trade; these bodies being known by the .names of the trades .for which they are the most suitable, such as drapers, butchers, bakers, dairy, groceries, etc., etc. For instance; a grocer's van body could be so arranged that the centre space is left open for heavy and bulky goods with a door at the rear, on either sides shelves being fitted and being rendered accessible from the outside•by sliding doors. These shelves should be made to take so many boxes of standard shape, though perhaps of different sizes, so that the larger ones could be at the bottom and the smaller ones ort the -top shelf. Groceries for each household are packed in a separate box. A duplicate set of boxes should be used, these being filled in the shop whilst the Van was out on a round, thus materially reducing delays in reloading ; the actual delivery would also be greatly expedited as each box would be labelled and very ' accessible, so there would be no necessity to shift half a load to obtain a parcel that had shaken down into an obscure corner. Of course, I know such a body would be much more expensive than the usual type, but it should not be difficult to prove to a 'tradesman that he would.regain the extra cost many times over in a year by the vast saving in time both in preparing and delivery, as well as economy in the use of brown paper and string. Bodies could be similarly designed for all the peculiarities of the afore-mentioned trades and for any others, and the result would 'be a general smartening up. and a much greater all-round efficiency.