BULK VEHICLES HELP TO SELL THE GOODS
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Smart Designs Increase the Operator's Prestige THE movement of perishable foodstuffs by road,has become increasingly important to manufacturers, especially those with a widespread distribution of branded goods.
As more of these manufacturers have come to appreciate the advantages of road transport for speedy bulk haulage. their designers and advertising advisers have built up an increasing awareness of opportunities to extend company prestige -by the use of planned design for these vehicles.
Birds Eye Foods, Ltd., with factories in Kirkby, Grimsby, Yarmouth and Lowestoft, decided to introduce bulkload vehicles to move their quick-frozen foods to London. To take full advantage of public recognition, Richard Lonsdale-Hands Associates. Ltd., were commissioned to advise on the design of a suitable body and surface treatment for Birds Eye's first bulk vehicle.
This consisted of an 18-ft. wheelbase
E.R.F. 24-ton chassis for a 17-ton payload. The insulated container could maintain up to 14 tons of quick-frozen foods at a product temperature of 0° F. over a period of 24 hours, using carbon dioxide as the refrigerant.
Initially, there were to be three of these bulk vehicles, with a fourth, mechanically refrigerated, as an experiment. Although the construction entailed a refrigerated container on a platform, the designers wanted the finished appearance to present an integrated vehicle.
Since the vehicles would be keeping to trunk roads and would always be seen an the move, the overall design had to suggest the quality of the products, with sense of urgency and efficiency in
-eaching their destination. At first. vehicles were intended to operate only in he daytime, covering 700-800 miles t week. Now, a 24-hour service is envisled, so provision has had to be made for Iluminating branding. With all these con;iderations in mind, the lesigners had to corn)ine Birds Eye branding vith vehicle styling, naking use of the comlany's established blue .ad white colour cheme. in conjunction vith their " bird in light" silhouette trade nark. To achieve an ffect of unity, the cab lad to be integrated vith the body, which vas done by designing Luton-type body. An illuminated front-facing headboard, bearing the company insignia, was fixed over the cab roof. From this headboard a two-stage contour along the aluminium body was developed, sweeping in one continuous line round the tail of the vehicle and "picking up the blue-andwhite colour scheme.
Branding on the sides was confined to an inset band in the centre, finished in a deep blue specially developed to identify the company's products. This branding, displayed in relief against the blue, featured the bird's silhouette in white, trimmed in gold.
The trade name, which was in red, was made easily identifiable at night by the use of Scotch] ite reflecting material. At the rear the bird motif and name were repeated across the blue door panel..
It was considered important to create a suitable slogan specially for this simple yet modern styling. " Refrigerated service" was agreed upon—a straightforward statement of fact, suggesting urgency and efficiency. This was balanced by the words "Quick-frozen foods" to give positive identification of the goods.
To continue the integration of the body so that it did not appear that a box had been simply loaded on to a wheeled platform, ribbed aluminium sheeting was used. This lowered the apparent height of the vehicle, and its streamlined effect contributed to the appearance of speed. The emphasis thus given to the lower part of the vehicle was balanced by finishing the top of the blue inset panel in silver.
Another practical application of the finished design was that it allowed refrigeration gases to be exhausted by a vcnturi at the front end of the container behind and above the 'driving cab, and letgases pass out through the roof.
The first of these bulk movement vehicles is now in service, and the driver has been provided with a uniform designed to harmonize with the colour scheme of the vehicle. Richard ionsdale-Hands Associates also advised on the uniform.
A special feature of the vehicles is a destination board included on each side. , They are readily interchangeable and indicate the route over which any particular vehicle is operating, together with the variety of frozen food carried. A typical example is the "Grimsby-London Fish Fillet Special."