You remember that, right? The successor to the "mechanical horse", built between 1948 and 1968.
It was the main urban delivery system for British Railways in the days when the railways carried most of the nation's goods and parcels.
There's something unspeakably cute about their rounded appearance.
Anyhow, as I was searching I stumbled across an image of this -- the Morris Commercial J type van:
And I realised I hadn't thought about that in years.
Which is strange, because the J type is one of the most anthropomorphic designs ever to grace a road vehicle, with its hang-dog mouth and cute-as-a-button eyes.
I don't have anything else to add here -- except I seem to remember there was an even more streamlined commercial van of that era.
Anyone remember what it was?
7 comments:
Well there were Commers and Bedfords that were more round and softer looking. And they were around in the same period. Perhaps they were what you were thinking of?
Regards,
Michael
There was also a 3 wheeled automobile around the same time as those trucks -0- one front wheel for steering and looked rather like a 3 wheel version of the Morgan -
Jon
It wasn't either a Bedford or a Commer. Maybe it was a US design?
Hmmmm - yes, there was a U.S. beer truck somewhere around 1940 that was a very streamlined affair - very Raymond Loewy - rather like the Chrysler Airflow had mated with a delivery truck - I may have a picture of it somewhere in all my files -
Jon
Yes, here's a website for the beer trucks - not the picture I was thinking of however, but you may find it interesting -
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.eevamoritz.com/lab47_images/lab47_rside_plan_web.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.eevamoritz.com/lab47.html&usg=__vA6ZiXA1iuG4u_WYeGG6eNWwLS0=&h=136&w=454&sz=54&hl=en&start=76&sig2=qPhqhDghqrwknps5PfGmaQ&itbs=1&tbnid=RXOSk9ev2xraVM:&tbnh=38&tbnw=128&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dloewy%2Bstreamline%2Bbeer%2Btruck%26start%3D60%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26gbv%3D2%26ndsp%3D20%26tbs%3Disch:1&ei=Q_nhS4L3DYiQmwPK7ugB
that seems like an extradinarily long address, but that's what the copy picked up -
jsstrand: I had completely forgotten that -- I suspect deliberately, since it's not one of Loewy's finest. Fascinating though it is, that wasn't what I had in mind. It was another small van, but with a more elongated radiator grill that was also thinner and on a more pronounced edge.
I really am rubbish at descriptions, aren't I?: I'll keep an eye peeled.
Hmmm - how about the "Scarab" which was a pretty revolutionary design concept at the time - however, I don't remember whether it was more for delivery or like a station wagon -
Jon
Post a Comment