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Panel truck

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1906 Kansas City Motors panel truck
1906 Kansas City Motors panel truck

A panel truck (also called a panel delivery[1] or pickup truck-based van) in U.S. and Canadian usage is a small delivery truck with a fully enclosed body.[2] It typically is high and has no rear windows in the rear cargo area.[3] The term was first used in the early 1910s. Panel trucks were marketed for contracting, deliveries, and other businesses.[4] Often described as a small van (based on the chassis of a truck or pickup truck) used mostly for delivery rounds, the British equivalent is a "delivery van."[5]

History

Consumer demand from farmers and businesses for stripped-down Model T versions prompted Henry Ford to market vehicles that independent builders could supply cabs and cargo enclosures according to users' needs.[6]

The U.S. Army ordered 20,000 Dodge half-ton chassis sets for use as cargo trucks and ambulances During World War I that were then marketed after the war as the "Screenside Commercial Car" - a pickup with a roof and roll-up side covers or a fully enclosed cargo-bed.[6]

Chevrolet made a van-like version of their Chevrolet Suburban, which was a station wagon version of the Chevrolet pickup truck from the 1930s. Panel truck versions of the Suburban were made until 1973.

Ford made panel truck versions of their pickup trucks until 1960. Panel trucks were also converted into canopy expresses, which were primarily used by farmers.

The style of the panel trucks from the 1930s to 1950s inspired the style of both the Chrysler PT Cruiser and the Chevrolet HHR.[7][8] However, both of these were car platform-based models (Chrysler PL and GM Delta platforms respectively), not built on a pickup truck chassis.[9]

The current use of panel trucks describes commercial delivery vans.[10]

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Van

Van

A van is a type of road vehicle used for transporting goods or people. Depending on the type of van, it can be bigger or smaller than a pickup truck and SUV, and bigger than a common car. There is some variation in the scope of the word across the different English-speaking countries. The smallest vans, microvans, are used for transporting either goods or people in tiny quantities. Mini MPVs, compact MPVs, and MPVs are all small vans usually used for transporting people in small quantities. Larger vans with passenger seats are used for institutional purposes, such as transporting students. Larger vans with only front seats are often used for business purposes, to carry goods and equipment. Specially-equipped vans are used by television stations as mobile studios. Postal services and courier companies use large step vans to deliver packages.

Chevrolet Suburban

Chevrolet Suburban

The Chevrolet Suburban is a series of automobiles built by the Chevrolet division of General Motors. The name started in 1934 for the 1935 U.S. model year, making it the longest continuously used automobile nameplate in production. It has traditionally been one of General Motors' most profitable vehicles. The 1935 first generation Carryall Suburban was one of the first production all-metal bodied station wagons. It now has a full-size SUV body style and comes with three engine options: a 5.3 liter V8, 6.2 liter V8 or a 3.0-liter inline-6 turbo diesel.

Chrysler PT Cruiser

Chrysler PT Cruiser

The Chrysler PT Cruiser is a retro-styled compact car manufactured and marketed internationally by Chrysler in 5-door hatchback wagon (2001–2010) and 2-door convertible (2005–2008) body styles—over a single generation, with an intermediate facelift for model year 2006.

Chevrolet HHR

Chevrolet HHR

The Chevrolet HHR is a retro-styled, high-roofed, five-door, five-passenger, front-wheel drive wagon designed by Bryan Nesbitt and launched by the American automaker Chevrolet at the 2005 Los Angeles Auto Show as a 2006 model.

Car platform

Car platform

A car platform is a shared set of common design, engineering, and production efforts, as well as major components, over a number of outwardly distinct models and even types of cars, often from different, but somewhat related, marques. It is practiced in the automotive industry to reduce the costs associated with the development of products by basing those products on a smaller number of platforms. This further allows companies to create distinct models from a design perspective on similar underpinnings. A car platform is not to be confused with a platform chassis, although such a chassis can be part of an automobile’s design platform, as noted below.

Difference

The difference between a sedan delivery and a panel truck is that the sedan delivery is based on the chassis of a sedan, hatchback, or station wagon, while a panel truck is based on the chassis of a pickup truck.[11] Unibody-based vans are similar in size and in functionality but have a unibody chassis.

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Sedan (automobile)

Sedan (automobile)

A sedan or saloon is a passenger car in a three-box configuration with separate compartments for an engine, passengers, and cargo.

Hatchback

Hatchback

A hatchback is a car body configuration with a rear door that swings upward to provide access to a cargo area. Hatchbacks may feature fold-down second row seating, where the interior can be reconfigured to prioritize passenger or cargo volume. Hatchbacks may feature two- or three-box design.

Station wagon

Station wagon

A station wagon or estate car, is an automotive body-style variant of a sedan/saloon with its roof extended rearward over a shared passenger/cargo volume with access at the back via a third or fifth door, instead of a trunk/boot lid. The body style transforms a standard three-box design into a two-box design — to include an A, B, and C-pillar, as well as a D-pillar. Station wagons can flexibly reconfigure their interior volume via fold-down rear seats to prioritize either passenger or cargo volume.

Pickup truck

Pickup truck

A pickup truck or pickup is a light-duty truck that has an enclosed cabin, and a back end made up of a cargo bed that is enclosed by three low walls with no roof. In Australia and New Zealand, both pickups and coupé utilities are called utes, short for utility vehicle. In South Africa, people of all language groups use the term bakkie, a diminutive of bak, Afrikaans for "basket".

Van

Van

A van is a type of road vehicle used for transporting goods or people. Depending on the type of van, it can be bigger or smaller than a pickup truck and SUV, and bigger than a common car. There is some variation in the scope of the word across the different English-speaking countries. The smallest vans, microvans, are used for transporting either goods or people in tiny quantities. Mini MPVs, compact MPVs, and MPVs are all small vans usually used for transporting people in small quantities. Larger vans with passenger seats are used for institutional purposes, such as transporting students. Larger vans with only front seats are often used for business purposes, to carry goods and equipment. Specially-equipped vans are used by television stations as mobile studios. Postal services and courier companies use large step vans to deliver packages.

Chassis

Chassis

A chassis is the load-bearing framework of an artificial object, which structurally supports the object in its construction and function. An example of a chassis is a vehicle frame, the underpart of a motor vehicle, on which the body is mounted; if the running gear such as wheels and transmission, and sometimes even the driver's seat, are included, then the assembly is described as a rolling chassis.

Canopy express

A canopy express (also known as a "huckster truck"[12]) is a light-duty cargo van based on the chassis of a panel truck. Canopy express vehicles have open display areas behind the driver's seat commonly used for peddling vegetables and fruit, but also used for other kinds of deliveries that require easy access, such as newspapers and radio equipment.[13][14]

Canopy express trucks evolved as a more stylized version of standard pickup trucks that contained open canopies installed over the pickup bed. They were built by Dodge, General Motors, and International Harvester as well as other manufacturers. Ford Canopy Express trucks were merely aftermarket conversions of their existing panel trucks.

As the United States became more suburbanized after World War II, sales of canopy express vehicles declined. Dodge ceased production of these trucks in 1948, while GM offered the last of them in 1955.[15]

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Source: "Panel truck", Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, (2022, November 22nd), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panel_truck.

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References
  1. ^ MCG (12 September 2013). "Another look at sedan deliveries". macsmotorcitygarage. Retrieved 25 October 2020.
  2. ^ "Panel truck". thefreedictionary.com. Retrieved 23 July 2014.
  3. ^ "Panel Truck: meaning". Cambridge English Dictionary. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
  4. ^ Leavenworth, Jesse (27 July 2017). "'46 Chevrolet Panel Truck In Lebanon Customized To Deliver A Memorable Ride". Hardford Currant. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
  5. ^ "Panel truck definition and meaning". Collins English Dictionary. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
  6. ^ a b Sherman, Don (11 December 2017). "Pickup trucks have been on the job for 100 years". Hagerty. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
  7. ^ "Chrysler PT Cruiser". automotive.com. Archived from the original on 27 July 2014. Retrieved 23 July 2014.
  8. ^ Spinelli, Mike (6 October 2006). "Chevrolet Unveils HHR Panel Van in Miami". Jalopnik. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
  9. ^ Garrett, Jerry (13 November 2005). "Behind the Wheel: 2006 Chevrolet HHR; Let's Do the Time Warp Again". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
  10. ^ "Used Cargo Vans (Panel Vans)". Penske. Retrieved 5 February 2021.
  11. ^ "Posts Tagged 'panel truck'". oldchevytrucks.com. Retrieved 24 October 2020.
  12. ^ Montville, John (Third Quarter 1981). "Commercial Vehicles Between the Wars". Automobile Quarterly. Vol. 19, no. 3. pp. 304–317.
  13. ^ O'Clair, Jim. "1933 Chevrolet Canopy Express". www.hemmings.com. Hemmings Motor News.
  14. ^ Chaiken, Mike (23 November 2019). "Your Chevy 3100 Canopy is waiting just around the corner". Wheels.
  15. ^ Matras, John (December 1995). "Chevrolet Trucks: Working for Their Living". Automobile Quarterly. Vol. 34, no. 4. pp. 42–53.

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