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anyone know anything about ice cream vans? Is there an ice cream van maker, or are they modified normal vans?
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I think many new vans are built by body builder specalists, for franchises like i think Walls franchises use Ford Transits.
But many older ice cream vans are basically short wheel based converted with retro fitted equipment such as the generators which are driven by the main battery, that explains why you find them with the engines idling all day.
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Its not what you drive, its how you drive it! :-)
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www.whitbymorrison.com/
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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7 Year old Merc Sprinter converted to an ice cream van @£30k + VAT. No wonder the ice cream is pricey!
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A Ford Econoline Ice Cream truck was once 'pimped' on MTV.
www.ifilm.com/episode/16268
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the fuel consumption must be pretty horrible, you see a lot with their engines on for hours on end powering their freezers, often with the hood up to stop overheating. Perhaps new ones are better.
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an old ambulance with freezers full of the proper solid ice creams would be easy to set up with a genny running cheap cooking oil converted through a rectifier
kit kaboodle with lots of tasty flavours £1000 all in
hippy mobile ----extra obviously
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They used to have a second engine to power the freezer, and this ran on paraffin, that's why you could always smell it in the vicinity of the ice cream van. This engine ran continuously, including when the van was stationary with the main driving engine switched off.
I don't know whether the newer one's still use the same system.
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On the odd occassion for one to appear in auction, it will ALWAYS generate huge interest & command a substantial premium over the equivelent standard van.
So if the OP has seen a bargain - he might just make himself a few $£$£$!
VB
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MM Ice cream wars
i dont look forward to reading that OP has been topped if he buys it and goes touting for business :-(
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On the odd occassion for one to appear in auction it will ALWAYS generate huge interest & command a substantial premium over the equivelent standard van. So if the OP has seen a bargain - he might just make himself a few $£$£$!
sadly not. Prices look pretty crazy - £10k for a J-Reg van, or £10k for an unpowered trailer.
I guess the market's too small to bring in some competition to get the prices down.
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In the 1950s most ice-cream vans seemed to be Trojans: I vaguely remember that their engines made as much noise as the sirens.
If you put Trojan Ltd into Google you will find a short history of a rather eccentric company, based in Croydon, which made cars before World War 2, vans before and after it, and in the 1960s assembled Heinkel bubble cars.
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Our local ice cream man has an 06 reg Mercedes custombuilt icecream van, at a reputed cost of some £60K - but the ice cream is good value...!
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Drive Your Way - If anything can, TerraCan
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www.trojanmuseumtrust.org/bubble-arm.jpg
Just scraped into the nether regions of PU's memory there, I recall seeing one of these when I was a kid.
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www.trojanmuseumtrust.org/bubble-arm.jpg
95 miles to the gallon???!?!
I guess it is pretty small:
www.microcarmuseum.com/tour/trojan.html
Even so, 95mpg is better than what a Toyota Pious will get you.
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Here is a piccie of the ice cream van that served our local area. This was still being used for ice-cream into the early 1980's and the van is still in use to serve a deli shop.
In the late 1980's, my father welded up the considerable rust in the chassis and outriggers.
www.oneguyfrombarlick.co.uk/pic_display.asp?id=528
Number_Cruncher
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I think they were known as the 'Morris Commercial' in the 50s.
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Yes, definitely a Morris - although I don't know what model.
The arrival of the ice cream van was heralded by the ringing of a large hand-bell, rather than by the playing of a grisly "tune"! Oh!, and the ice-cream was rather good too!
Number_Cruncher
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Profits are clearly not wafer thin...:-)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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Profits are clearly not wafer thin...:-)
I think the dealers like to cream off as much profit as they can as the market can be a bit flakey
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It's a morris J van originaly supplied with just a drivers seat. The engine layout was unusual in that the engine and geargox were offset to the left. they were dam good vans in there day
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ISTR that ice cream vans have to be rear drive as the compressor is usually driven by some type of power take off on the gearbox. As the majority of vans are now fwd this limits the convertible vans to Sprinters and (some) Transits.
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ice cream vans always get a sinister part in hollywood movies , then theres always the childcatcher van in chitty chitty bang bang.....creepy or what?
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ice cream vans are exempt from the congesion charge into central london
apparently because Red Ken loves a Mr Whippy
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ice cream van in a town near me always had a queue
it was eventually learned that he was selling wraps
nice little cover
the ice creams were free as i understand
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screwballs are good, couple of e's down the bottom
and as for Fabs. Well we all know what F.A.B stands for!!!
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its the 99"s that did it for me
no good at maths see ;-)
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99 were a bit pricey for my old fella
25p cone from the gallones van on northampton market was my treat!
wonder if they are still going - maybe Stu from Northants can update!
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