Product Code Database
A box truck—also known as a box van, cube van, bob truck or cube truck—is a chassis cab truck with an enclosed cuboid-shaped cargo area. On most box trucks, the cabin is separate to the cargo area; however some box trucks have a door between the cabin and the cargo area. Regular cab box trucks are generally larger than but smaller than day cab with movable trailers. Crew cab box trucks tend to be larger than van but smaller than crew cab with movable trailers.
The difference between a box truck and a van is that the cargo van is a one-piece (unibody), while a box truck is created by adding a cargo box to a chassis cab.
Ford, Dodge and Chevrolet/GMC have historically been the most common manufacturers of conventional chassis cab (truck cab on chassis without a body) to which the cargo box is attached by various producers (called body builders or upfitters). Isuzu, Fuso and UD Trucks have been the most common producers of cab over-type medium duty chassis cab used as platforms for box trucks.
Small box trucks often use the cab of full size vans from Ford, Chrysler or General Motors (e.g. Ford E-Series/Econoline/Ford Transit, Dodge Ram Van, Chevrolet Express/Chevrolet Van/GMC Vandura/GMC Savana), though pre-manufactured cutaway van chassis vehicles are the basis (rather than an actual cargo van), in order to reduce the labour required for production.
In British English the word truck refers to large open topped freight vehicles or rail freight waggons. A lorry is a HGV road vehicle. A van is used for an enclosed railway freight carriage or medium or smaller commercial road vehicles.
This style of body was designed to accommodate the high-volume, low-weight loads of straw hats which were part of Luton's industry. Straw hats were wrapped in hessian fabric in long cylinders to fit across the width of the van. It was incidental that it was the home of Bedford although all the early Luton vans were on Bedford chassis.
The body style is common in medium commercial vehicles such as the Ford Transit, as well as larger vehicles, especially those used by household removals companies. More modern examples may be streamlined to reduce wind resistance. Some commercial vehicles have a wind deflector on the cab roof, but this is not a Luton body; the Luton is functional and can be accessed from the main body. The portion of the body that rests over the cab is called the peak, also referred to, in some quarters, as a "Luton" or a "kick".
Many commercial vehicles have tilting cabs. To allow for this, the floor of the Luton may be hinged, and there may be a hinged flap at the front.
|
|
