We will tell you about a very funny and really beautiful truck made by the Holland Coachcraft factory. It was built on a chassis of Albion type-BL119 in the 1930s.
To use these vans as divorcing cars, and even mobile advertising came to the minds of the founders of the company Castlebank Laundry in Britain. As the name suggests, the firm was the most common laundry. But, her owners decided to attract the attention of potential buyers service Cost-U-Less. In fact, pay less or cost less. Unusual vans would come directly to customers and take their dirty items to the laundry. People just didn’t need to take everything to collection points. They just weren’t there. Which also had a definite economic benefit.
There was no need to pay rent for the premises or keep employees at the reception. In addition to bedding, and clothing, the company set up collar cleaning for men’s shirts. The fact is that shirts, at the time, did not have a collar, it was sold separately, and it had to be changed every day. That is, the stock of shirts could be modest, but the number of collars was large. They even ran a special promotion, the collars were returned to the owner in a special brown cardboard box with a ribbon.
Of the entire fleet, which numbered 100 vans, 50 had a totally non-typical body. Which in itself attracted attention, but was also an object of mobile advertising.
And the drivers of those 50 vans were offered to work overtime. The working week ended on Friday, and the drivers of the special cars came to the garage on Saturday. The car had to be ready for pickup at all times. This was of course paid for separately, but it also worked for advertising and influenced additional profits.
The cars themselves were really noticeable. The sloping aerodynamic shapes and fully enclosed wheels seemed to turn them into racing cars. Though they didn’t care about speed, people had the impression that the company that owned such vehicles would make everything much faster than the competitors.
They were made simply. On the existing Albion type-BL119 frame was installed a wooden (!) frame. Which “covered” with aluminum panels. They exactly matched the frame. Yes, it had to be expensive, but it was worth it. Vehicles were conspicuous, and the number of customers increased.
Interestingly, this did not save the company Albion Motors from bankruptcy. It went bankrupt in 1940. And it was purchased by another British manufacturer Leyland Motors. Meanwhile, they continued to produce Albion trucks up to 1972.
But, however, the most notable were divorced vans, which served the largest laundry in Scotland.