Shire Library
3 primary works
Book 187
Providing a vital service to communities and businesses over the years, delivery vans have evolved through time, with many different models taking to the road. In the 1920s and 1930s many types of unusual bodywork were fitted and numerous and diverse technical specifications were available. Exploring the fascinating development of old delivery vans, the author discusses the improvements and fashions up to the 1960s, including the advances in locomotion from steam to petrol, electricity and diesel. With a close look at the Ford Model T, which first brought the van within the reach of high street business, and then at the more purpose-built light vans after 1945, this is a comprehensive and fully illustrated introduction to the history and design of classic delivery vans.
Book 577
Steam, and then cumbersome motor, tractors existed in small numbers before 1914, after which the need to produce more foods using less horse and man power saw the origins of the machine we know today. Thanks to mass production, Ford brought the price down to suit average farmers, and in the 1920s to 1940s numerous rivals brought in such novelties as diesel engines, pneumatic tyres, hydraulic implement lifts and even cost-effective all-wheel drive and weather protection. After the Second World-War, a strong new indigenous tractor industry was led by Ferguson, David Brown, Nuffield and Ford. This book highlights these developments and goes on to show the dramatic improvements of the 1950s and 1960s.
Book 578
From lumbering house-shakers on solid tyres to smooth turbo-power in the 1970s, the lorry has come a very long way in a remarkably short time. In the early competition between steam, petrol and electricity, the internal combustion engine had more or less won by the 1920s, after proving itself in the First World War, when all-wheel-drive arrived in quantity and thousands of new drivers were trained. The book traces the developments that created the modern truck in the 1960s and 1970s - tilt cabs, clever transmission technology and turbo power, and the transcontinental journeys they travelled.