Special Use Vehicles: An Illustrated History of Unconventional Cars and Trucks Worldwide - Hardcover

Green, George W.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0786412453 ISBN 13: 9780786412457

Publisher: McFarland Publishing, 2002

Synopsis

Beyond the traditional purposes of moving people, goods, raw materials, and mail from place to place lies a world of unconventional uses of motor vehicles.

Rolling grocery stories, churches, classrooms and health clinics have taken traditionally stationary services directly to those who need them. Companies have built vehicles in the shapes of their products (the Oscar Mayer Wiener mobile being just one famous example) from the early years of automobiles. This lively history gives a fascinating overview of the many special purposes vehicles have served.

The unconventional uses of motor vehicles stretch one’s imagination. The author here divides them into eight types based on their purposes and uses. Sales vehicles support a successful sales volume; advertising vehicles retain present customers and attract new ones; education and training vehicles provide skills updates for employees; charity vehicles are used to serve various populations of the needy, suffering, and distressed; religious vehicles promote a particular faith; functional vehicles perform an on-the-spot function normally done by a fixed-base facility; multimodal vehicles have the ability to traverse land, water, and air; and government vehicles provide a host of services to constituencies. Examples are provided for each type of vehicle and examples from other nations besides the United States are included as well.

About this title

About the Author

Retired auto executive, transportation historian and freelance photo journalist George W. Green lives in Dearborn, Michigan.

Edition details

• Publisher: McFarland Publishing
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0786412453
• ISBN 13: 9780786412457
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 242