A box truck—also known as a box van, cube van, bob truck
or cube truck—is a
chassis cab
A chassis cab, also called a cab chassis or half truck, is a type of vehicle construction, often found in medium duty truck commercial vehicles.
Instead of supplying the customer with a factory pre-assembled flatbed, cargo container, or other eq ...
truck
A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame construction ...
with an enclosed
cuboid
In geometry, a cuboid is a hexahedron, a six-faced solid. Its faces are quadrilaterals. Cuboid means "like a cube", in the sense that by adjusting the length of the edges or the angles between edges and faces a cuboid can be transformed into a cub ...
-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.
The difference between a box truck and a
van is that the cargo van is a one-piece (
unibody
A vehicle frame, also historically known as its '' chassis'', is the main supporting structure of a motor vehicle to which all other components are attached, comparable to the skeleton of an organism.
Until the 1930s, virtually every car ha ...
), while a box truck is created by adding a cargo box to a
chassis cab
A chassis cab, also called a cab chassis or half truck, is a type of vehicle construction, often found in medium duty truck commercial vehicles.
Instead of supplying the customer with a factory pre-assembled flatbed, cargo container, or other eq ...
.
North American usage
![Motor Cargo, UPS Freight box truck, Denver](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fd/Motor_Cargo%2C_UPS_Freight_box_truck%2C_Denver.jpg)
Box trucks are typically in length
and can range from
Class 3 to Class 7 (12,500 lb. to 33,000 lb.
gross vehicle weight rating
Vehicle weight is a measurement of wheeled motor vehicles; either an actual measured weight of the vehicle under defined conditions or a gross weight rating for its weight carrying capacity.
Curb or kerb weight
Curb weight (U.S. English) or kerb ...
). They often have a
garage door
A garage door is a large door on a garage that opens either manually or by an electric motor (a garage door opener). Garage doors are frequently large enough to accommodate automobiles and other vehicles. Small garage doors may be made in a sin ...
-like rear door that rolls up. They are often used by companies transporting
home appliance
A home appliance, also referred to as a domestic appliance, an electric appliance or a household appliance, is a machine which assists in household functions such as cooking, cleaning and food preservation.
Appliances are divided into three ty ...
s or
furniture
Furniture refers to movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating (e.g., stools, chairs, and sofas), eating (tables), storing items, eating and/or working with an item, and sleeping (e.g., beds and hammocks). Fu ...
, or are used as moving trucks which can be rented by individuals.
Ford
Ford commonly refers to:
* Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford
* Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river
Ford may also refer to:
Ford Motor Company
* Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company
* Ford F ...
,
Dodge
Dodge is an American brand of automobiles and a division of Stellantis, based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. Dodge vehicles have historically included performance cars, and for much of its existence Dodge was Chrysler's mid-priced brand above P ...
and
Chevrolet
Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and ous ...
/
GMC have historically been the most common manufacturers of conventional
cab/
chassis
A chassis (, ; plural ''chassis'' from French châssis ) is the load-bearing framework of an artificial object, which structurally supports the object in its construction and function. An example of a chassis is a vehicle frame, the underpart ...
to which the cargo box is attached by various producers (called body builders or upfitters).
Isuzu Motors,
Mitsubishi Fuso Truck of America, Inc. and
UD Trucks
UD Trucks Corporation (UDトラックス株式会社, ''UD Torakkusu Kabushikigaisha'') is a Japanese company whose principal business is the manufacturing and sales of diesel trucks, buses, bus chassis and special-purpose vehicles. Its headquarte ...
have been the most common producers of
cab over
Cab-over, also known as cab over engine (COE), cab forward (U.S.), flat nose (Canada), or forward control (UK), is a body style of truck, bus, or van that has a vertical front, "flat face" or a semi-hood, with the cab of the truck sitting a ...
-type medium duty cab/chassis 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
The Ford E-Series (also known as the Ford Econoline or Ford Club Wagon) is a range of full-size vans manufactured and marketed by the Ford Motor Company. Introduced for model year 1961 as the replacement for the Ford F-Series panel van, the E-Se ...
/Econoline/
Ford Transit
The Ford Transit is a family of light commercial vehicles manufactured by the Ford Motor Company since 1965, primarily as a cargo van, but also available in other configurations including a large passenger van (marketed as the Ford Tourneo in ...
,
Dodge Ram Van,
Chevrolet Express
Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and oust ...
/
Chevrolet Van/
GMC Vandura
GMC may refer to:
Government India
* Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation, in Gujarat
* Gobichettipalayam Municipal Corporation, in Tamil Nadu
* Guntur Municipal Corporation, in Andhra Pradesh
* Guwahati Municipal Corporation, in Assam
* Gwalior ...
/
GMC Savana
Savana is a town and commune in Madagascar. It belongs to the district of Vohipeno, which is a part of Vatovavy-Fitovinany Region. The population of the commune was estimated to be approximately 4,000 in the 2001 commune census.
Only primary sch ...
), 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.
Box van definition in British English
In
British English
British English (BrE, en-GB, or BE) is, according to Lexico, Oxford Dictionaries, "English language, English as used in Great Britain, as distinct from that used elsewhere". More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in ...
, box van is a term for a four-wheeled
covered goods wagon
A covered goods wagon or van is a railway goods wagon which is designed for the transportation of moisture-susceptible goods and therefore fully enclosed by sides and a fixed roof. They are often referred to simply as covered wagons, and this is ...
(freight vehicle) with a fully enclosed body.
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.
Luton body
A Luton body is a style of
commercial vehicle
A commercial vehicle is any type of motor vehicle used for transporting goods or paying passengers.
The United States defines a "commercial motor vehicle" as any self-propelled or towed vehicle used on a public highway in interstate commerce to ...
body incorporating an enclosed box body extended over the cab. It takes its name from the town of
Luton
Luton () is a town and unitary authority with borough status, in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 census, the Luton built-up area subdivision had a population of 211,228 and its built-up area, including the adjacent towns of Dunstable an ...
, in
Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council wa ...
, where the
Bedford
Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst ...
commercial vehicle plant was located.
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
Hessian (, ), burlap in the United States and Canada, or crocus in Jamaica and the wider Caribbean, is a woven fabric usually made from skin of the jute plant or sisal fibres, which may be combined with other vegetable fibres to make rope, nets ...
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
The Ford Transit is a family of light commercial vehicles manufactured by the Ford Motor Company since 1965, primarily as a cargo van, but also available in other configurations including a large passenger van (marketed as the Ford Tourneo in ...
, 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.
See also
*
Flatbed truck
A flatbed truck (or flatbed lorry in British English) is a type of truck which can be either articulated or rigid. As the name suggests, its bodywork is just an entirely flat, level 'bed' with no sides or roof. This allows for quick and easy load ...
Sources
{{Reflist
Trucks by type