Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[Ellis]

In the 1960s even a small village of 700 souls here in Betws y Coed was served by no less than four milkmen each having their own sector of the village.

Until about 1964 we did not have a milkman but a milk lady, a Miss thomas who used to call on us with a hand cart and dispense milk by a measured half pint or full pint ladle into our own bottle or jug.

There were three others, one had the then ubiquitous Morris Minor pick up but the other two had more interesting transport.

Mr Pierce had a very battered one of these :


[img]

which he later replaced with a Ford Squire he bought from one of the local postmen. I even remember the registration DEY 747/

[/img]

The last milkman, a Mr Williams used one of these for many years, a Standard Vanguard van, originally dark blue but I remember the paint as so aged that it had a purple tint or hue :

[img]

When it finally succumbed to rust and old age he bought an Austin A60 type pick up - not half as interesting!

What did you milkman use for his deliveries?[/img]
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1964 Jaguar Mark 2 3.4 litre
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[emmerson]

Another thought provoking post Ellis!
In the 50s, our milkman had a horse and cart, but that was superceded by a huge 1930s Vauxhall, which had the boot lid removed and the back panel cut out to accommodate the milk churns,from which, like yours,the milk was ladled out.
He always turned up in the afternoon, so was known as the midnight milkman.
Following that, he had a fairly new Vauxhall Velox, again with the boot lid removed, although the car would only have been a couple of years old. His wife used to use it for shopping, and regularly got all four wheels off the ground over the hump-backed bridge entering the village.
Then they got sensible and used a new Bedford CA van for a while, but as it had no bootlid to remove, he took the back doors off instead!
By the time I left home, he had progressed to a factory-built CA milk float, but he said he preferred the van because the truck had hinged doors, and the van had more convenient sliders. By this time also he had changed over to bottled deliveries, which was never the same!
Just as an aside to this, he was my introduction to Velcro! When he opened his coat to give change, he just ripped it open. I thought he had ruined it, until he showed me the tiny hooks.Not sure of that date, as it may have been on a visit home after I got married in 64,so was probably early/mid sixties?

[Rick]

Living in '70s suburbia, I only ever remember the local milkmen using electric delivery vehicles. We had a choice of two suppliers - either Co-Op, or Healds Dairies.

I well remember listening to the electrically-driven floats negotiating the ruts in the road, as I lay in bed, bottles rattling in their crates as they went by. I was especially fond of the bottled orange juice that they could also supply.

RJ
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[Rene]

Our milkman drove something like this in the 60's

[Peter_L]

Not this particular one, but I can remember the milk being delivered on one like it.

[ukdave2002]

This is the sort of thing I remember as a kid


these days they bomb along with the milk in these things;

Dave

[Rick]

[47Jag]

Like Petewpg, we had a horse and cart. At Christmas and New Year the milkman would be soooooo dunk with customers feeding him drink that the horse would plod around the route and the customers helped themselves and paid later.

I didn't know BMW made pickup trucks What is it anyway.

Art

[Ellis]

[Lanchester 1953]

[norustplease]

Our local milk delivery was by a lady who had a small electric powered float that she steered by a handlebar as she walked along in front of it.
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1953 Citroen Traction
1964 Volvo PV544
1957 Austin A55 Mk 1
Boring Tucson SUV

[Phil - Nottingham]

A Commer (or Bedford?) Forward flat bed pickup with canopy in the early 1950's
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