This picture posted at the Cohort by Hannes caught my eye. Not only is there an old GDR Barkas van, a rather remarkable little truck much more advanced than the VW Transporter in many ways, except for its two-stroke engine. But there’s also some apparently retired german UPS vans here, which show a certain similarity to our here, but also some differences, as they are of course locally sourced. I don’t know the manufacturer; maybe someone else does.
But let’s take a closer look at the Barkas.
The Barkas was the primary (only?) light truck/van built in the GDR, and comparable in size and capacity to the very popular VW Transporter/Pickup being built on the other side of the Iron Curtain. But while the VW had its engine in the rear, which meant there was not a continuous floor, meaning no unloading from the rear doors. That was a pretty major disadvantage of its design.
The Barkas B1000 had its little three-cylinder two-stroke engine mounted out front, and driving the front wheels, like most modern compact and not-so-small vans. It was the same one as used in the Wartburg, and essentially an updated DKW design. Suspension was independent all-round, by trailing-type arms. It had a very low floor as a result. seating was for up to eight, although the Stasi models for snatching political prisoners off the streets only had room for five in little cells in the back. These were windowless vans, often disguised as food trucks.
The Barkas truck (“pritschenwagen”) is very much a forerunner of the modern European small/light truck, with FWD and a roomy bed with drop down sides. It was the choice for all sorts of small contractors.
The Barkas went into production in 1961, and was built for thirty years, until 1991. The Belgian importer started installing a Ford diesel engine in the 1980s, as the two stroke was just not up to par in Western Europe. Shortly before the Barkas went out of production, a 1.3L VW gas four replaced the two stroke, similarly as in the Wartburg.
I am sure we are going to hear about the negatives of FWD vans, but in the real world they work just fine. My company has been switching to them for our urban business and they have the advantage of simply having more payload space. We recently bought three Ram Promaster 3500 cargo vans with V-6 and they are enormous inside and the Fiatsler dealer practically begged us to buy them, so the deal was very good indeed. Now we can see how they hold up.
I might add that FCA has an excellent “upfit” progamme, and you can configure your van in many different ways.
I’ve been seeing transporters filled with ProMasters in USPS livery running up I-25 here in CO, so I think we will be seeing more and more of them.
They’re already on the streets here (USPS Promasters).
Interesting. ProMaster (big, Ducato) or ProMaster City (smaller, Doblo)?
The large one. It appears that the USPS ordered precisely 9113 of them.
http://www.autonews.com/article/20150929/RETAIL/150929815/postal-service-to-buy-9113-ram-promaster-vans-for-large-package
I found it interesting that the entire order will be filled through one dealership in Oklahoma. It’s possible (though obviously unlikely) that I even saw some of the same ones that Paul has seen as that would be a plausible route from OK to OR. Small planet and all that…
USPS has been using Grand Caravan C/Vs for years. Same powertrain IIRC.
Spier P36 (ex-UPS vans).
The recent UPS P70. Body by coachbuilder Spier, and clearly based on a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter.
What’s that star doing in the grille? Is UPS not ordering their trucks debadged anymore?
Is UPS some sort of god in the US ? An almighty power ?
Do a GIS for Iveco Daily UPS and Ford Transit UPS. The factory Iveco and Ford names/badges are clearly visible. So it’s not only the three-pointed star that shines.
Here’s a Ford Transit.
Many international operators use what’s available locally, see below another example…
I immediately recognized the Scania K114EB chassis with the Irizar PB body… 😉
That bus with number 23315 is known as “Sweet Caroline”.
My question is how did UPS let two of its Package Cars (NEVER call it a truck) go without white paint and a one-way trip to the crusher? In North America at least, the Pullman Brown paint (the formula is guarded like Coke syrup) and certain design elements of the Package Car are considered proprietary and not to be sold outside UPS unless they are being destroyed. A UPS representative must be present to witness the crushing.
Eeeyeahhh…not so much, though. All you need is one of those paint color scanners. Hold it firmly to the surface to be scanned, hit the button, click-click-click, and it spits out an accurate formula for that paint color. I don’t own one; most people don’t, but they’re readily enough available and UPS trucks are common enough (and commonly enough left standing unattended) that it would not at all be difficult to cadge the color code.
That aside, UPS’ selection of fecal brown as their corporate color has always struck me as an effort at compliance with truth-in-advertising laws.
“Pullman Brown” (actually called Tuscan Red) was selected by the Pullman Company, as the story goes, because dust and dirt were not as readily apparent as they would be on a lighter color. United Parcel Service has kept that color as their brand “livery” and had only referred to it by the name of Tuscan Red.
Why did UPS insist on using the term “package car” instead of “truck”? a partial explanation is that some of their deliveries are to residences which are in Gated Communities, which might prohibit “trucks” from entering their domain.
Of course, all that was set behind when UPS started sponsoring the NASCAR team of driver Dale Jarrett, and their television commercials featuring Mr. Jarrett saying that he wanted to race the “brown truck”.
I was under the impression that the white UPS vans were used at airports where Pullman Brown is considered too low-vis to be allowed on the runway.
White and also Caterpillar yellow.. They’re typically at the big hubs like Louisville and Rockford.
There is a local wrecking yard that has the contract to dispose of retired UPS vehicles. They arrive with the stickers removed but still in the corporate color. The contract states that they can only do the basic processing before crushing. Fluids drained, batteries, tires and wheels removed. Video is then taken of the vehicle going into the crusher and going through the cycle. That is for the traditional walk-in truck or step van, since those are built to UPS specs with proprietary design elements. Don’t know if that holds true for Tractors and smaller delivery vehicles that do not have the UPS proprietary design elements.
Parcel services simply opt for the factory vans with the biggest cargo compartment. Like the Opel Movano (basically a rebadged Renault Master) below. Full-size model, longest wheelbase, high roof.
Cargo compartment. Foldable shelves on the left side.
in the third photo, the chassis-cab version is rather reminiscent of the Ford C-series tractors.
image is from a previous CC write up:
It looks like a downscaled post-WW2 COE truck. Big round headlights, in the center a grille. Just an example is this 1950 Latil. There were many, many others.
I love me some c-series!
I too am wondering how those Pullman Brown UPS vehicles escaped getting painted Bright White and crushed.
I found this website about the Spier P36 (the UPS vans in the article), clearly not all of them were crushed…
http://www.sfritzle.de/12.html
Dash and steering wheel look Fiat-ish – have I found the chassis supplier? And is that a manual column shift?
Quite right, it’s also mentioned at the website:
….”Die Technik stammt von Fiat oder Citroen, der 280/290 Plattform (Fiat Ducato oder Citroen C25)”…
Obviously Google translate isn’t quite up to the task?
Original (caption on last picture)
er ist zu verkaufen ! Bei Interesse stelle ich gerne den Kontakt her.
Translated as:
he is for sale ! If interested, I make love to the contact.
Anyone here know what it really means?
It’s for sale. If you contact me, I’ll gladly put you in touch with the seller.
Thanks Paul & Oliver, the Google translate was intriguing, I thought maybe they really loved those trucks.
RogueInLa,
‘Gern’ and ‘Gerne’ are two of peculiar German words that do not have direct translation into English or can be easily translated into English. You have to find the English equivalent such as this instance: ‘Ich spiele Tennis gern.’ means ‘I love to play tennis’ or ‘I like to play tennis’.
That’s why the Google Translate came up with this nonsense, leaving you scratching your head.
Must be a North American thing. You’ll rarely if ever see an ex-UPS vehicle (including “off the shelf” models like the Sprinter or long haul tractors) on the road in the US or Canada.
Saw one of the Barkas vans two weeks ago in Conroe Tx. Do not believe it was stock as it moved much too quickly but who knows. A B1000. Saw it from the back first and thought it was like a vw van with a tumor.
Good catch.
Never seen one its vaguely Fiat looking, Parcel couriers over here are still using Toyota Hiace/Hyundai H1 vans, they seem to hold up ok.
You’re probably thinking of the Fiat 1100T, introduced in 1957. Or its successor, the 1966 Fiat 238.
With their cartoonish shape, the Barkas van and truck look like they’d be at home illustrated in a Richard Scarry ‘Cars and Trucks’ book.
http://tinyurl.com/j6kkgcw
Hmmm, I think I may have seen a couple of these Barkas vans in the background of a few movies but never knew they were GDR products.
BTW, ever notice how any country that has the word “DEMOCRATIC” in it’s name…..never is?
There are different ways to define “Democratic”.
Good point. What’s really meant, in Western usage at least, is a representative gov’t chosen by popular suffrage. Pure democracies are very rare, and classical Athenian democracy had a mixed record.
The Barkas van was likely on the road a lot longer than those UPS vans. Considering how long it took to get a new vehicle in the East Bloc, anything they got was likely driven until the wheels fell off, and then re-powered and patched up so they could squeeze that much more life out of them. A good mechanic in the East Bloc could make more money than a doctor.
I really like seeing the Barkas van covered here.
Clearly, UPS is less strict about its vehicles outside the US…
United Peugeot Service. Or United Partner Sevice, since it’s a Peugeot Partner.
I’ve begun seeing them as well; any feedback on early reliability?