Why don't ice cream vans rust?

[Beeby]

As per the title why don't they rust? I can't ever remember seeing a rusty one. There is an ancient old P reg circa 1976 one that has been coming round my street for at least 20 years and it looks as good today as it did back then. Is it because they don't venture out in the winter or is there some magic rustproofing properties in a 99?!

[stainless_steve]

Most of the old ones are fiberglass

[Wattsie]

They don't go out in the winter, but round here alot of them drive up and down the beach, so the salt would get at them anyway.

I assume it may be because they're stuffed with cooling equipment/freezers/icecream-pump things that it's cheaper to keep repairing rust than to buy a fully kitted out new van?

Or maybe they're more filler'd than my Fiesta's fast becoming

[hidetheelephants]

The coachbuilt bodywork is often mostly fibreglass and/or aluminium, so rust only affects the hidden bits.

[Stevie P]

[Fleckers]

would you buy for a rusty lump of crap ?

[hyperblue]

Wattsie said:

I assume it may be because they're stuffed with cooling equipment/freezers/icecream-pump things that it's cheaper to keep repairing rust than to buy a fully kitted out new van?

Could be something to do with this, I drove one as as summer job and was told that it cost £50k+ to kit one out.

[Xtriple129]

The one I hit on my Suzuki was a rusty piece of crap after the bike had knocked big lumps of filler out of it!

[Stugots]

HA there thats pissed on your double99 with strawberry sauce...

[ambuletz]

Round my area there's a tatty ice cream van that goes around to the tune of Teddy Bears Picnic. Only he goes round extra slow, which makes the tune go slow, and makes it sound out of tune. Hilariously creepy

[hidetheelephants]

Be careful what you ask for when ordering from an icecream van. NSFW

[NelsonR32]

hyperblue said:

Wattsie said:

I assume it may be because they're stuffed with cooling equipment/freezers/icecream-pump things that it's cheaper to keep repairing rust than to buy a fully kitted out new van?

Could be something to do with this, I drove one as as summer job and was told that it cost £50k+ to kit one out.

Or 50,510.00 "99's"

[OldSkoolRS]

Maybe chocolate sauce is really made of waxoil...

[FraserLFA]

Stugots said:

HA there thats pissed on your double99 with strawberry sauce...

No it hasn't. That's a burger van!

[Zed Ed]

Because the cost big lolly?

[gr88]

there used to be 100 and thousands about...........

[BriC175]

FraserLFA said:

Stugots said:

HA there thats pissed on your double99 with strawberry sauce...

No it hasn't. That's a burger van!

Lol, fail!

[oobster]

There is a Bedford HA ice cream van around where I live - it's got a private plate on it so I can't tell the year of registration but it must be ancient. Even if it was 1983 that would make it 28 years old.

The roof has been extended, but although it sells excellent ice cream it is a bit comedy as the two guys who drive about in it are WELL over 6 feet tall.

I wonder how much they've spent on body repairs over the years.

[Blakewater]

No question these are ice cream vans, at least the first one, and I think their ice cream selling days have long since passed.





As has been said though, the value of kitting a van out as an ice cream van is so high it's worth repairing them rather than replacing them. Things that would see an ordinary van scrapped would be fixed.

[anonymous-user]

I would also think that they are kept clean a lot of the time so that can reduce the chance of dirt build up and then rust occurring.