Smith Electric Vehicles and general Milk Float tat

[Wilko220]

This is old news but I hadn't realised - another British vehicle manufacturer has been lost to foreign ownership. This time it's Smith, probably most famous for making these:









[pics courtesy of milkfloats.org.uk]

I did a bit of bit of Googling on them after seeing one of their much more modern vehicles for the first time the other day. This is the sort of thing they produce these days...



... as well as another model which basically looks to be an electric conversion of a Transit.

Founded in 1920 in Tyne and Wear, Smith was originally known as Northern Coachbuilders and made its name as a manufacturer of trolley buses and trams, before going on to dominate the milk float market later on. The Smith family ran the firm until 2004.



After an unsuccessful attempt to expand into North America in 1962, the firm had another go, following a change of ownership, in 2009 with the modern vehicle pictured above. This led to the formation of a US subsidiary.

Two years later, the subsidiary bought out its parent and shifted its headquarters to Kansas, Missouri. Fortunately the firm still has a factory near Newcastle but it's a shame we still don't seem to be able to retain control of businesses which seem to be able to be run successfully by our friends overseas.

Anyhow, should anyone have any pix of milk float shite then I guess now would be a good time to cheer up this sorry thread by sharing them...
.

[ypsilandra]

Happy to oblige. Both these were taken at Happy Hens in Derbyshire

 

 

This beast is just wonderful

 

[freebird]

These are the ones I remember most, Unigates finest.

As a boy, there really was nothing more cosy and comforting hearing these trundle up the road, bottles rattling at 5am in the pissing cold when you were wrapped up all warm and snug.

I actually got a week out on one of these in around 1978 when my mate got me a job on a milk round helping some old geezer deliver milk around Stanford le Hope and Corringham. Considering the depot was in Pitsea, some 10 miles away, I always thought that the battery would die before we could get back.

It was asthmatically slow with zero ride comfort but it was good fun.

I only did the week because, at the age of 13 I had yet to develop a work ethic and preferred to sit on my arse and get pocket money.

I have always hankered after a four wheeled float, just to do the work commute.

[dollywobbler]

I used to ride up and down my road in milk floats when I was a nipper. Can't imagine that sort of thing happening today! The Dairy Crest chap told us to piss off, but the Unigate and Co-Op men were nice - we'd play around with the switches as soon as they hopped out, so I can probably tell where all the switches are even today - they were never labelled which was part of the fun.

 

The Co-Op one was like this.

 

Unigate's was like this. Fabulous period shot. Thanks Google.

 

Actually, it wasn't Dairy Crest, it was Birmingham dairies.

 

Great thread. We should follow up with one on dustbin lorries I reckon - mainly because I've just been watching a programme about the secret life of rubbish which involved a lot of period footage.

[pompei]

I can vaguely remember a sitcom called "The Dustbinmen" where the bin lorry had Thunderbird 3 graffitied on the rear.

[Micrashed]

 

We used to have several of those and some smaller Smiths electric tugs (4 seat yellow golf trolleys without a roof) at Wythenshawe hospital back in the 80's and 90's - the electric bus's were used to ferry patients from the A and B wings and the Sanatorium to the main F block for things like X-rays.

The tugs were used to pull stores and bins around the hospital.

[Wilko220]

What the hell. Guess I may as well post a few more interesting (Smiths and non-Smith's) shots from Milk Float Corner then...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some electric buses

 

 

This beast is just wonderful

 

I think this is it, seen in better days...

 

 

This Bedford Rascal was converted to electric (and into a bus)

 

 

Great thread. We should follow up with one on dustbin lorries I reckon - mainly because I've just been watching a programme about the secret life of rubbish which involved a lot of period footage.

 

And finally, just for Dollywobbler, here's a couple of "rubbish floats"

 

 

 

 

 

There's LOADZ MOAR on the website so check it out if you like these...

[tooSavvy]

Served my apprenticeship at Crabtree-Vickers, Team Valley, Gateshead ['76 abouts]...

 

Smiths Boss man/ Techhie director bloke used to drive to work each day in an Electric Car... F#ck yrr Leaf, M8!... Looked so naff the guy musta had some kahonees! Yellow 2door.... Google, anyone?

 

tooSavvy

[dollywobbler]

Not many electric cars about then. Must have been one of these.

[tooSavvy]

Aye... Nuff [..NAFF] Sedd

 

tooSavvy

[jonny69]

Funny that this thread should pop to the top - I saw an electric float this morning and thought I hadn't seen one in a while.

 

The milkfloats dried up in South London a very long time ago, probably in the early 90's. There were a couple of causes that I remember: first was the rise of supermarkets selling milk and undercutting the local dairies; but there was also the first of the big intakes of immigrant refugees from whatever conflict it was and people were having their milk stolen off their doorsteps. I remember huge numbers cancelling their milk deliveries at the time, in favour of the supermarkets, and it was pretty much the final nail in the coffin.

 

So, in SE London, we had the Express Dairy who had a depot in Upper Sydenham, Willow Way by the look of the map, just off Kirkdale. I remember it was quite an open plan operation because you could see right in, but all the milkfloats were at the front, plugged in and charging. I don't remember exactly when it closed down and I drove round there recently looking for some of the older sights of SE London. I couldn't see any signs of where it was, sadly, completely redeveloped to the point that there was no hint towards what was once there, but this is quite common now in SE London. Express had another depot on Croxted Road in Dulwich, where it crosses Park Hall Road. I ALWAYS forget to look but, the last time I did, I noticed the big blue iron gates with the Express Dairy livery were still there at the end of the parade of shops. I guess there's a small chance that the abandoned works are still there, but I've moved away from the area and, as many have done, taken my local history with me.

[Tonka]

 

[dollywobbler]

What I find remarkable is how old some of those floats were. When I grew up in the mid-1980s, most of the milk floats had pre-suffix number plates, so must have been at least 20 years old.

[vulgalour]

I did wonder who manufactured the float that used to do the rounds on our street back in the 80s and 90s, turns out is was a blue-over-white Smiths belonging to an independant dairy. The dairy is still going, though the deliveries are more of a budget Ocado affair than proper milk bottles and sometimes orange juice in milk bottles. My parents still get 2 pints delivered by this dairy on principle, even though they buy 6 pints regularly from the supermarket (why not buy all the milk from the indie dairy?) and have done for at least 30 years.

 

This thread is interesting, more of this please, I like to read anecdotes and see pictures of interesting old chod.

[freebird]

The fella that built that V8 Milk float also built this:

[worldofceri]

I'm surprised I've never seen more milk-float chat on here before. It's amazing really that there are so many left working for a living - none can be less than twenty-five years old now (although I'd be happy to be corrected). I see quite a few around Coventry, but my favourite are the K&W Dairies solid-tyred ones still working around Leicester - Rootes Arrow has some pictures in his spotz thread.

 

I buy milk from a milkman as much to help keep the tradition and the vehicles alive as for the convenience - it's certainly not cheaper; I spend about ten quid a week for 2 or 3 pints a day.

[pandarus]

My uncle used to work on a Co-Op fruit and veg van. Used to get all kinds of freebies.

 

Nice to see some Ipswich stuff in there.

[andrew e]

Up until early this year superb chap was our milkman in his electric float, I used time my weekly (free paper) round to his thursday collection slot, for some extra assistance! He did call me a rude thing when he found out I tipped the local papers off mind! http://www.thisistotalessex.co.uk/lie-M ... story.html

[andrew e]

I will add, I don't know if they still have but 10 years ago (when I gave the James Bond lot 11KV ring main transformer an oil change or summat, it has plastic badge on the compound saying JB SS!) Pinewood studios was full of old milk floats for internal "tug" duties. Someone with good eyes might be able to tell from this*

 

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=pinewoo ... s&t=h&z=18

[DVee8]

This is what they do now..

 

http://www.smithelectric.com/

[myglaren]

They are about a mile from me and I pass the place every morning - used to be the Goldstar microwave oven factory.

 

Years since I have seen an electric milk float.

[DVee8]

They are about a mile from me and I pass the place every morning - used to be the Goldstar microwave oven factory.

 

Years since I have seen an electric milk float.

 

 

I drive past every day.Often see tnt and coke vans out testing

[tooSavvy]

They are about a mile from me and I pass the place every morning - used to be the Goldstar microwave oven factory.

 

Years since I have seen an electric milk float.

 

Ahh.... across the road from what was Dunlop?

 

Turn off, down to Ch -le -St....

 

tooSavvy

[cyruspower]

On C&C, something I've never seen, anyone seen one before?

 

The Nipper tiller steered platform ridden three wheeled milk float. NCAP rating zero....

 

http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C341401#

 

[Wilko220]

What I find remarkable is how old some of those floats were. When I grew up in the mid-1980s, most of the milk floats had pre-suffix number plates, so must have been at least 20 years old.

 

What you may find even more surprising is that many of the oldest floats still in use were re-bodied to make them look more modern. I posted a pic of one earlier on in the thread - it looks 80s or 90s in design but look at the number plate...

 

 

This angular fibreglass body was produced by M&M Electric Vehicles of Atherstone, which took over the milk float manufacturer Morrison in 1983. It was fitted to many older Morrison chassis, either because the old bodywork was worn out, or in some cases simply to modernise the float's appearance.

 

Here's another example - again, cross-reference the design with the number plate

 

 

Exhibit 3

 

 

In case you're wondering, here are a couple of examples of early Morrisons, the sort that might have been re-bodied:

 

 

 

 

M&M still exists today, having acquired Crompton Electricars, as M&M Group Handling and they still manufacture electric vehicles.

More info on the modern company here: http://www.mmgrouphandling.co.uk/electricars.html

More info on the M&M re-bodies detailed above here: http://www.milkfloats.org.uk/mandm1.html

[jonny69]

I will add, I don't know if they still have but 10 years ago Pinewood studios was full of old milk floats for internal "tug" duties. Someone with good eyes might be able to tell from this*

 

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=pinewoo ... s&t=h&z=18

Yes, I can confirm they did. I was quite surprised by how many they had on site when I did some filming there in about February 2003. I have to say, there were quite a few dotted around the site, but I don't think I can spot any in the aerial photo.

[Jon]

Inexplicably this thread makes me want to own a milk float, though it'd be next to useless over here. Anyway, I can confirm that this dairy in Leeds near the Yorkshire TV studios still had a lot of electric floats knocking about when I was last filming next door in September 2010. Had just been re-branded to another dairy, with little stickers applied over the old name but with the old liveries still intact!

 

http://maps.google.co.nz/maps?q=Kirkstall+Road,+Leeds,+United+Kingdom&hl=en&ll=53.801665,-1.568727&spn=0.014878,0.038581&sll=-40.799894,175.310128&sspn=38.858347,79.013672&oq=kirkst&hnear=Kirkstall+Rd,+Leeds,+United+Kingdom&t=m&z=15&layer=c&cbll=53.801704,-1.568799&panoid=NOHrHhA1vZKDnPP_THyeIQ&cbp=12,51.12,,2,6.7

 

Also watched the Father Ted episode Speed 3 the other day, so worthy of a mention here.

 

[jonny69]

I saw another float this morning, while I was riding through Teddington. I forgot to note the dairy, but I did have a good oggle at the number plate to gauge its age. Q plate on this one, which I seem to remember a lot of the SE London ones had. Would this suggest they came as kits or were they registered on Q's to get round some rules or legislation?

[Rusty Pelican]

GKN in Yeovil AKA Augusta Westland which was Westland helicopters had loads of old floats around the factory for shifting stuff about , some had scaffold frames for carrying blades on , up to ten with a trailer on the back IIRC , some were just a flat bed for engines.

Weird site seeing a 20 year old milk float with a helicopter motor sat on the back.

Sadly no pictures , completely Forbidden in there .

[eddyramrod]

Someone on here really should buy an old milk float... after all we do now have someone called Ted* driving a bakery van! Anyone want to be Sue at Lily Lane?

 

*Well Eddy, but close enough...