Mail truck

In his article, "Right through the Post", John Hollingshead describes mail vans from the point of view of a letter navigating through the postal system:[1] Here we find [...] many really dismal, but rather would-be gay-looking, vehicles, drawn up to convey us to our different railway stations.

Its stand, when off duty, is at the end of Bedford-row, Holborn, where it basks in the sun, within a maze of posts, against the dead wall, looking with its companions like a crooked line of Chelsea pensioners waiting for the doctor.

In the 1880s the General Post Office began hiring larger enclosed box vans from McNamara & Company.

At least six regular long-distance, i.e., not just to and from local railway stations, mail van services out of London existed in the late 19th century.

[3] During World War II such horse-drawn McNamara mail vans were reintroduced, because of petrol rationing, but only for local work.

These vans were drawn by a single horse, had pneumatic tyres, and were painted in the Post Office livery colours.

The early series vans had one seat, no heater, and headlamps fitted to the front of the vehicle on rubber wings (US: fenders).

[7][8][9] General Motors also went about reselling some Saturn S-Series wagon models as postal vehicles following poor sales and over-production for the Japanese market.