ok have you ever had one of those questions about trucking or something else … but where to 
to ask…■■?
well here goes …mine…
why is it called a LUTON body and not just a rigid box van… ?
feel free to answer and post your question here … 
Because the bit above the cab is the luton bit…i think?
removalboy:
Because the bit above the cab is the luton bit…i think?
know that bit but why is it called so… ?even wikipedia doesnt really explain …
Seem to remember that this body shape, with the box over the cab, was originally designed for the hatmakers of Luton, where the high bulk of the hats, with no appreciable weight, meant that to get the weight onto the vehicle, addtional load carrying space had to be designed, hence the box over the cab, and the name Luton was born!!!
My dad says it is called luton because Bedford made the design in luton.
bigdennis:
Seem to remember that this body shape, with the box over the cab, was originally designed for the hatmakers of Luton, where the high bulk of the hats, with no appreciable weight, meant that to get the weight onto the vehicle, addtional load carrying space had to be designed, hence the box over the cab, and the name Luton was born!!!
That’s the reason i’ve always been led to believe aswell.
Also,the saying ‘As mad as a Hatter’,comes from the fact that the liquid metal,Mercury,was used in the manufacture of Bowler (i think) Hats and prolonged exposure i.e. breathing in the fumes of Mercury,will lead to scrambling of the brain.
I don’t think it was hatters. AFAIK luton vans were always the province of the removals trade. I also looked up pantechnicon which is the name given (from a victorian removal company of that name) to a removal lorry with a low rear entry.
Big Lorry Blog has an article where it suggests that a pantechnicon is a coacbuilt removal lorry where the cab and body are all one but they were originally horse drawn with the driver sat on the roof.
I think the luton body was designed in Luton for the Bedford Trucks that were made there to enable removal firms to carry the maximum possible cube on a (fairly) small chassis.
Also interesting is the origin of “lorry”: A lorry was originally a horse drawn trolley for recovering or delivering carriages. It had a low deck and small wheels and was wide to enable an ordinary carriage or cart to be loaded on to it.
This is a pantechnicon - I wonder if his night heater worked?
Wikipedia has this suggestion for both.
Pantechnicon has become the generic name for vehicles specially designed and constructed to transport furniture, except where “moving van” is usual. This is derived from a building of that name in Motcombe Street, Belgravia, London. The Seth Smith brothers, originally from Wiltshire, were builders in the early 19th century and constructed much of the new housing in Belgravia, then a country area. Their clients required storage facilities and this was built with a Greek style Doric column façade, and called Pantechnicon, Greek for “pertaining to all the arts or crafts”. Subsequently special wagons were designed with sloping ramps to more easily load furniture with the building name on the side. The Pantechnicon Ltd, a furniture storage and removal company continued to trade until the 1970s. The building was largely destroyed by fire in 1874, but the facade still exists as part of an antique shop.
A Luton body is a style of commercial vehicle body incorporating an enclosed box body extended over the cab. It takes its name from the town of Luton, in Bedfordshire, where the Bedford commercial vehicle plant was located.
The body style is common in medium commercial vehicles such as the Ford Transit, as well as larger vehicles especially those used by household removals companies. More modern examples may be streamlined to reduce wind resistance. Some commercial vehicles have a wind deflector on the cab roof, but this is not a Luton body: the Luton is functional and can be accessed from the main body. The portion of the body that rests over the cab is referred to as the peak, also referred to, in some quarters as a luton, or a kick.
re hats
its called a Luton because Atherstone
is tooooo looooong a word to say
with addled brain (see earlier posts) 
hitch:
re hats
its called a Luton because Atherstone
is tooooo looooong a word to say
with addled brain (see earlier posts)
So you could only have a Luton body on an AEC then 