Bids open for new USPS Mail Trucks

I wonder who will get it.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/say-goodbye-to-the-classic-white-boxy-us-postal-truck/ar-AA9mg99

This is their must have list:

MSN said: Durable door design—i.e. locks and latches that can "withstand the rigors of the postal duty cycle." Stronger wipers—the fleet's existing windshield wipers evidently experience "fatigue" from all the rain or sleet or even snow that don't keep post-people from getting where they need to go. Crevice elimination—apparently the current trucks have lots of "difficult to access" cracks where letters can accidentally slip and get lost in the mail. Heavy-duty mats—all that stepping in and stepping out takes its toll. Better climate control—Keeping the semi-exposed delivery person comfortable in every season requires a ventilation system that delivers heat or air "in the right quantities to the right body locations." And let's not forget a good cup holder. Supplementary material supplies the specs here: "The vehicle shall be equipped with a standard adjustable cup holder. The cup holder shall be within reach of the 5th percentile female and the 95th percentile male in the normal seated operating position. All exposed edges shall be rolled or provided with a radius of curvature to prevent injury."

Well that explains coffee stains on my mail from time to time.

So they need RHD minivans?

moparman76_69 wrote: So they need RHD minivans?

I have one of those.

I looked into the Grumman LLV a little while back. Those oddball little trucks you still see every single day delivering mail stopped rolling off the assembly line in something like 1994. I'd call the last round a success.

Mike wrote: I looked into the Grumman LLV a little while back. Those oddball little trucks you still see every single day delivering mail stopped rolling off the assembly line in something like 1994. I'd call the last round a success.

They've been repowered many times. I am being told they are getting a version of the ford escape engine.

Fueled by Caffeine wrote:

Mike wrote: I looked into the Grumman LLV a little while back. Those oddball little trucks you still see every single day delivering mail stopped rolling off the assembly line in something like 1994. I'd call the last round a success.

They've been repowered many times. I am being told they are getting a version of the ford escape engine.

That's a good power-to-weight ratio. Do they still not have airbags?

I vote for modified Raptors. They meet none of the criteria, but they would be the shiznet on rural routes.

They've been repowered many times. I am being told they are getting a version of the ford escape engine.

Wrong. I drive an LLV every day at work. They still have the Iron Duke Chevy four cylinders in them because they are based on an S-10 chassis. These do not have airbags.

There's a similar (but newer) looking delivery vehicle called the FFV which is based on a Ranger or Explorer chassis, but I am not too familiar with them. They have airbags in them and while they look very similar to the LLV, the do have and extra window on the passenger side and a fiberglass front end.

Here I am in my trusty LLV...

Ashtray?

My carrier almost always has a butt hanging from her mouth (USPS truck,civilian clothes).

My mailman drives a USPS-liveried Dodge Caravan. After this winter, I'd think AWD would be pretty important.

Most of the rural route drivers here drive JDM-as-berk '00-era Legacy Outback wagons.

They missed the most important specification: the rear track needs to be at least 30% wider than the front track, so they still look like they could tip over at any time.

jimbob_racing wrote:

They've been repowered many times. I am being told they are getting a version of the ford escape engine.

Here I am in my trusty LLV...

That was a pretty cool list of requirements. I love seeing very specialized vehicles like these. Reinforced wipers and no little crevices for the letters to fall into - you wouldn't come up with those without hard-won experience.

There are few "frame" vehicles any more though the newest is the new Chevy Colorado. I predict aluminum box riding on Colorado frame and its 2.4L engine.
Battery hybrid could be good here but I predict that will be avoided so as not to get trapped due to evolving technology.

My thought was a diesel version of the Volt drivetrain, a small displacement constant RPM diesel driving a generator that charges batteries etc. It might be more $ at the outset but would quickly recover that in lowered fuel costs. Just have to get them to last 15 years...

jimbob_racing wrote:

They've been repowered many times. I am being told they are getting a version of the ford escape engine.

Wrong. I drive an LLV every day at work. They still have the Iron Duke Chevy four cylinders in them because they are based on an S-10 chassis. These do not have airbags. There's a similar (but newer) looking delivery vehicle called the FFV which is based on a Ranger or Explorer chassis, but I am not too familiar with them. They have airbags in them and while they look very similar to the LLV, the do have and extra window on the passenger side and a fiberglass front end. Here I am in my trusty LLV...

I'm not sure if this is what you were going for there, but this is what I think when I see that (awesome, btw) picture:

jimbob_racing wrote:

They've been repowered many times. I am being told they are getting a version of the ford escape engine.

Wrong. I drive an LLV every day at work. They still have the Iron Duke Chevy four cylinders in them because they are based on an S-10 chassis. These do not have airbags.

Interesting. The guy who told me that worked for western region HQ. but hey.. He could be wrong.

I have often been surprised that the Mail trucks are not electric. The Majority of them do not go that far or that fast.. makes for perfect use of batteries

So how long until we can buy the surplus LLVs really cheap for various non postal uses?

LLV Spec series?

I'm down

If they're going to keep these things for another 30 years, I wonder what kind of powertrain they'll use. In 20+ years you certainly won't want some ICE museum piece powering the truck. The best thing to do might be to keep it as modular as possible and have one axle powered by an ICE and the other by an electric motor. Then later down the road, batteries can go where the engine was.

These might have to be autonomous down the road too, but it's too early to even try to plan ahead for that.

Now is a really bad time to be designing a vehicle for long-term use.

Honda Element -- RHD JDM version?

Why do I want to lsx one of these things. Turbo it and go make 600 hp.

If it's going to be a custom built vehicle anyways seems like it would make sense to go hybrid. For most of the delivery driving I would think electric mode would be fine. Off the top of my head this seems like a perfect project for Tesla.