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P AND FINALLY_
Page 16
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Whitby gets the cream
SUMMER MAY BE a long and distant memory, but one company has reaped the rewards from the number of Brits who chose to holiday at home during the recession. Whitby Specialist Vehicles, the world's leading manufacturer of ice cream vans, has enjoyed a surge in demand for its custom-built vehicles the majority of which are based on Mercedes-Benz Sprinters.
The company took delivery of 40 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter chassis cabs for conversion last year.
"The Sprinter is easily the most popular vehicle among our customers," says Whitby Specialist Vehicles production manager Ed Whitby, whose grandfather established the business in 1962. "It's a great all-round package.'
Vans based on the Sprinter are fitted with glassfibre bodies that can take up to 600 hours to build. Prices for finished vehicles vary from £20,000 up to 280,000. That's a lot of 99s.
• Turn to page 52 for CM's guide to buying a used Mercedes-Benz Sprinter.