Vintage Ice Cream Truck in Harper Woods, Michigan, USA.

An ice cream van (British) or ice cream truck (American) is a commercial vehicle which serves as a travelling retail outlet for ice cream, usually during the summer. Ice cream vans are often seen parked at public events, or near parks, beaches, or other areas where people congregate. Ice cream vans often travel near where children play — outside schools, in residential areas, or in other locations. They usually stop briefly before moving on to the next street. Image File history File links Vintage_ice_cream_truck. ... Image File history File links Vintage_ice_cream_truck. ... Harper Woods is a city in Wayne County of the U.S. state of Michigan. ... A commercial vehicle is a type of vehicle used for carrying goods or passengers. ... Drawing of a self-service store. ... Missing image Ice cream is often served on a stick Boxes of ice cream are often found in stores in a display freezer. ... Summer is one of the four seasons of the year. ... This article needs additional references or sources to facilitate its verification. ... The Beach in Calella, Spain. ... Students in Rome, Italy. ... A residential area is a type of land use where the predominant use is residential. ... A city-centre street in Frankfurt, Germany A residential street in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA A street is a public thoroughfare in the built environment. ...

Ice cream vans are often brightly decorated and carry images of ice cream, or some other adornment, such as cartoon characters. They may have painted-on notices, which can serve a commercial purpose ("Stop me and buy one!") or a more serious one ("Watch that child!" - serving as a warning to passing motorists that children may run out into the road at the sight of the van, or appear without warning from behind it). Along the sides, a large sliding window acts as a serving hatch, and this is often covered with small pictures of the available products, with their associated prices. A distinctive feature of ice cream vans is their melodic chimes, and often these take the form of a famous and recognisable tune, often a nursery rhyme melody. Many see natural beauty in the folded petals of a rose This page is about the pleasant phenomenon. ... A fictional character is any person who appears in a work of fiction. ... A nursery rhyme is a traditional song or poem taught to young children, originally in the nursery. ...

Ice cream van in Sydney, Australia

Most ice cream vans tend to sell both pre-manufactured ice lollies (American English: popsicles) in wrappers, and soft serve ice cream from a machine, served in a cone, and often with a chocolate flake (in Britain) or a sugary syrup flavoured with, for example, strawberry. Soft serve ice cream is served topped with sprinkles for a slight extra charge. Other vans tend to be run by small businesses, selling their own variety of ice cream. David Cummins USA sells both soft serve and novelty/dipped ice cream trucks in the United States. They feature modern designs and do not require a generator. The economics of not having a generator can save the operator $100 per day. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 547 pixelsFull resolution (1024 × 700 pixel, file size: 1. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 547 pixelsFull resolution (1024 × 700 pixel, file size: 1. ... This is about the city of Sydney in Australia. ... Popsicle is a trademarked name for a frozen treat on a stick. ... For other uses, see American English (disambiguation). ... Popsicle logo Popsicle is the most popular brand name in the U.S. and Canada for a brand of ice pop. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... A 99 Flake (now Flake99) can refer to an ice cream cone with a Cadbury Flake chocolate bar inserted in it; a specially produced Flake bar for this purpose; or a wrapped ice cream cone product marketed by Cadbury. ... In cooking, a syrup (from Arabic شراب sharab, beverage, via Latin siropus) is a thick, viscous liquid, containing a large amount of dissolved sugars, but showing little tendency to deposit crystals. ... - Species 20+ species; see text The strawberry (Fragaria) is a genus of plants in the family Rosaceae, and the fruit of these plants. ... Chocolate sprinkles In the Netherlands chocolate sprinkles – hagelslag – are commonly used as a sandwich topping Birthday cupcakes with colored sprinkles Sprinkles are very small pieces of confectionary used as a decoration or to add texture to desserts – typically cakes or cupcakes, cookies, doughnuts, ice cream, and some puddings. ...

In some locations, ice cream van operators have diversified to fill gaps in the market for soft drinks, using their capacity for refrigerated storage to sell chilled cans and bottles. Diversification is a measure of the commonality of a population. ... Look up Market in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... A soft drink is a drink that contains no alcohol. ... Refrigeration is the process of removing heat from an enclosed space, or from a substance, and rejecting it elsewhere for the primary purpose of lowering the temperature of the enclosed space or substance and then maintaining that lower temperature. ...

Early vans used relatively primitive techniques: their refrigeration was ensured by large blocks of dry ice so the motor was always turned off when the van was stopped for sales. The chimes were operated by a hand driven crank or a take-off from the motor, so they were not heard as often. Dry ice is a genericized trademark for solid (frozen) carbon dioxide. ...

Ice cream vans in the United Kingdom

A Wall's ice cream van parked near to a school in Coventry, England.

There are mainly two types of ice cream vans in the United Kingdom: a "hard van" which sells scoop ice cream and is only equipped with a freezer and a "soft van" which has a freezer and also a soft serve whippy machine installed. They are usually converted from from factory standard vans with the rear cut away and replaced with a fibre glass body (to reduce the weight). Because of the British climate, running an ice cream van profitably is not only very difficult outside summer, but is also an unpredictable business. A summer heatwave can provoke a massive upturn in fortunes for a few days, but after the weather has returned to a milder character sales drop off dramatically. The need to take advantage of rare and short-lived opportunities can result in fierce rivalry between ice cream vans in coterminous areas, with the main disputes being over who is entitled to sell ice cream in a particular 'patch'. This has also lead to some ice cream van vendors diversifying into selling other products such as crisps and other snacks - including chips, burgers or hot dogs - from their vehicles at other times of year. Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (2592 × 1944 pixel, file size: 2. ... Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (2592 × 1944 pixel, file size: 2. ... Walls is the brand name of Unilevers ice cream business, Heartbrand, in Great Britain. ... For other places with the same name, see Coventry (disambiguation). ... A heat wave is a prolonged period of excessively hot weather, which may be accompanied by excessive humidity. ... Weather is a term that encompasses phenomena in the atmosphere of a planet. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Potato chips. ... French fried potatoes, (French fries, or fries) is the name used in North America for pieces of potato that have been cut into batons and deep-fried. ... This article contains a trivia section. ...

In a number of Local Authority areas, particularly in London Boroughs with existing street markets, street trading regulations prohibit ice cream vans from remaining in one static location - London local Authorities Act 1990 as amended. The legislation also contains powers to ban ice-ceam vans from specific streets. Proposals in the current London Local Authorities Bill will allow only 15 minutes trading per vehicle per street each day.

British-style ice cream vans are also found in Hong Kong - there is usually one parked outside the Star Ferry terminal on Hong Kong island. Lower deck of a Star Ferry in the morning Old Star Ferry Pier in Central, Hong Kong. ... The night view of the Island side as seen from the Kowloon side - the opposite side of the Victoria Harbour Hong Kong Island (Traditional Chinese: 香港島; Simplified Chinese: 香港岛; Cantonese Jyutping: hoeng1 gong2 dou2; Mandarin Pinyin: Xiānggǎngdǎo) is the island where the colonial settlement of the Hong Kong territory...

In Glasgow, some organised crime syndicates used them for laundering the proceeds of crime and a front for drug dealing. A period of Glaswegian criminal history called the Ice Cream Wars existed in the 1980s between rival gangs fighting for territory. “Glaswegian” redirects here. ... The Glasgow Ice Cream Wars were conflicts in the East End of Glasgow in the 1980s between rival ice cream van operators, over lucrative territory and suggested use of ice cream vans as a cover for selling drugs. ...

Also in Scotland, ice cream vans have been used to sell smuggled cigarettes - Ice cream ploy by tobacco sellers

Ice cream trucks in the United States

Jack and Jill Ice Cream Truck in Kentlands, Maryland, USA.

Apart from ice cream, ice cream trucks may also sell snow cones, snacks, sodas, and candy. Many trucks carry a sign, in the shape of a stop sign, that warns other drivers of children crossing the street to buy food or ice cream. Image File history File linksMetadata JackAndJillTruck. ... Image File history File linksMetadata JackAndJillTruck. ... Located in the U.S. city of Gaithersburg, Maryland, Kentlands is an early experiment in traditional neighborhood design or the New Urbanism. ... Snow cone with cherry syrup A snow cone is a dessert item usually made of compacted shaved ice flavored with a brightly colored sugary syrup, usually fruit-flavored. ... A snack food is seen in Western culture as a type of food that is not meant to be eaten as part of one of the main meals of the day (breakfast, lunch, supper). ... A soft drink is a drink that contains no alcohol. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Confectionery. ...

Novelty Ice Cream Trucks

Professionally built ice cream trucks that sell prepackaged product (Novelty Trucks) use commercial cold plate freezers that plug in overnight and when unplugged maintain the cold for at least 12 hours. Music systems are commonly digital devices that have no tape or other moving parts. Each "Music Box" has as few as 1 or as many tunes as one can have programmed onto the chip. The opening on the side that drivers serve from is commonly referred to as a serving window and will usually have a serving counter. Awnings can be attached to trucks over the serving window. Safety equipment usually comes in the form of an electric or vacuum swing out sign which may resemble a stop sign or a triangular shape, as well as vinyl lettering or decals that advise others to use caution.

The ice cream truck in popular culture

The interior of an ice cream van, with its enormous freezer

An 1985 Chevrolet Van used as an ice cream truck in metropolitan Louisville

• In the Twisted Metal series of video games, the mascot, Sweet Tooth, drives an ice cream truck as his vehicle of choice.
• In Borat, the title character drives an ice cream truck across America.
• In the movie Friday, ice cream trucks are used as a cover-up for drug dealers.
• The cable series Reno 911! features an episode in the first season where the cops intercept an ice cream truck that is a front for illegal fireworks sales.
• An ice cream van was famously used as a prop by Dom Joly in the British comedy sketch show Trigger Happy TV. Joly would taunt customers by, variously, taking an order and then driving off, taking an order and then joining the back of the queue, or taking an order and then climbing on to the roof. One episode involved an American tourist requesting an orange disco lolly. This was the cue for Joly to close the window of the van, switch on some disco lights and gyrate wildly to a hard core techno track while white smoke swirled around the inside of the van.
• The Glasgow Ice Cream Wars were satirized in an episode of Rab C. Nesbitt (a Scots TV program), where Gash becomes a junkie and buys his drugs from an ice cream van.
• In Fahrenheit 9/11, Michael Moore drove an ice cream truck around the United States House of Representatives, reading the USA PATRIOT Act.
• Bill Forsyth's 1984 movie Comfort and Joy features a rivalry between two rival ice-cream van companies.
• In Michael Cimino's 1974 movie Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, A gang use ice cream trucks as part of their scheme to pull off a bank robbery.
• In the 1981 movie Nice Dreams, Cheech & Chong's characters utilize an ice cream truck to sell marijuana.

• The music video for the Smashing Pumpkins song "Today" features an ice cream van.
• Eddie Murphy made famous "The Ice Cream Man" skit from his Grammy winning comedy album of 1983 Comedian.

Wikibooks has more about this subject:

Ice Cream Vans

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Ice cream vans