The record
Hockings Dairy Cream Ices has made and sold ice cream from Appledore since 1936, when 'Grandfer' Hocking began trading from a Morris van, and the family firm still attends its North Devon pitches in all weathers with every van washed inside and out each day. The fleet of nineteen vehicles runs from the first new Bedford CF of 1971 to the latest Whitby Mondial, with Grandfer's old Morris restored by the late Bryan Whitby, and it includes two Land Rovers for the beach and for events in muddy fields. The Defender vans carry a tall box body behind the standard cab with a large serving window and menu boards on the nearside, in the firm's cream livery with a red band round the sills and arches, Hocking's and QUALITY DAIRY CREAM ICES lettering, a MADE IN APPLEDORE ribbon on the doors and a rosette on the body; Oxford Diecast reproduced one in 1:76 scale, and the diecast is the reference for this model, as no photograph of the real vans is given in the sources.
The registry's model reuses its Mr Whippy Defender body in Hockings cream with the red band and arches, serving window, lettering, cones and a bull bar; the plate is invented.
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