Panel truck

Consumer demand from farmers and businesses for stripped-down Model T versions prompted Henry Ford to market vehicles that independent builders could supply cabs and cargo enclosures according to users' needs. During World War I the U.S. Army ordered 20,000 Dodge half-ton chassis sets for use as cargo trucks and ambulances that were then marketed after the war as the "Screenside Commercial Car"—a pickup with a roof and roll-up side covers or a fully enclosed cargo-bed. However, both of these were car platform-based models (Chrysler PL and GM Delta platforms respectively), not built on a pickup truck chassis. File:Chrysler PT-Cruiser 2.2 CRD Touring Facelift rear-1.JPG|Chrysler PT-Cruiser File:Chevrolet HHR panel rear -- 03-10-2010.jpg|Chevrolet HHR panel The current use of panel trucks describes commercial delivery vans. ==Difference==

The difference between a sedan delivery and a panel truck is that the sedan delivery is based on the chassis of a sedan, hatchback, or station wagon, while a panel truck is based on the chassis of a pickup truck. Unibody-based vans are similar in size and in functionality but have a unibody chassis. ==Canopy express==

A canopy express (also known as a "huckster truck") is a light-duty cargo van based on the chassis of a panel truck. Canopy express vehicles have open display areas behind the driver's seat commonly used for peddling vegetables and fruit, but also used for other kinds of deliveries that require easy access, such as newspapers and radio equipment. Canopy express trucks evolved as a more stylized version of standard pickup trucks that contained open canopies installed over the pickup bed. They were built by Dodge, General Motors, and International Harvester as well as other manufacturers. Ford Canopy Express trucks were merely aftermarket conversions of their existing panel trucks. As the United States became more suburbanized after World War II, sales of canopy express vehicles declined. Dodge ceased production of these trucks in 1948, while GM offered the last of them in 1955. File:1953 Chevrolet 3100 Canopy Express.jpg|1953 Chevrolet 3100 canopy express|alt=A blue 1953 Canopy Express from Chevrolet, loaded with fruits and vegetables ==See also==