Talk:Ice cream van

Older discussions
I removed the blurb about evoking the old seaside because it sounded like original research AND packed quite a few unsubstanciated claims into a single paragraph; just a few to many 'citation needed' withing centimetres of each other Jmackaerospace 06:05, 11 February 2007 (UTC)

Meelar gave this summary of an edit:


 * they're in the U.S. as well. Also removed sentence about climate change--that was pure speculation, esp. since climate change would tend to make Britain colder (by disrupting the North Atlantic)

I wondered about whether they existed in other countries, and for some reason I assumed that they wouldn't be in the US - I have never seen one there or heard of their existence, and they have always struck me as a very British phenomenon. This all makes the article very British-centric, so it would be good to see more information about what they are like in America and what place they hold in the culture of that country.

As for the climate change comment, while it is quite possible that Britain will end up colder as a result of global warming, it looks set to get warmer first, and it is indeed noticeably warmer here than it was a few decades ago - winters are distinctly milder for example. I have no axe to grind over matters of climate change, it was merely an observation that Brits are becoming increasingly used to summer heatwaves, and it seems reasonable to speculate that any prediction of the demise of the ice cream van (they are all such old and decrepit vehicles) might be misplaced.

The article needs some work, although as my original intention was to cover an aspect of British culture that I erroneously believed was unique, the case for the article's existence is now somewhat weakened.

Trilobite 17:09, 7 Jul 2004 (UTC)

I'm trying to work out if I have a way of recording the chime of one - I could then upload it as an ogg. There is one that basically parks outside my flat daily - the chime is annoying but some good could come of it ;) Secretlondon 11:31, 17 Jul 2004 (UTC)

They exist in the US as well, except they're trucks and not vans, and they're all white and rectangular shaped. [[User:Poccil|Peter O. (Talk)]] 01:37, Jul 23, 2004 (UTC)


 * Actually, not all the ones in the US are white and rectangular shaped. Right now, there's an ice cream man out in my cul-de-sac (PLAYING THE MOST ANNOYING SONG IN THE WORLD, "I'M A LITTLE TEAPOT") and it's a rectangular yellow truck.  Also, last summer, it was a blue-green minivan that would visit every day with the annoying music.  Can't I call the cops about the music and claim that he's disturbing the peace?  --Brandon Dilbeck 02:56, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

This article is in need of alot of work. It needs to be rewritten in a generic sense, not British vrs US. There is absolutely no history of the ice cream truck mentioned. The article states "...Along the sides, a large sliding window acts as a serving hatch..." Has that always been the case? Look at the vintage photo. There is no sliding window. Article states "...quite smelly and noisy, due to the need to keep the engine running to supply energy for refrigeration..." No, the vans are smelly and noisy because they are diesel engines. There is alot of information in this article that just doesn't need to be there. Ice Cream Van title I believe should be changed to ice cream vehicle or something so that it can represent both van and truck.

Codepro 07:41, 20 January 2006 (UTC)

USPS trucks?
It is true that in their heyday (and now), US ice cream trucks were typically made by Grumman Olson (now Morgan), and so they look just like the vans used by USPS, UPS, FedEx etc. I doubt that many former delivery trucks are used for this, because they're obviously missing the freezers. --72.70.24.251 12:38, 18 May 2006 (UTC)

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. The law about requiring a stop sign is a myth. Each state and/or juristictional area will have its own requirements regarding safety equipment. Safety equipment usually comes in the form of a electric or vacuum swing out sign which may resemble a stop sign or a triangular shape, as well as vinyl lettering or decals that avise others to use caution. Mr. Frosty 2006/12/22

There is a cleverly hidden Mr. Show reference where it says under the heading of US Ice Cream Trucks that "often [they] have dishes on top because ice cream comes in dishes" - jjg 12/24

Referenced
"In the movie Friday it was referenced that ice cream trucks are used as a cover-up for drug dealers." What does this mean, or is "referenced" just a fancy word for "shown"? (Or "said"?) And is what's shown or said in a film important? Morenoodles

Not ice cream
In the UK, at least, most of the stuff sold from vans is not genuine ice cream, which is why they are obliged to advertise only "ices". If anyone has further info, the article could be improved to make this clear.--Shantavira|feed me 17:30, 14 November 2009 (UTC)
 * Both British vans shown in the article (the red Walls one and the yellow Transit-based one) say "Ice Cream", not "Ices", on them. I'm not disputing your comment, but given those two photos it will need a solid reference to go in. 86.154.8.126 (talk) 16:45, 28 December 2009 (UTC)

Playing Rock and Roll songs on the speaker?
I was walking at Boston City Hall in Boston MA. As I was crossing the street, I heard an Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band singing Born in the USA. I said to myself "Weird, I have never seen an ice cream truck do that. Boston is sure going crazy today." 03:11, 4 August 2010 (UTC) --User:BuddyBoy600

There's one where I live (Leeds, UK) that plays Ecstacy of Gold (from the Good the Bad and the Ugly) and the A-Team theme tune, albeit on the traditional chimes — Preceding unsigned comment added by 90.208.29.191 (talk) 06:08, 3 November 2014 (UTC)

History
This is just a suggestion. I came upon this page because I heard our local ice cream truck roll by as it usually does around this time of day. I noticed something unusual. It wasn't playing the song I've come to know in my childhood as "the ice cream truck song". Or whatever you'd like to call it. It's also not obviously one of the songs listed in the article as being usually played by American ice cream trucks. So anyway I came for 2 reasons. 1 to see if there were several different songs they played and 2 because I was suddenly immensely curious about the history of the ice cream truck. Like... seriously... who came up with the idea and started it all? I'd like to see that make it into the article eventually if it's possible to find that out. Thanks! -- CrystalT 173.202.94.9 (talk) 19:51, 24 July 2011 (UTC)

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UK and the US and formatting
Is the focus on UK and the US appropriate do you think?

for example why is it:

An ice cream van (British) or ice cream truck (American) is a commercial vehicle that serves as a mobile retail outlet for ice cream

wouldn't it be better to have just 'ice cream van or ice cream truck...' without the british and american bits, seeing as they are called one or the other in various other countries.

more stuff:

nothing in the 'In the United States' section is necessarily specific to the united states.

the United Kingdom section has more specific information, but perhaps the second half about local regulations should be under a more general 'regulations' heading with sub headings for individual countries. the other information in the united kingdom part is also a partial, more specific, restatement of stuff that's in the general information section.

as it stands now if i wanted to add information for australia say, i'd have to add a whole 'in australia' section for what might be a pretty short paragraph (which is almost already the case with the US) section. so perhaps more general categories would lead to more information coming in from other countries.

New jingle
RZA in collaboration with Good Humor released a new instrumental (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=broo2NZmiDE) for ice cream trucks. Their intent is that it replace Turkey in the Straw several versions of which have racist connotations. Background at https://www.goodhumor.com/us/en/jingle.html knoodelhed (talk) 22:43, 21 March 2021 (UTC)

Ice cream truck melody
The article contains a long list of melodies allegedly played by ice cream trucks. Are those actually used in the wild? Every ice cream truck I've seen across several countries has always played this instead but I don't think it is mentioned by that list. AndreKR (talk) 18:34, 3 June 2023 (UTC)


 * See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htAMXx3upow - I've certainly heard all those shown other than the second one in the UK. Greensleeves is common. O Sole Mio is associated with ice cream in the British mind because Walls used it (with the words "just one Cornetto" [their product]) in a series of TV ad.s in the 1970s and on; I suspect more Brits could name the tune as that than its real name! G6JPG (talk) 12:48, 9 September 2023 (UTC)

Why the chimes?
I came here because I was curious about why they traditionally (always, IME: I've never heard one just playing other music) use the chimes; I was also maybe hoping to find out something about the mechanism (or whatever) involved. (I presume it's now electronic, but was it originally?) But there is nothing here; I think it would be worth adding, if anyone knows - or at least links to other articles. — Preceding unsigned comment added by G6JPG (talk • contribs) 12:51, 9 September 2023 (UTC)