Stringing a tree with tinsel or spraying fake snow around your double-glazed windows is fairly normal behaviour when it comes to celebrating a religious festival at home. However, if you spend more time on the road carrying out haulage work then you do lounging around in your living room at home, then it’s understandable that you may also want to decorate your vehicle. Here are some instances of customised trucks from around the world.
The Christmas Truck
Some people admit to only feeling festive when the Christmas Coca-Cola advert, with the beautifully lit up red truck, comes onto the television. This advert actually fell into disuse around 2001, after Coca-Cola restructured its advertising model to produce adverts locally rather than centrally in the companies’ Atlanta headquarters. However, after many phone calls from consumers all over the world, saying that the advert represented the start of the festive season, the company were forced to place the advert back into use. Haulage workers driving the Coca-Cola trucks, like on the advert, are encouraged to decorate their trucks with the stereotypical red LED lights. These trucks are therefore a common sight on the freeways of America during the Advent season.
The Hola MohallaTruck
During the Sikh festival of Hola Mohalla it is common for participants to decorate their trucks, before carrying out haulage work. The decorations are similar in style to the Diwali trucks bird flying into house good luck, but slightly less elaborate. Instead of floral offerings, crepe paper decorations hang from the bumpers and windows of the truck, whilst artificial flower garlands decorate the front bonnet and balloons hang from the side doors. However, during the festival the goods that the haulage workers are carrying slightly differ from those they are used to in their regular line of work. Haulage workers carrying participants to and from the carnival procession in their decorated trucks, whilst the participants sing Kirtan hymns in the back.
The Dekotora Truck
Whilst many haulage workers will only decorate their trucks for special occasions, in Japan truck decoration is actually an art form. The art is known as dekotora and trucks are painted in loud and brash designs. They commonly have neon or ultra-violet lights and are in some instances designed to look like animals or anime characters. The trucks can be used for haulage work, but more commonly they are decorated by hobbyists who drive them to special events. However, whilst dekotora sounds like a lot of fun, there are strict rules that the participants all have to adhere to. The side bumpers, for example, must be made with broad plankers instead of the usual pipes. These are often decorated with paper lanterns and different types of illuminations.
The Diwali Truck
Haulage companies in India are encouraged to decorate their lorries for Diwali; the festival of lights. This sport can actually become quite competitive with those carrying out haulage work during the festival, trying to out do their colleagues by having the most elaborately decorated lorry. Strings of marigold flowers are wrung around the front of the truck and the bumper and these are known as ‘pura’. The flowers have already been offered to the goddess, Lakshmi and after receiving her blessing are then hung from the trucks as an omen of good fortune. Marigold flowers aren’t the only form of decoration and ribbons are often hung from the wing mirrors, whilst tassels cover the mud-flaps and grill of the vehicle. Haulage workers also use the excuse of the festive period to treat their trucks to a new lick of paint, so that they really outdo their rivals on the road.
Lyall Cresswell is the Managing Director of Haulage Exchange, the leading online trade network for the road transport industry across the UK and Europe. It provides services for haulage work to buy and sell road transport and freight exchange in the domestic and international markets.