Sunday, January 30, 2011

The secret can now be revealed.

Heavily guarded by the Canadian navy, these mystery trucks arrived in Halifax by ship from Europe. They were secreted out of Halifax on Christmas Day in hopes that they would not be seen by the truck watching public. And now they have emerged in all their finery.


1. Backed up by the RCN (2010-12-25)

2. Cunningly disguised (2010-12-25)


3. Ahah! It's a Merc (2011-01-28)



Of course it was no secret that when Fiat took over Chrysler from Daimler that changes would be made. The popular Dodge Sprinter was the first to go. Daimler reclaimed the rebadged Merc and it is now badged as a Mercedes and sold through Freightliner.

So why the secretive treatment, with aprons (or bibs) over the three pointed stars? I'll never tell, I swear.

4. The Dodge Sprinter (really a Merc) - gone.

Bulletin: I guess I was a little early for April 1. It really was intended as a joke on my part, to say that the trucks were under guard - no they weren't. When I examined my photos I saw that the Canadian naval dockyard was clear in the background. The protective shipping covers over the truck grilles was not really an attempt at secrecy, but a means of keeping dirt off the chrome. The Daimler/ Mercedes star was still quite obvious.
As for Canadian regulations- all commercial vehicles must display a plaque if they are carrying dangerous goods.
Sorry for the panic!
.

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1 comment:

  1. AnonymousJanuary 31, 2011 at 3:07 PM

    Hi,

    "I'll never tell." It seems to me you know why. I'm not quite sure whether you are kidding ("heavily guided by Canadian navy") or not. But looking at the picture of the FedEx van I have the notion that you might be not kidding.

    The FedEx van has plates for dangerous-goods-signs. Here in Germany such a van would carry such plates on the sides only if it transports radioactive goods (ADR class 7).

    Dangerous goods regulations in general apply to vehicles with at least 3.5 tonnes gross weight, except in case of class 7 which even applies to passenger cars.

    As radioactive material never is large or heavy, a short-wheelbase low roof Sprinter is always the vehicle of choice. So it occurred to me that these vans might be intended to transport radioactive goods.

    Then because of fear of terrorist attacks these vans might kept out of sight of the public so nobody might find out how these vehicles are specially protected (electronically).

    I'm really curious what's the true reason.

    Markus.

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