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Drop side vehicles have become common sight. They are very useful vehicle designs. They have not always been around though. There was a time when people had to struggle along without the convenience of a drop side. How did the drop side evolve?

The first load carrying vehicles were horse drawn (or donkey or ox or whatever) carts. Farmers loaded these carts with hay and produce to take to the market. At first they were solid structures, basically a wooden, lidless box on wheels. However, farmers soon noticed that they could make their lives a lot easier by making one of the sides (specifically the back) movable. They started putting the tailgate on hinges, essentially a drop side, the rustic version. This meant that they were able to load bigger and more bulky loads onto the carts.

Henry Ford invented the engine powered, internal combustion car in 1896. People sson realised the pulling power of a car far surpassed that of a horse. Cars were much stronger and tougher than the flesh and blood beasts. It did not take long for them to design the first pick up trucks. The first was released by Henry Ford in 1925. It did not take much longer before every farmer or man with a load to carry had a pick up truck. They certainly made things easier and soon the horse was phased out as a beast of burden.

Now every bakkie and load bearing vehicle (be they 4×4 or truck) has drop side options. It is possible to turn a drop side into a flatbed by either dropping or removing all the sides of the cargo bay. Other options are to drop one side and load the vehicle and then replace the side. This makes the drop side a very versatile vehicle to have at your disposure.

The drop side option on the rear panel could have been problematic in that it blocked the view of the rear lights and the need for some interesting wiring to prevent the connection being broken whilst the back was down. The solution was simple, placing the lights lower down and on either side or built into the fixed side panels solved that problem.

Being able to drop all three sides of the loading bay makes it possible to load large bulky loads without having to use miles of rope to keep them in place. There is less physical strain placed on those poor individuals who have to load the vehicle as they do not have to lift the burden quite as high. Some things can be pushed up a ramp and slid onto the back of the vehicle instead of having to be lifted over the sides and gently lowered onto the back.

The emergence of the drop side has made carrying loads a lot easier on both the loads and the loaders. Loads can be more carefully handled with the result that less gets broken. Loaders do not have their backs put out of alignment by having to lift and gently settle heavy items for transport. And to think that it evolved from the simple horse and cart.

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