Van Dijk’s van, parked on a dijk (dyke) road; I just had to take a few pictures when I walked by this combination. Owner Van Dijk is a gardener and a landscaper. In that line of business, a fullsize panel van with a raised roof is the preferred vehicle choice, it’s usually towing a flatbed trailer. The Mercedes-Benz Sprinter and the Iveco Daily have the upper hand in the flower power branch.
The van is used to transport the crew, the tools and all kinds of lawn and garden equipment. Such a big van is of course also ideal to haul flowers, plants, shrubs and other goods to be used for the gardener’s job. Obviously there’s a full divider between the cab and the cargo compartment; standard equipment.
The Sprinter also has a roof rack and a ladder at the rear. The fullsizer is powered by a 2,148 cc, inline-four turbodiesel, good for 150 DIN-hp @ 3,800 rpm. Maximum torque output 330 Nm (243 lbf-ft) @ 1,200 – 2,400 rpm.
Now to the other end of the business. A low and wide flatbed tandem axle trailer with dropsides all around, even at the front side. The stacks and the dropsides are easily detachable.
I mentioned it’s low. Can you see a major advantage of being low to the ground, combined with that ramp? You can walk up and down the bed comfortably and safely, with or without holding a wheelbarrow. Naturally, a pair of these ramps comes with the package, so that the trailer can also be used as a garden machinery carrier.
On a different note, kudos to you if you can identify the blue car in the background of the first picture!
It’s a Seat Ibiza!
A facelifted Mk2 Ibiza, specifically.
Exactly. A SEAT Ibiza Typ 6K2
Damn guys, the correct answer within 11 minutes after this article was posted 🙂
I should have known, of course. This is CC, after all…
Here it is, a 2000 Seat Ibiza 1.8T Cupra (156 DIN-hp).
Tall vans with ladder racks on the roof. So you need a ladder to get to your ladder 🙂
There appears to be one mounted to the van door, but it still strikes me as funny.
That’s a ladder alright, mounted to the left cargo door.
Yeah makes no sense at all to me, they do make side mount ladder racks so you don’t need a ladder to get your ladder.
If I had to guess, side mount ladders may well not be legal there. EU countries generally are a lot more stringent about things like that.
Though in this case I don’t see a ladder rack, I see a cargo carrier.
My guess on the car in the background of the first photo is a VW Polo.
I amend my guess to the VW T-Cross
OK maybe it doesn’t like my link so I’ll try one last time.
Yes a low floor trailer is great for driving your wheeled equipment in and out. However I see a high floor on that trailer, at least 30″ off the ground.
In the US landscapers that do use a trailer use a purpose built unit. Google “Big Tex Landscape trailer” Their 18″ floor height and 4′ tailgate means it is easy to roll the mowers on and off and you don’t need to mess with a ramp as you just drop the gate and get to work.
Nice trailers, absolutely.
But I think I made it clear that the trailer in the article can be used as a flatbed trailer with perfect access to the bed from all sides and as a wheeled equipment carrier.
Often you see these trailers with longer stacks and additional or much taller boards (sometimes fence like) to haul green/brown waste.
Speaking of hauling wheeled equipment, I once saw a gardener’s Sprinter “swallowing” a wheel loader. A small one, of course, the kind of loaders as used by gardeners and landscapers.
Here’s in California, we occasionally use two gardeners. One drives a 1st gen 2wd Tacoma, 4 cylinder. This replaced two earlier Nissan 720’s. The other drives a short wheelbase early Sprinter, with an aluminum tilt-side trailer similar to this one, but smaller. I think it’s the only landscaping Sprinter in town. Pickups, either old Japanese beaters, or newer 3/4 ton domestics, rule. Except for the crew with pedal bikes and trailers …
We purchased two of these for our warehouse 5 years back, both turbodiesels. The general consensus was that they were very nice vans that had impressive power and good fuel economy compared to our gas vans. They were good drivers and comfortable as well. I’m not suggesting these had the same specs as the one in your article, not sure. The downside was that these things spent a fair amount of time in the shop for repairs (engine, fit and finish, suspension), and they also did not like to start in temperatures below 15 f. They did figure out the secret sauce to get them going in super cold weather eventually. I think a lot of this was a function of our operation side not used to caring for diesels. Also, I believe these were assembled in the US from parts from the EU.
When the 1st gen Sprinter came to the US everyone raved about the fuel economy relative to the the Ford Econoline and GMC Savannah. After a few years of the down town started to creep in.
Talking to one local produce wholesaler in N Truckee ~5yrs ago he mentioned that the fuel burn vs shop bills were pretty much a wash vs running a gas Ford.
Up here in New England almost all landscapers have 3/4 or 1 ton pickups, main reason being snow plowing in the winter. Plenty of open flat trailers but the new preferred setup is a enclosed trailer for equipment.
A panel van towing an open bed trailer or an open bed truck towing an enclosed trailer. All things considered, the set-up of the whole combination is pretty much the same then…
Enclosed trailers are widely used here by horticulturists (the flower and plant breeders) to bring their products to the flower auction’s depot. Mostly the trailer tower is an SUV with a van conversion.