Patent ID: 6868928

Claim:
A vehicle, comprising: (a) one or more frame structures to which a large percentage of other components of said vehicle are engaged either directly or indirectly in such a manner that said frame structures function to maintain proper location of said other components of said vehicle relative to one another; (b) a suspension system that is engaged to said one or more frame structures and which supports said frame structures above the ground; (c) an driver cabin within which vehicle controls are located and within which a driver of said vehicle may reside while operating said vehicle; (d) wherein said cabin comprises a windshield through which a driver of said vehicle can view terrain ahead of said vehicle; (e) wherein said cabin further comprises cowl structure immediately below said windshield; (f) an engine-compartment hood that extends in front of said cabin and which has an upper rear portion that is disposed forward of said cowl structure in spaced relation thereto; (g) a fluid center that is mounted to a forward side of said cowl structure of said cabin; (h) wherein said fluid center comprises a cowl tray which comprises a tray floor that extends horizontally beneath a gap between said upper rear portion of said engine compartment hood and said cowl structure of said cabin; (i) wherein said cowl tray of said fluid center comprises a tray wall at least a portion of which extends vertically from a portion of said tray floor opposite said cowl structure of said cabin such that a catch basin is defined above said tray floor between said cowl structure and said tray wall; (j) wherein said tray wall defines a drain hole through which liquid can exit said cowl tray; (k) wherein said fluid center comprises a fluid reservoir that is engaged to said cowl structure only through other structure of said fluid center; (l) said fluid reservoir is constructed of a different material than said cowl tray; (m) said fluid center comprises reservoir-mounting structure that is integrally formed with said tray floor and said tray wall of said cowl tray and between opposing portions of which at least a portion of said fluid reservoir is captured in such a way to fixedly engage said fluid reservoir to said fluid center; (n) said fluid reservoir is constructed of blow-molded nylon; (o) said cowl tray and said reservoir-mounting structure are constructed of talc-filled polypropylene; (p) said fluid center further comprises a fluid-center-mounted engine-air-intake duct that has an inlet and an outlet; and (q) wherein said vehicle further comprises other engine-air-intake ducts that are in fluid communication with said outlet of said fluid-center-mounted engine-air-intake duct.