Gyoza Ozark Lite Hauler LLRMT (mail truck)

Note: I originally wrote this article on the trucks wiki, and now I feel kind of guilty so I'm remastering it and putting it on this wiki instead.
The Gyoza Ozark Lite Hauler "LLRMT" (Long Life Royal Mail Truck) is an American/British Light transport truck. The Gyoza Ozark Lite Hauler LLRMT was designed as a mail truck for Royal Mail, which is its primary user. It is also used by the United States Postal Service. It was built as a partnership between International-Harvester, which supplied parts of the LLMRT's right-hand drive chassis and drivetrain, and Gyoza Automotive, which built the body and the remainder of the chassis.
== History ==
The Gyoza Ozark Lite Hauler Long Life Royal Mail Truck was specifically designed for Royal Mail of England with Gyoza Automotive winning the contract for production. The main design points of the vehicle in contract competition were serviceability, handling in confined areas, and overall economical operation. As its name suggests, the LLRMT is easily capable of a long life, perhaps approaching twenty years of operation. The original design lifespan of the Gyoza Ozark Lite Hauler Long Life Royal Mail Truck specified by the U.S. Postal Service was 24 years, but this was thirty years in the UK. The body and final assembly is by Gyoza, and the chassis (based on a downsized version of the International-Harvester S-Series) was originally made by Navistar, with the powerplant (2.5L I-4 TBI "Iron Duke" and, in later production, the Toyota 4A-GE I4 Gasoline engine (UK).
==Overview==
In the United States, the Ozark is the most common vehicle used by letter carriers for curbside and residential delivery of mail, (alongside the Grumman LLV) replacing the previous standard letter-carrier vehicle, the Jeep DJ-5. Curbside delivery from a driver seated in a vehicle to a curbside mailbox is sometimes termed "mounted delivery", in contrast to walking delivery. The Gyoza Ozark entered service in 1978. Royal Mail purchased over 100,000 of these vehicles, of which the last was purchased in 1987. Approximately 140,000 Ozarks are in the Royal Mail delivery fleet. A number were also sold to Canada, Mexico, and several other countries.
Like the postal-service Jeep DJ-5 (it's American competitor at the time of introduction), the LLRMT features a right-handed driver's position regardless of it being an American unit or a British one. It also features a large and short rectangular metal tray, which is able to hold three trays of letter mail, mounted where a passenger seat would normally be, but a passenger seat is attached to the tray in the UK model to allow the driver access to the mailbox. This arrangement positions the driver on the side of the vehicle closest to the curb in America (furthest away in England), enabling the carrier to easily grab sorted mail and place it into mailboxes without having to leave the seat, but in the United Kingdom this seating arrangement makes the vehicle road legal, and he/she can scoot to the passengers seat to access the mailboxes. Other notable features are an exceptionally tight turning radius and a low-geared, 5 speed transmission for hauling heavy cargo and to reduce fast takeoff speed in the British version. The LLRMT has a large cargo capacity.
The LLRMT's average EPA fuel economy is 17 miles per US gallon (14 L/100 km). UK and US market LLRMT trucks lack license plates like other U.S. Postal Service vehicles and unlike royal mail vehicles before it. British units use a Royal Mail serial number instead, and American units have a U.S. Postal Service serial number alongside faux license plates.
Category:Gyoza Automotive