US Government Employee: “Okay, awesome. So that’s a solid contract for the Lunar Lander for NASA. Great doing business with you.”
Northrop Grumman salesman: “Yeah, sure, happy to help us win the space race against the Soviets!”
Gov Employee: “Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go figure out who we’re going to get to build a stealth bomber for the Air Force.”
Grumman: “Oh, we can do that too!”
Gov Employee: “Whoa, really? Thanks, that really makes the rest of the week easier. I appreciate it! Now all I need to do is find someone to make some cute little mail delivery trucks for the USPS.”
Grumman: “You’re not gonna believe this…”
Just to head off any pedantry: I know this isn’t how it went, but it’s funnier this way.
I believe the history is Grumman made the usps trucks and then a little while after, they merged with Northrup, to make Northrup Grumman.
You didn’t pay any attention to their comment trying to head off your pedantry. Did you?
So they make a variety of “delivery” vehicles…
I’m gonna miss the old design. The new one looks like someone smashed it with a looney tunes hammer.
Looks aside, I’ll bet visibility is incredible, at least from the front. And I think that at least my mail carrier will appreciate having air conditioning. We still have a lot of the old LLV’s here and it was 105 and humid all summer.
For context, this is the current design, the Grumman LLV:
And this is the new 2024 redesign, the Oshkosh NGDV:
New design is goofy but I kinda love it, it looks like a cartoon. Also it just screams functionality, the driver can see so much out of that massive windshield
Old looks cheap to make, new looks cheap and safe to operate, shows, imo, a positive trend.
Yes, the ones out there, so far, are reportedly a hit amongst mail carriers
The old design looks like it was cobbled together by Elon Musk in his garage.
It’s the exact opposite of something Musk would make. Every aspect of the old LLV was designed to be used. Every aspect designed for longevity. If the steering wheels aren’t coming off of the Tesla cars, the metal cover is coming off of the Cybertruck’s footpedal.
The old model was named the Long Life Vehicle (LLV) for a reason. Ugly for sure, but rock sold. Designed in an era when the main concern was to last 6 digits on the odometer, powered by the iron duke engine. Moderately efficient at the time of its design in the late 70s, but absolutely dependable.
I never had a problem with the new, though admittedly goofy, design until I saw this picture. The ground clearance on that looks pretty low. Might just be photo angles tho. Anyone have any videos of these being tested out? Curious how they handle on dirt roads. I’m sure the did factor that into account, just curious is all.
Is this why I never see my mailman anymore?
