Yep, a blood tray. I mean, they didn’t literally call it a blood tray, but that’s sure as hell what it is. A tray to catch blood. I mean, I suppose it could be used to catch other fluids and juices and whatnot, but in the brochure I saw it in, for the 1966 French-market Ford Taunus Break (you know, what the French call station wagons), it was clearly used to catch blood.
The blood tray option was shown in a big grid of illustrations showing a lot of possible uses for these decidedly useful wagons, of which there are many, which makes for a pretty visually exciting array of imagery.
I mean, just look at it:
Look what we’ve got here: gleaming stainless steel tubs of, um, I’m not sure, and hanging clothes and vivid scarlet hoses and a mobile grocery store and tools and, yes, huge slabs of meat. That’s the one I want to focus on:
It’s unusual for a carmaker to show massive sides of beef shoved in their cars in a brochure, as that generally doesn’t have the appealing look that advertisers are trying for. I suppose the fact that this is an illustration helps; I think a photograph of well over 100 pounds of wet meat would be a lot more unsettling.
But what this illustration is really showing is that white plastic tray under the meat, described in the caption:
That translates to
“Equipped with this plastic bin, this station wagon is designed to ensure meat deliveries in the most hygienic manner.”
So, yeah, blood tray.
It’s worth remembering that the Taunus didn’t offer a refrigerated cargo area, so these slabs of unwrapped meat are just sliding and slapping around there in whatever the ambient temperature is, so I wouldn’t think this would be a great option for long-distance meat transport.
Really, I’m not sure the tray was as much about keeping the meat hygienic as it was about making cleanup easier in the back of your Taunus. Thankfully, it doesn’t look like carpet was an option back there.
The brochure has some other fascinating images, like this Taunus with a big tube of delicious ABC on top:
Mmmm, who doesn’t love ABC? The only Albemarle Buttered Clams you can get in a tube!
It’s also worth mentioning that the Taunus is interesting because it’s one of the relatively few V4 cars out there:
The Taunus V4 was also used in Ford’s Transit vans and the Granada and the Capri, among other cars.
Man, what could be cooler than driving a German Ford wagon with a V4 and a blood tray?
Torch, are you going to add some shelf stable, tubed Albemarle Buttered Clams to your vehicle emergency kit?
They needn’t be shelf stable if they’re kept on ice in the frunk.
For the friendly, neighborhood guillotine tester.
I hear that may be a growth market in the near future…
Great career for those who want to get ahead.
Personally I use an aftermarket device, the calf sled..
This fits nicely into the back of a Sienna or Subaru wagon, and allows hauling dead pronghorn, deer etc. Elk have to be cut up a bit to fit..
Usually buy a couple dozen bags of ice and pack that around, for the trip to the processor.. the sled contains the mess well.
Minivan Helsing?
Before I saw the pictures, I was all set to say, “Aww, Jason, that’s just wine! This is France!” I should have trusted you.
Wow. Those 60’s Ford ad execs sure relied heavily on local market researchers when selling their cars.
The French 1966 Ford Taunus Break ad shows no humans (at least living ones) but leaned heavily into transporting every possible item found in a local village market including the requisite 100 kg tube of hemorrhoid cream (Anal Bete Crème).
Fun fact: in Germany, that tray was called a Beefenßmakendrippenplatz.
Hopefully in accordance with the Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz.*
“beef labeling supervision duties delegation law“
You forgot two more words in front of this:
Rinderkennzeichnungs- und Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz
That law expired in 2013 when the similar EU regulation was adopted in Germany.
If you’ve ever forgotten to take your Thanksgiving turkey out of the freezer in time to thaw, you know that animal flesh is pretty dense stuff that takes a looooong time to come up to ambient temperature. I don’t think you need to refrigerate a side of beef for the journey from the butcher shop to the restaurant across town.