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?
Just in time for deer season!
ABC- always be chafing
The hinges on the tailgate are so Citroen Break. (Jason, time to add hinges to your taillight neurosis) Up and out so they don’t interfere with putting in the dead animal the RFK just ran over on the highway. So much more hygienic than attaching to the roof to drip blood everywhere.
Volvo 145/245/265 hinges are even better.
Zero inside clearance issues because they’re roof-mounted.
Perfect for Lady Gaga’s wardrobe.
Come on, there’s no way you had “Albemarle ” locked and loaded!
[googles]
“Albemarle Corporation is an American specialty chemicals manufacturing company based in Charlotte, North Carolina.”
Oh. Well then.
Fuck you, that’s my name! You know why, Mister? Cause you drove a Hyundai to get here tonight, I drove a 1966 French-market Ford Taunus Break with a giant tube of Always Be Closing on the top. That’s my name! Always Be Closing!
Those second-place steak knives are pretty handy here.
Finally! You’ve found the source of the COVID virus.
I saw Wet Meat and the Blood Trays at meadowlands in ’03.
Ford had to do something. Chevy’s wagon with its Crip Console was selling like hotcakes.
The center bottom row (Carol Brady spot) also uses the same plastic tray for transporting tools and mechanical devices.
Clearly the vehicle of choice for serial killers.
and their dark passengers
Came here for murder comments. Thank you fir not disappointing.
Alas, those wagons, with their flat rear cargo floors being at the same level as the rear bumpers, are lacking apple stoppers, a term I was rather delighted to come across in an old British magazine in a review of some station wagon (which sadly I do not remember, just that it was in a comparison to the contemporary Morris Mini Traveller.)
Currently DDing a three-row Mercedes station wagon (W123 or, more accurately, S123) with the 3rd row seats folded down which forms a flat rear cargo floor without an apple stopper so I have to exercise caution in unloading whenever I’m parked uphill. More than once I’ve had to stop items from rolling out.
Oh, yeah, the Taunus V4… that has a bit of infamy as a common replacement in period for moribund Wankel rotary engines in NSU RO80s which led to observations about the incongruity of going from what was widely considered the world’s smoothest running engine to what was widely considered the world’s roughest running engine.
I love a good collage of similar car pictures/artwork in a nice grid. I just have to look.
You posted another brochure showing a serial killer package in the past Torch, but I can’t remember what car it was. The brochure also showed big hunks of beef rolling around in the back of a station wagon. I’m not an expert when it comes to transporting raw meat, but ice bags might not be a bad idea.
It’s a blood tray, not an ice tray.
Depends on what the ice is made of.
Same car.
The plastic cargo tray pictured is now a common accessory for a lot of vehicles but the ones now don’t offer the same amount of side protection as that one.
The most redundant cargo tray I’ve seen offered is for the trunk of a Honda Ridgeline. The trunk has a drain plug in it and is designed to be washed out. The cargo tray would only trap items in the trunk.
A blood tray? How was this not the official touring vehicle for some european heavy metal bands back in the day?
Or name off the band?
I don’t always brush my teeth, but when I do, it’s with ABC.
Easy as 123.
Simple as do re mi
Big tube and me.
I like to think it comes in that classic, era-appropriate flavor of “regular.”
You should really try the irregular. It costs a few cents less, but works just as well.
Kinda makes your WeatherTech floor mats and cargo liners look lame in comparison, doesn’t it?
ButcherTech > WeatherTech
This is where my head went. Or this.
“Why are there two different styles of tail lights?”
Because some people like hamburgers while others prefer candy corn.
The second picture on the top row looks like a mobile meth lab.
That V4 was also, IIRC, the engine used in the ’62 Mustang concept.
My Focus has a trunk tray. The sides aren’t so high, but it does do a good job of containing spills.
Saab, too.
The V4, not the blood tray.
Based on everything I learned from the Flintstones, that is not the proper location for giant slabs of meat to be placed in a car. How are you going to eat them at the drive-in if they are all the way in the back?
Watch your weight distro though.
Granite wheels were an option on Fords in those days, right?
How can you put the meat on the roof? That’s where the ABC is.
COTD here.
Well we all hate dealing with blood in our trunk, don’t we!
What do you mean you never had to deal with blood in your trunk? What about after disposing some dead … euhm.
Wait, you never had to dispose of … you know, after they accidently die.
You never head one go dead? Not even by accident?
You mean you never even have one?
Oh. Well. Just me than.
That is what rugs are for
For future reference, get yourself an 8×10 deep pile rug, with a pattern that features a lot of deep red or burgundy. It’s big enough nothing sticks out the ends, the inner layers absorb, the outer conceals. The pattern camouflages, and red hides stains.
Or so I’ve heard. 😉
Animals are typically drained of blood before slaughter. But it’s a LOT easier to sterilize a removable tray than the nooks and crannies of a station wagon.
This is is more of a serial killer special than
bay harborbutcher transportRight, if Jason wants to be pedantic about it, we should probably really call it a myoglobin tray
Then we should also say they are drained of blood DURING slaughter.
This is indeed what the caption means–the tray keeps the meat clean, not the wagon bloodless.
There also appears to be a glass partition between the driver compartment and the meat box. The lack of blood in the blood tray indicates to me that this is, in fact, a dry aging chamber.
In the spirit of that whiskey that’s “aged at sea,” you can get beef aged on the roads of the French countryside.
The French prefer their filet mignon to be aged in the back of a Citroën DS Safari.
If it’s aged in a Ford they call it rosbif.