The Grumman Long Life Vehicle, or LLV, is a boxy light transport truck that will be most recognizable to anyone who's from or anyone who's ever visited the United States as a mail truck. That's because the LLV was designed by Grumman, an aerospace company, after it won a contract with the United States Postal Service to design something that would be

economical to operate, capable of squeezing around tight corners and through tiny urban

streets, and able to putter around from city to country to suburban areas for decades at a time,

ideally for 24 years, as that was the lifespan the USPS specified in its brief to companies that pitched the agency on their proposals.

So these trucks are everywhere throughout the United States, and they've been everywhere for a long time.

Before the LLC was introduced, most mail carriers in the U.S.

drove a Jeep DJ, also called a Dispatcher model, that was originally produced by a company called Willie's Motors in

1955, which was then rebranded as Kaiser Jeep in 1963, then ultimately scooped up by American

Motors Corporation, AMC, in 1970.

AMC wanted the Jeep brand to add to their growing catalog of automobile models,

but was then itself scooped up by Chrysler in 1987.

And again, the Jeep brand was kind of the crown jewel instigating that purchase.

And the Jeep DJ, in its many iterations, was part of the crown jewel instigating that purchase, and the Jeep DJ, in its many iterations,

was part of the appeal of Jeep for Chrysler as a government contract can be a pretty profitable

and reliable paycheck. The initially newfangled LLC had some advantages over the also

quite reliable and cheap and easy to upkeep,

Jeep DJ, though. Its internal arrangement in particular allowed mail carriers to get closer to

curbs, where mailboxes were typically perched, and to more easily grab pre-sorted mail

from where they are seated while driving, without ever having to leave the seat.

It also boasts an incredibly tight turning radius and a 1,000 pound, which is about 450 kilograms cargo capacity,

enabled in part by its low-geared three-speed transmission and low-riding axles.

In theory, the LLV gets something like 17 miles per gallon on average, but in practice it gets something closer to 10 miles per gallon because of all the stop and go driving mail carriers have to do in regions where this truck is optimal.

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