Hockings Dairy Cream Ices Defender
One of the two Land Rover Defender ice cream vans that Hockings Dairy Cream Ices of Appledore, North Devon, keep within their nineteen-vehicle fleet for beach pitches and events in muddy fields where the firm's Bedford CF and Whitby vans cannot go — cream and red with Hocking's and QUALITY DAIRY CREAM ICES lettering, and the subject of an Oxford Diecast model.
History
Hockings Dairy Cream Ices has made and sold ice cream from Appledore since 1936, when 'Grandfer' Hocking began trading from a Morris van, and the family firm still attends its North Devon pitches in all weathers with every van washed inside and out each day. The fleet of nineteen vehicles runs from the first new Bedford CF of 1971 to the latest Whitby Mondial, with Grandfer's old Morris restored by the late Bryan Whitby, and it includes two Land Rovers for the beach and for events in muddy fields. The Defender vans carry a tall box body behind the standard cab with a large serving window and menu boards on the nearside, in the firm's cream livery with a red band round the sills and arches, Hocking's and QUALITY DAIRY CREAM ICES lettering, a MADE IN APPLEDORE ribbon on the doors and a rosette on the body; Oxford Diecast reproduced one in 1:76 scale, and the diecast is the reference for this model, as no photograph of the real vans is given in the sources.
The registry's model reuses its Mr Whippy Defender body in Hockings cream with the red band and arches, serving window, lettering, cones and a bull bar; the plate is invented.
Imagery
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Registry record
- Manufacturer
- Land Rover (Defender 110); ice cream body by an unrecorded converter
- Manufactured
- Defender 110 (dates not stated in the sources)
- Modifier / coachbuilder
- Unrecorded ice cream van converter (Hockings livery)
- Engine type
- Land Rover turbo-diesel (Defender 110; not stated in the sources)
- Production run
- 2
- Country of origin
- United Kingdom
- Operated in
- United Kingdom
- Status
- in service
Catalogue data
- Record kind
- Named model
- Model line
- Defender
- Wheels
- 4
- Nominal wheelbase
- 110″
Catalogue fields describe the vehicle's structure and body as this registry records it. They are not certified factory measurements, and no performance figures are published here.
Sources & citations
Researched sources
- Hockings Dairy Cream Ices — history (nineteen vehicles including two Land Rovers for the beach or events in muddy fields) ↗ — Hockings Dairy Cream Ices (accessed 2026-09-11)
- Land Rover Defender Hocking's Dairy Cream Ices — Oxford Diecast model (hobbyDB) ↗ — hobbyDB (accessed 2026-09-11)
Catalogue references
- https://www.hobbydb.com/marketplaces/hobbydb/catalog_items/land-rover-defender-hocking-s-dairy-cream-ices https://www.hobbydb.com/marketplaces/hobbydb/catalog_items/land-rover-defender-hocking-s-dairy-cream-ices ↗
Registry record updated 2026-09-11T11:12:38.324Z · status: researched