The past year hasn’t been easy for Custom Glass, a commercial and residential glass supplier based in Liverpool. After enduring a serious fire at its main facility and having one of its trucks “badly damaged in a site accident during the rebuilding,” according to Mercedes-Benz, the company ran head-first into the COVID-19 pandemic, which has affected businesses across the United Kingdom and all over the world. However, that truck is up and running again and Custom Glass continues to serve customers with the help of a fleet of 14 Mercedes-Benz Ategos, including a pair of 816s supplied by Roanza Truck & Van.
“We’ve been relying on Mercedes-Benz trucks for years now, and they’ve always been fantastic workhorses. A purpose-built glass-carrying vehicle is a very specialised piece of kit, and the bodywork quite expensive, so we tend to run ours for a long time. Our oldest Atego was registered in 2002 and has over 600,000 kilometres on the clock, yet it’s still going strong,” says Jeff Hooson, managing director of Custom Glass. “The fact that our trucks have bespoke bodies means that if one breaks down it’s very difficult to hire or buy a replacement at short notice. That’s why we depend on the reliability of the Atego, and Roanza’s excellent support.”
Custom Glass, Custom Trucks
Custom Glass operates a diverse fleet that includes Mercedes-Benz Sprinter vans, 44-tonne articulated tractors with trailers, and more. At the heart of the fleet is more than a dozen 7.5-t Atego trucks, many of which feature custom bodywork for transporting glass safely. The two newest entries are Atego 816 models with ClassicSpace S-Cabs and 5.1-litre, 156-horsepower (115-kilowatt) engines. The bespoke box bodies come from Manchester-based Alloy Bodies and feature “internal glass-carrying frails,” Mercedes-Benz adds.
More Mercedes-Benz Atego Details
Available with gross vehicle weights ranging from 7.5 to 16 t, the 4x2 Atego has four cab options, including a ClassicSpace L-cab and a BigSpace L-cab with 400 millimetres of additional interior height as well as two ClassicSpace S-cab configurations, a standard model and an extended one that is 180 mm longer. In-cab features include a multifunction steering wheel with eight buttons on both sides, a 12.7-centimetre instrument cluster with integrated video for the reversing camera, and adjustable seats.
Engine options include 5.1-litre, four-cylinder OM 934 and 7.7-litre, six-cylinder OM 936 engines that produce between 115 and 220 kW (156 and 295 hp) and from 650 to 1,200 newton-metres of torque. There are also options for six-, eight-, and nine-speed manual transmissions, as well as the PowerShift 3 automated gearbox. Standard and optional safety features include active brake assist, lane keeping assist, stability control assist, trailer stability assist, LED lighting, and a high-performance engine brake.
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