I’m sure Canada does, but what about other countries? Australia? Mexico? Britain? Is this just an American thing?
Australia does and I’ve seen them every day since I’ve been here, even though it’s the middle of winter. Except one, they’ve all played Greensleeves, which I think is a rather melancholy song for the ice cream man to play.
And in Australia (or at least in Sydney), they’re known as Mr Whippy. I don’t know why. Perhaps it was originally a trade name, or perhaps it’s related to the “whipped” nature of the ice cream that they sell. But for me, they will aways be Mr Whippy. When we were children and heard the faint sounds of the Greensleaves tune in the distance, we’d all start nagging: “Mum, here comes Mr Whippy. Can we have an ice cream, pleasssssssssssssssssse”.
They have ice cream trucks in the UK too, but not in Greece.
There are ice-cream trucks in France. Or at least they used to be present. Didn’t notice one for a very long time. Maybe they became rare, or maybe there are none of them in downtown Paris, only in the subburbs. I wouldn’t know.
Well shucks, I was beggining to think it ice cream trucks were exlusive to America.
Thanks for the answers everyone 
Down here in New Zealand, we’ve also got the Mr Wippy vans playing Greensleeves. IIRC, they only serve softserve cones.
In Aus, we also have icecream trucks that drive around suburban streets selling boxes of icecream to homes. They’re all store brand, but quite yummy and cheap.
Yep, having grown up in Australia, “Greensleeves” and ice-cream go together in my world.
There are ice cream trucks in Mexico, too!
I haven’t seen an ice cream truck except in larger cities. I’ve never seen one here, in the rural south. I only ever saw one in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
The 1984 movie Comfort and Joy (from the writer/director of “Gregory’s Girl” and “Local Hero”) included a feud between rival ice-cream truck operators in Glasgow. This would appear to indicate that Scotland also has them, or at least did have them 20 years ago.
Personally, I’m surprised there would be a market for ice-cream in Scotland - must be for the two warm days of the year. Scotch trucks on the other hand would be a great idea.
Greensleeves? Sheesh. The ice cream truck here plays Fur Elise which is a tune I really like but for some reason find kind of creepy in that setting.
Now it begs the question:
What music does your ice cream truck play? Or what music have you heard trucks play and where?
The local one(In Washington State, USA) plays “Turkey in the Straw”.
Personally, I think it would be kind of cool of an ice cream truck played “Ride of the Valkeyies”.
Maybe “Turkey in the Straw” is the tune of choice in your part of the state, but around here it’s usually “The Entertainer”—and a few hundred synthesized renditions of that is enough to send one 'round the bend.
BTW, a Mr Whippy truck (“Yippee! It’s Mr Whippy!”) made a cameo appearance in Help! It transported Klang and some of his henchmen from a tea garden to the Indian restaurant where the Beatles had gone to find out about the ring. IIRC, at least one of the henchmen jumped out of the truck with an ice cream cone in his hand.
Back in the 20s and 30s the Walls Ice cream company, here in the UK, introduced the predecessor to the ice-cream truck ( or van as we call it ). This consisted of a three wheel bicycle with a cold box mounted on the front containing the ice-cream . The vendor used to ride about town , ringing a hand bell and they even coined a famous slogan " stop me and buy one ".
Walls are still around , now part of the giant Unilever corporation. The bikes are long gone except you see the odd one in museums. And to answer the original question , yes we have ice-cream vans in the UK
Japan’s got 'em, but not many.
The one that drives around my part of Christchurch plays “Yankee Doodle”, which as a transplanted Yank I thought kinda funny.
I should point out that despite Rabid_Squirrel’s nick, there are neither rabies or squirrels in New Zealand.
<threadjack> Neither are there moose, bear, raccoons, skunks, or, apparently, toothbrushes.
capn
We still have these in South Africa! Although they are getting increasingly rarer, I have seen them in the last year or so, in summer. We also have the other sort : ice-cream vans with their characteristic tinny music…don’t know the tune, but it is very eery.
which lead to the graffiti often adorning condom vending machines: “buy me and stop one!” 