(FORTUNE Magazine) – / It looks like a close relative of a 1929 Model A Ford, but it's actually brand-new, handmade in England, and priced at $100,000. Meet Asquith Motor Carriage's commercial van. After successful runs in Germany, Italy, Morocco, and Japan, the vehicle is about to make its U.S. debut. The 425 vehicles around the world belong to subsidiaries of McDonald's, Colgate-Palmolive, Barclays Bank, and Source Perrier, among others. They use them to deliver goods in a show-offy way or as mobile sales stands. Coca-Cola, which has an Asquith in Japan (see photo), reports that the carriage attracts three times more people -- and potential customers -- at soccer games and concerts than the company's conventional vans. This month an Asquith will hit California. The owner: Baileys Irish Cream, a subsidiary of Grand Metropolitan, the British food and drinks giant. Crispin Reed, a former manufacturer of reproduction furniture who co-founded Asquith in 1981, made a recent visit to New York City to line up new buyers there, but he found something tougher than customer resistance. Says he: ''Evading these meter maids is our most difficult task.'' - R.T.