LOADING SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR LATERALLY LOADING AND UNLOADING AN UPPER BODY STRUCTURE ONTO AND FROM A VEHICLE PLATFORM OF A MOTOR VEHICLE

A loading system for laterally loading and unloading an upper body structure onto and from a vehicle platform includes loading gear rails mounted on respective lengthwise ends of the vehicle platform, the loading gear rails configured to jointly extend and retract from the vehicle platform by moving in a lateral direction of the vehicle platform, each loading gear rail having first gear teeth gear-engaging with a correspondingly formed platform gear wheel rotatably mounted on the vehicle platform and second gear teeth configured to engage a correspondingly formed upper body gear wheel at a respective lengthwise end of the upper body structure, wherein the platform gear wheel actuates lateral movement of the loading gear rails to engage the upper body structure with the loading gear rails at the upper body gear wheels and to load the engaged upper body structure onto the vehicle platform or to load and unload the engaged upper body structure from the vehicle platform.