Dear Brother, Assalam Alaikum,
The ‘thing’ mentioned by you is Ford Transit. A very successful commuter of its time which served Pakistanis for a long period. You have reminded me of my school era around 1975~85 when Ford Transit was the main source of public travel inside Karachi. You will still find it roaming in remote areas of Punjab province.
I am attaching two pics and you can visit the following link for further details:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Transit