greendragon3 Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 HI ALL im new to this site but i thought id ask a few questions about my latest purchase , oh i live in ireland , after months of speculation and head scratching and with a huge thank you to declan rafter ( black magic ) i am now the proud owner of what is believed to be the only sierra van in exsistance , now i know the sceptics among you will say " ah sure thats just a feckin estate with panels instead of glass " !!!!! but you'r wrong , from what we can gather from the first owners they wanted a mid size van from ford and something " a bit different " ,the local ford dealers here tried to sell them an escort van and a small transit but it wasnt what they were after so after a lot of searching they came up with this solution ,three of these vans were produced in-house by ford as an experimental demo vehicle to see if they would take off ,as you will see in the pictures it has a proper bulk head divider and a full flat floor , they were shipped to ford in cork and this one was delivered to sligo in january of 91 and subsequently bought by barton smiths of sligo , the other two vans dissapeared , maybe shipped back to england because they didnt sell , who knows , just ask yourself this " have you ever seen one " ???? the van has led a bit of a chequered past up until now and the most up to date info we can get on it is that she ended up in the hands of a sheep farmer ( hence the big pile of shite in the back of it ) but again thanks to declan, he was aproached and a deal was done , it suffered a snapped timing belt in 2003 and it has been off the road since , dumped in a field !!! so enough talk, here are the pics i took of her last night as she was being delivered . BlankFrank, Dick Longbridge and 500tops 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cms206 Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 Have another... http://www.autoshite.com/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=12525&p=347259#p347259 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedSparrow Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 Wow it really is full of shit! So is the intention to attempt a restoration? Brave man, but kudos to you if it is the only one.Welcome by the way! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shep Shepherd Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 That's incredible. Looks like it will take a huge amount of effort to get roadworthy, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trigger Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 As i posted over on Retro Rides, it isn't the only one but it is very rare, I'm sure sierravanman will be along soon to give you some input as he owns another 2. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cavcraft Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 Jesus wept, that is utterly, UTTERLY fantastic. The bodywork looks surprisingly semi-decent, especially having lived the life it has. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dollywobbler Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 That's fabulous and makes my BX look like a piece of piss to sort out! Welcome to the forum. While Sierraman may have vans, he hasn't got one of these has he? That Dutch-plated van is a different beastie really, with that high roof. Funnily enough, BX estates with a high roof were sold in Finland. There really are some odd motors about! Great that this could be the sole survivor of that batch of three. As we've discovered in the car-based vans thread on here, Ireland got some wonderful oddball stuff! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tayne Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 Is the roof the only difference between this and the Dutch ones? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
llarred Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 That is a brave project, best of luck if you're gonna try and mend it and look forward to seeing the finished product.. I've never seen one of these before either... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Split_Pin Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 Crikey the interior is in a sickening state! Good find though, hopefully the floors/chassis will be ok under all that chicken shit! I see it has tje continental feature of a front grille. UK only got those on Sapphires if I remember rightly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Ross Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 The diesels and Sapphires shared a bonnet and grille configuration. My white Sapphire wears a hatch bonnet as that was all I could find locally cheap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ross_K Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 Jesus H Christ, that's rancid inside. Good luck getting that running again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mk2_craig Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 That's fantastic, well done for saving it. I've seen a picture (many years ago) of a Sierra estate converted to panel van - but with B pillars moved backwards and a pair of XR4i doors attached to the A-pillars. Shame Ford didn't do that instead! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxpower Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 massive job on your hands there... good luck with that. i still don't see the point of the rear doors if they cant be used...except to fetch something that has been loaded just behind the bulkhead.. they could have blanked it off like the old astra estate of the 80's Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddyramrod Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 That is the point, Max, exactly! The Astra van was based on the 3-door estate, so it came with the longer doors. Escort Kombi was the same. First van I saw laid out like this Sierra was a Lada, which really was a panelled-in estate, complete with doors. I thought at the time, that was a great idea, saves the poor driver's back if he needs to get at something at the far end from the tailgate. Many years later I worked for several months with a Fiat Scudo, which has a sliding door each side, and felt the value of that in practice! Trust me, it works. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Sterling Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 Wow man, thats some project you've got there. Hopefully the actual structure itself will be fine, its just a matter of digging all that shit out. Up until today, I dont think I've ever heard of the Sierra Van. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxpower Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 That is the point, Max, exactly! The Astra van was based on the 3-door estate, so it came with the longer doors. Escort Kombi was the same. First van I saw laid out like this Sierra was a Lada, which really was a panelled-in estate, complete with doors. I thought at the time, that was a great idea, saves the poor driver's back if he needs to get at something at the far end from the tailgate. Many years later I worked for several months with a Fiat Scudo, which has a sliding door each side, and felt the value of that in practice! Trust me, it works. i see what you are saying... just wondering though if the bulkhead was an optional extra as it is today with transits etc, then they could have used the doors of the 3 door sierra which i think were longer and fit front folding seats..again like the astra van had if it had a bench seat in the back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddyramrod Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 That would have meant re-engineering the shell, as the Sierra estate was only available as a 5-door. Others did it, certainly, but Ford obviously didn't see a market for such a thing. Unlike Opel... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ross_K Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 massive job on your hands there... good luck with that. i still don't see the point of the rear doors if they cant be used...except to fetch something that has been loaded just behind the bulkhead.. It's cheaper to make as the can use an existing estate shell, rather than tool up for a 3-door? I had a Vaux Astra company van ten years ago - it was a right old pain in the tits crawling in the back for a box which would usually have slid right up behind the front seats. Something like the Xsara estate van as used by Sky would have saved me a lot of swearing. That or a proper van a person could stand up in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black_GT Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 Wow that's awesome, I don't envy your task of sorting that interior though! Looking forward to the restoration Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MK5 Escort Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 I've never personally seen a Sierra van in the metal and only aware of they're existence from the pictures we see. That is one very brave restoration project you have going there! As much as I adore Fords's of this vintage (my Escort is also a January 1991!), I would probably say this was pretty much beyond saving given the state of the inside. However, absolute full credit to you and I will very much look forward to how you get on with this. I've always wanted to meet someone restoring a Ford of this vintage - not many around at all. I salute you, sir! Shite points by the hundreds coming you can pull it off and more importantly, find replacement period items. In terms of the interior, I suspect the 'van' area will clean up reasonably well. The cab looks pretty hopeless to me although I sincerely hope you can save bits and pieces to keep it as original as possible. The door handles/grab handles, stalks and possibly the basic shell of the dashboard (and the clocks) may well be salvageable given a bloody good clean up. Everything else though basically needs ripping out. Those seats, trimmed in (what's left of...) Astral Grey velour which was found in entry level Sierra models after the 1990. Other models came with much larger side bolsters and headrests. I'm near enough certain P100's come with the same basic model seats but with earlier style cloth trim (name of which escapes my memory for now - mk3 Fiesta's had it in Popular and Bonus models I'll know it if I saw it). However, as they're converted from the passenger car, these seats may well be accurate - just a small point! I don't think you'll have much of an issue when it comes to the exterior. Unless there are advanced signs of rot underneath, that should be reasonably straightforward. The diesels and Sapphires shared a bonnet and grille configuration. My white Sapphire wears a hatch bonnet as that was all I could find locally cheap. A largely unknown/forgotten fact! Full marks! Lots make the (very easy) mistake thinking the Sapphire grille doesn't make an appearance at all on the hatch/estate. No Sapphire come with the hatch/estate bonnet originally, though. There is a minor difference to the bumper also. All Sapphires/diesels come with what we see here. The trim (red/chrome - depends on the model) runs right the way across the bumper. The standard petrol Sierra hatch/estates trim curved inwards at the headlights - like this. Trim ended at either end of the number plate on all last of the line '92/'93 models. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Ross Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 It's cheaper to make as the can use an existing estate shell, rather than tool up for a 3-door? I had a Vaux Astra company van ten years ago - it was a right old pain in the tits crawling in the back for a box which would usually have slid right up behind the front seats. Something like the Xsara estate van as used by Sky would have saved me a lot of swearing. That or a proper van a person could stand up in. It is indeed an Estate shell, as denoted by the letter "N" occurring twice in the sequence. I wonder if they used side panel pressings with the windows cut out, as standard parts, and then welded new metal in, or used "incomplete process" panel pressings, to avoid the water leaks.... The doors would be metal welded in of course. As for the anal notes about bonnet/grille combinations, I have had 63 Sierras. Mostly Mk1s though. My current Sapphire is a late Mk1 , built October 89, but registered Feb 90, so it's a coloured light type. Nothing smoked or clear on mine! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Split_Pin Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 Maybe I'm being a bit simple here, but if the chassis is as decent as the body, couldn't you just find a donor Sierra for the interior and engine? No matter if it ends up with the wrong seats, the fact that's its a van would make up for that. Next someone will be posting up about grey-grille Sierra they have found Or an early crystal green estate fitted with the 'Business Pack' rear springs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dollywobbler Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 Maybe I'm being a bit simple here, but if the chassis is as decent as the body, couldn't you just find a donor Sierra for the interior and engine? Quite. My BX is exceedingly rare, but my aim has always been to get it back on the road and functioning. Getting it back to how it should be is a long way down the priority list. It's already lost its original engine and interior. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Lobster Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 I can only imagine that stripping the interior out and getting it anywhere near 'clean' inside will be an utterly horrible job. But full marks for taking it on, be nice to see it done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HBR Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 We often refer to stuff as being a bit of a shed, this would appear to be a much more literal description! Fantastic for having a go at this, most folk wouldn't think twice about baling that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Ross Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 I had a number of Mk1 Estates..... mostly Crystal Green. 1.6L dangly, 2.0 Ghia, and a 2.3 Ghia... I also had other colours and trim levels..... about 20 Mk1 Estates in all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greendragon3 Posted March 12, 2012 Author Share Posted March 12, 2012 bit of an update lads , spent all day yesterday shoveling pooh.gif and taking off a lot of bits off the van to see what the actual shell itself was like , turns out its not too bad at all despite twenty years of dog and sheep pee rotting away into the carpet and the sound proofing , it came out in chunks instead of one piece !!!! bit of a nightmare getting out the seats and the rear door was siezed shut but plenty of WD40 and brute force shifted her , we found and managed to remove five rats nests from the back of the dash , id say there is more in there just have to get the dash out first !!!!!! we also had to take out the rear floor because the amount of pooh.gif gathered under here was unreal and we would have not been able to clean it properly other wise , anyway after a lot of stripping we got it o where it was ready for a blast of the power hose , its in the shed now drying out and we will start the body work soon , couple of sills and maybe a passenger floor might do the trick , fingers crossed , here are some more pics . Read more: http://retrorides.proboards.com/index.c ... z2MxGSqhaf 500tops 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greendragon3 Posted March 12, 2012 Author Share Posted March 12, 2012 few more ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoadworkUK Posted March 12, 2012 Share Posted March 12, 2012 This is just glorious. I've never seen a seat rotted completely through like that. A brilliant machine. I'd find it very difficult to avoid mildy barrying it, perhaps a Ghia 2.8 4x4 powertrain, perhaps an XR4x4 (or genuine vintage RS) bodykit? Such activities might seem reprehensible, but a white genuine Sierra van would look ACE on 7-spokes... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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