The Leyland 240 story - with pictures and ramblings

[messerschmitt owner]

Yep, it seems London roads are paved with blue, and red, with no gold in sight!

 

IMG_0716 by messerschmitt owner, on Flickr

 

So, yesterday, I went to the Big Smoke to collect Tenzing the Sherpa. Spoke to the insurance company at 1 and insured the camper - expecting a bill of about £40 for this.

 

A £23.50 single was purchased for the train, for I was driving back, come what may and off I went at 3.05 pm on a 1970s HST 125 - the train of choice for shiters! Behind Driver Brian Cooper, off I trundled (four minutes late) in Mk3 coach F, on a quiet train, apart from the Scottish lady who regaled the whole carriage at the loudest volume about her kids and work on the phone! Bugger off out to the corridor, you rude woman!!

 

IMG_0713 by messerschmitt owner, on Flickr

 

 

Arrive at Paddington at 4.46, now six minutes late, and down to the tube.

 

 

IMG_0715 by messerschmitt owner, on Flickr

 

Bakerloo line to the Elephant & castle and then Northern Line to Clapham North to meet up with Vek of this parish.

 

 

 

IMG_0717 by messerschmitt owner, on Flickr

 

had 30 mins spare so off to MacDonalds for a nutritious meal! Won a free apple pie in their rubbish Monopoly competition - result!

 

 

IMG_0722 by messerschmitt owner, on Flickr

 

Civilised car hire (Vek's home from home) had an interesting selection of old chod - note to Vek - leave out the green one for me and I'll collect it on Sunday - I'll bring the A-frame. Don't worry about the logbook, I have a spare green log book for a Messerschmitt, and I think I could get it sorted and legal again.

 

Saw some shite on the way!

 

This was just shit!

IMG_0718 by messerschmitt owner, on Flickr

 

This was shite!

 

IMG_0720 by messerschmitt owner, on Flickr

 

this was lush!

 

IMG_0721 by messerschmitt owner, on Flickr

 

 

Driven down to the A215 in sunny Croydon and watch as Vek unlocks the biggest chain I have ever seen off the van's steering wheel. I can leave the doors unlocked where I come from!! Inspect the van - it looks tidy and is rusty where I was told it was rusty - starts up without the booster pack Vek has loaded into the back of the Toyota i, with the lightest hint of choke. Looks nice but the headlamp peaks have to go!

 

Chat with Vek, look over the paperwork, hand him an envelope stuffed with newspaper and drive off before he has a chance to check the money! Seriously, handed over a bag of sand and sent RobT a message to drop by, which he does in a superb Montego automatic. Chat fir a short while, then it is time to drive off in my first Sherpa van, and the first BL product I have owned since a Wolseley 2200 back in the 1990s.

 

 

DSC_9245 by messerschmitt owner, on Flickr

 

DSC_9246 by messerschmitt owner, on Flickr

 

Shite and shit! One needs to go up in real flames!!!

 

DSC_9250 by messerschmitt owner, on Flickr

 

which one has the worst fuel consumption?

 

DSC_9247 by messerschmitt owner, on Flickr

 

DSC_9242 by messerschmitt owner, on Flickr

 

DSC_9251 by messerschmitt owner, on Flickr

 

 

DSC_9253 by messerschmitt owner, on Flickr

The Megane coupe could be yours for £795!

 

DSC_9255 by messerschmitt owner, on Flickr

RobT's superb Montego in giffer spec!

 

It was so nice here's a second shot of it.

 

DSC_9254 by messerschmitt owner, on Flickr

 

Steering is interesting - more play in the box than a whore's snatch! Off I go, having set the 'crap nav' to 'home' after filling up with £49.11 of finest 95ron at the local Tesco petrol station. Next time, I'll trust my judgement and drive the opposite direction and take the M25 rather than a drive through London. Off through deepest Croydon, Crystal palace, Tooting, Wandsworth and Hammersmith I drive, thinking, are my brake lights working - but too concerned about making the van stay in a straight line.

 

First impressions - it can shift but gear changes require a finesse I haven't achieved yet. Slowly, slowly, catchy monkey is what's needed. Do show a couple of vehicles a surprising turn of speed as I motor away from lights. The clutch bite is quite high but smooth. The van has a stereo and loud speakers, which is just as well as the noise of B series engine is over powering at times. There's plenty of torque though - as long as everything is timed well, you can drop to under 20 in fourth and keep pulling all the way to illegal speeds. Yes, it can do illegal speeds but it's like a wooden rollercoaster and you can feel the van shake itself apart. Comfortable speed is definitely 55-60mph. Surprisingly, the speedo is virtually spot on until about 40 mph, from where it deviates by about ten percent. Steering improves and is more steady if you keep a bit of constant acceleration on.

 

 

DSC_9260 by messerschmitt owner, on Flickr

 

DSC_9256 by messerschmitt owner, on Flickr

 

Coming round the M40 slip road at about 65, I lose a little power as the carb picks up a bit of dirt, slow down from death rattle speed to plain old rattle speed, it soon clears itself and I pull into Beaconsfield services meet up with pocket.calculator (or Chris, a fellow exile) with his Fiat 238 Weinsberg camper - offer him a straight swap (which he refuses) and we drool over each other's vans. Discuss whether the Leyland 240 may be the oldest in existence (sold in 1975 but it will have sat while as it was converted and then sold, so it may even be a '74).

 

By this time it is past nine and it is time to head for home.

 

 

DSC_9257 by messerschmitt owner, on Flickr

 

Panic sets in as I need to turn the starter quite a bit to get it to start again, so much so that Chris almost jumps out of his van to check I'm OK. She starts again and it is time for me to go! back to the junction, and onto the M40, where I surprise myself by sitting in the middle land and overtaking trucks - tell the truth, I felt safer in the middle lane as I had somewhere to wander to as the steering sent me all over the place.

 

Leave the M40 and follow the A40 through the outskirts of Oxford, hardly touching the brakes to slow down and leaving the Sherpa in fourth as I negotiate the roundabouts, enjoying the torquey engine and wishing I had ear defenders.

 

At half ten, I roll up at home, find reverse and pop it on the driveway, knowing I need to sort the brake lights before Tenzing can go back out again, hands still shaking from holding on for grim death for 130 miles, bright and alert and in need of a coffee - and a stiff drink!

 

Overall, I enjoyed the experience. Tenzing needs some work to make perfect, and indeed just to get through the MoT (brake lights are for wimps!) but it is a good base to start from and hopefully should be in the family for a little while as a fun pied a terre. I Must go find out if it is the oldest Sherpa. Must be close.

 

Does anyone want a set of headlamp peaks?

[Cavcraft]

Top bombing, Campbell! Now, about these pictures.....!

[messerschmitt owner]

Top bombing, Campbell! Now, about these pictures.....!

you should find some now!

[michiel]

Excellent.

[Cavcraft]

Excellarntey! The shot with the flamed car, Sherpa and Roller really needs to be added to the '2013 calender' thread.

[skattrd]

Awesome work fella.

[messerschmitt owner]

it was made all the better by meeting two shiteists on the way back!

 

Added an extra pic of the flames ...

[dollywobbler]

Brilliant. I now demand that any Autoshite collection story must contain at least one picture of the new purchase parked really badly.

[Pete-M]

Splendid work.

 

Wouldn't mind, but I was passing Gloucester yesterday afternoon....

[messerschmitt owner]

Splendid work.

 

Wouldn't mind, but I was passing Gloucester yesterday afternoon....

lol - I wasn't in and the 126 is getting a carb rebuild.

 

The Sherpa isn't going back out till I sort the brake lights either.

 

When you deliver the 604 down here, drop on by! You have my details.

 

Or I can post the peaks to you ...

[boobydoo]

A marvellous tale! Any chance of some nice interior shots? I'm assuming it has cooker,sink etc?

 

Oh, I quite like the headlamp peaks.

[Spiny Norman]

Great write up MO.

I've bought my old chod locally this last couple of years, so it's a while since I've had the fun of a road trip to collect something I've only ever seen on t'interwebs. It's always a good feeling when you get there and find out that whatever you've agreed to buy turns out to be as good if not better than you'd hoped, and it gets you home without a hitch.

...or gets you home at least ...

[eddyramrod]

Top story, just what we wanted to see. Meetings with bonus shiters too, excellent work. Love the two campers together. You guys are going to look like the real professionals at Shitestock!

[Lord Sterling]

Sounded like a great Journey. Done of a couple of those passing through Londinium to get shite type journeys. I'm happy to say that I did drive Rob's Montego and it certainly is a great car, I really want a Montego more than ever now.

[RobT]

Glad you made it home safe Campbell, no doubt adrenaline kept you going!

 

Edit: I should have asked what route you were taking out of the smoke. I always head out south onto the A22 and then around the M25 to the M4 or M40 when I'm going to Worcester. Is more miles than going through Wandsworth et al but is a more relaxing run (especially if you're driving new shite!).

[Lacy]

You, sir, are a winna!

[HMC]

Cant even remember when I last saw a sherpa in the wild! Thanks for posting your trip. Are those type of trains quite old then? (forgive my ignorance, I know nothing of trains) Shame the rover P4 passed by so fast, as I'd like to see more of the Psychadelic paint job! (clearly not your typical P4 owner!)

[messerschmitt owner]

I've decided this should be the Leyland 240 blog page!

 

So, what have we been up to?

 

Collected on Monday, driven from London with no brake lights - wires disconnected!

 

Spent £4.55 on a new switch to discover it only works if it is loose in the mount so it can move (in the autoshite way). Works everytime though.

 

Had a slight case of overheating on Thursday after I drove it to work, which is when I paid attention to the radiator - oops, it does need a new core ...

 

I spent the time wisely when I was stuck waiting for janette to arrive with some water and removed the headlamp peaks. They're leaving GLoucestershite for Norfolkshite tomorrow and I shall bid them farewell with a drink at the pub.

 

 

By a process of deduction, I realised the rad was a parts bin special and therefore had to fit another Leyland vehicle. Weapon of choice was a 1.8 Marina - and indeed, thanks to a pic on ebay of a rad, I realised it was right. The rad also fits the 1.3 Marina, Ital 1.3 and 1.5, plus vans and the Sherpa 1800 - bought one - £17 plus £12 P=P. and will fit it next weekend when it arrives.

 

Van is on the drive, ready for use ...

[scooters]

Hi Campbell, glad you got home in one piece. I still need to brief you on the work I did on the van. It does need a recored rad. The steering box is only 3000 miles since its last rebuild which was a few months before I got it. Cart springs up front and a worm box mean that is about as tight as it gets on a sherpa of this vintage...you don't as much drive it as operate it!. Suggest you grease the king pins before looking at the steerage. The fridge never worked when I had it. Other than that it is a hoot. Leisure battery is recent and it had a new car battery. Glad its staying in the family...I do miss it as it was my daily for 6 months last year. It is one of the earliest surviving 'Leyland Van from.Austin Morris' which is what they were before they decided on Sherpa. Somewhere buried in AS is a thread of my collection back in 2010 when I drove it from cornwall to Edinburgh and also snaps of camping in Argyle. The wheels are from a landcrab BTW. Let's have a blether about the mechanicals. Rich

[skoda_fan]

Nice story and love the van. Sherpas are really growing on me. Why spend lottery money on a VeeDub?? More practical too.

 

I'm sure we've all done journeys like that to collect new shite. I know I've done Wales and Manchester, among other places. Quite exciting, isn't it?

 

Good luck with Tenzing