BBC Radio Shite (pic heavy)

[quicksilver]

Here's a BBC OB unit that's been preserved - I'm told it was London Radio Links unit 5 based at Kendal Avenue. Photo taken in 2017 but it's still taxed.

And a couple of other ex BBC trucks from my collection:

I think this one was just a general supplies transport vehicle rather than anything directly to do with broadcasting but there were specialist units registered in the same block.

And when they inevitably switched over to articulated OB trailers (much less interesting) this was one of the tractor units.

 

 

[BorniteIdentity]

 

Tipo?

[Timewaster]

This weekend at ACA

 

https://angliacarauctions.co.uk/classic-auctions/2565-28-Jan-2023/654~4-1990-ford-transit-190-lwb-custom&nbsp

 

 

[Asimo]

I used to look after vans full of satcom kit. Not this one though. Another fun technology slipping into the past.

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/624096516275987

[Dyslexic Viking]

3 hours ago, Asimo said:

I used to look after vans full of satcom kit. Not this one though. Another fun technology slipping into the past.

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/624096516275987

Impressive mileage

[hairnet]

Omg

 

[martc]

And this is how they did it in the DDR -

It's a Horch P240 Kombi.

[danthecapriman]

On 5/18/2023 at 7:53 AM, Asimo said:

I used to look after vans full of satcom kit. Not this one though. Another fun technology slipping into the past.

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/624096516275987

When I worked at SSE we had an A reg Dodge 50 van and a 51 reg Mercedes Sprinter fitted out as mobile cable thumper vans. Basically a fault location tester that could locate damaged underground electricity cables. The Dodge was a real beast! 55mph flat out! The Merc though had similar high mileage like the one in your pic (in kilometres for some reason?) but it was mint. No rust anywhere. It had been painted in silver though so maybe the extra paint layer helped it.

Both were retired though and not replaced… All the equipment in the vans was now available in a hand held case that could be carried to site. No need for a big van anymore. How technology advances!

[EyesWeldedShut]

2 minutes ago, danthecapriman said:

A reg Dodge 50

Around 1990/91 I had the joy* of one of those kitted out as a police van (9 seater) - it was some sort of trial vehicle The Met had bought in and, when they plumped for Freight Rovers, this old bus was put on reserve and left dormant in a basement in Lambeth. We got it out of reserve (last chicken in Sainsburys) for some event/riot/god knows what and 55mph was not on the cards with the autobox it had fitted. I think 45 mph may have been a slim possibility.
We got stuck doing a 3 point turn across the crown of a road when reverse would not work properly, shoved it backwards manually (you can just feel the embarrassment) and decided to check the ATF - none on the stick so we cleared a shelf of teeny-tiny top up bottles from the nearest Shell garage (who did our fuel cards) and rocked on.
It was big, built of girders and heavy - but felt more 'solid' than the Freight Rovers - loads more space for people & stuff too.

[danthecapriman]

8 minutes ago, EyesWeldedShut said:

Around 1990/91 I had the joy* of one of those kitted out as a police van (9 seater) - it was some sort of trial vehicle The Met had bought in and, when they plumped for Freight Rovers, this old bus was put on reserve and left dormant in a basement in Lambeth. We got it out of reserve (last chicken in Sainsburys) for some event/riot/god knows what and 55mph was not on the cards with the autobox it had fitted. I think 45 mph may have been a slim possibility.
We got stuck doing a 3 point turn across the crown of a road when reverse would not work properly, shoved it backwards manually (you can just feel the embarrassment) and decided to check the ATF - none on the stick so we cleared a shelf of teeny-tiny top up bottles from the nearest Shell garage (who did our fuel cards) and rocked on.
It was big, built of girders and heavy - but felt more 'solid' than the Freight Rovers - loads more space for people & stuff too.

That’s exactly my memory of them! Big, heavy and sturdy. Back in the late 70’s to early 90’s Southern Electric (SEB) as it was then, used the Dodge 50 and later Renault version as their main vans. Kitted out as mobile workshops for jointers and fitters. The best condition vans left after they were due for replacement usually got kept as depot spare vans or converted into cable thump test vans. After the Renault version was out of production they moved on to Transits then in about 2009 they used Merc Sprinters.

I was a fitter and only had Transits and Sprinters, but the Dodge was still around in use, and I got to drive it on occasions. Mainly because they knew I liked it and enjoyed driving it!😆

Poole Depot had a similar one but it was a J reg Renault version. Drove more or less the same though. This one was silver but our A reg van was still wearing the old two tone green/beige SEB livery.

Both went for scrap though I think when the new carry case testers came into use and the vans became pointless. But they were becoming very tired by then. No idea what happened to the Sprinter one though.

[Datsuncog]

Finally turned up a contemporary pic (dated 1985) from an old magazine showing the arse end of BBC Northern Ireland's OB Cortina estate in the background:

Mast sticking out of the roof isn't very visible here, sadly.

It was still in use by the mid-90s, but no idea what became of it after that.

[BorniteIdentity]

Quite an evocative shot here.

And I’m guessing its predecessor! 

[BorniteIdentity]

One of the anoraks touting this about on FB earlier. Mercia was Cov and Warwickshire. 

[doug]

This is still around and currently restored and converted to a camper. Not far from me.

[BorniteIdentity]

This has cheered me up no end!

I started working in radio back in 2000 at Radio Suffolk. Back then we had a ‘radio car’ (Toyota Previa with an extending mast) and an ‘OB Van’ (Transit with full mixer and outboard kit). 

Generally, the radio car would do just about everything (reporting, local sport) and the OB Van would do two or three concerts or gigs a year and maybe mix a session from the garage.

These days, radio cars are much smaller due to the prominence of IP links and much less reliance on UHF links. I guessed the OB Van would be long gone. 

But no!

Radio Suffolk are at Latitude Festival and what’s that poking its face into the background!!?

Brilliant. I will try and remember the rest of the plate and see how many miles it’s done, but I reckon about 30k at most. It lives indoors at the radio station and most jobs it would do would also be in Ipswich.

I’m so pleased to see it again. Even half of it!  

[danthecapriman]

BBC Radio London Dodge Spacevan high roof at 5:09 in this video.

 

[BorniteIdentity]

This seems like the best thread for these. 

ITN sat van 2007. 

 

Two from the much-missed Saxon Radio in Suffolk. Firstly my mate’s car

And then one Jeremy Beadle in front of… ?

[adw1977]

5 hours ago, BorniteIdentity said:

in front of… ?

a Morris Ital

[High Jetter]

2 hours ago, adw1977 said:

a Morris Ital

Estate

[BorniteIdentity]

TLR1 (Technical Land Rover 1) on Horseguards Parade. Impossible to date, other than that logo was used from about 88 to 97.

 

[adw1977]

Three doors?!

[doug]

[martc]

And this is how they did it in the USSR -

The badge on the front says 'LIKINO' - the coach-builder, underneath is a LIAZ chassis. And, rather unimaginatively, it says 'Colour Television' on the side.

[BorniteIdentity]

This one’s caused a bit of a stir on Facebook. RTE’s truck. 80s. Certainly transit at the front but probably something a bit bespoke beyond the b pillar. Thoughts? 

[doug]

[NickSS]

On 18/06/2012 at 21:11, danthecapriman said:

Thats a very interesting read. especially as I own one of the ex BBC Transits!

 

http://i588.photobucket.com/albums/ss323/danthecapriman/SAM_0725.jpg

 

Its reg is B354 VYR, 18K from new and probably about as original as a mk2 Transit is ever likely to be these days! I have no idea where it came from or who used it but you can just see faded stripes and BBC radio logos on the sides some times where they were removed when it was retired. I think this one was actually retired fairly recently. It still had some of the equiptment in the back when I got it too.

 

http://i588.photobucket.com/albums/ss323/danthecapriman/SAM_0733.jpg

Chilton QM3 mixing desk.

Apparantly very hard to come by these now. And it was an absolute sod to move aswell, it weighed a ton!

 

I also know the next van on, B355 VYR is still going aswell. There was one of those Cortina estates on ebay a while back but it was pretty nackered, id love to have one though!

This is interesting, since the vehicle above isn't quite the same as the ones that were originally built for Local Radio stations. 

I used to work as an engineer at Radio Lincolnshire (and Radio Norfolk as it happens - the Radio Car picture from there earlier in this thread has a young Wally Webb in front of it, if I'm not mistaken) so I drove the original Cortina MkIII Estate. After working at a few Local Stations I got a job in London in the BBC Projects department (1987) and one of the first jobs that I was given was to build a small fleet of Transit Vans for Local Radio stations. They were done on a fairly strict budget, thus the use of the Chilton QM3 desk, rather than the BBC-favoured Glensound modular mixers (MX6 etc) which were an order of cost more expensive.  If my memory is correct the entire equipped vehicle came in at about £30k.    The high top van was about £10k, modifications to install the high doors (which are missing from the vehicle above) and various other bits of hardware including shelves and a 19" rack were another £10k and the equipment inside (mixer, jackfield, mains distribution etc.) was a further £10k.

Some of the stations had just been given Sony F1 digital recorders (recording on Betamax) so there was space in the vehicle for them, or alternatively a PR99 analogue tape machine.  The interior of the vehicle above is different in that the original design had the mixer at the back of the van, facing towards the front, with speakers (BBC LS3/5A's) mounted above and to each side. To give more internal space the passenger seat was a 'flip-over' design that meant it could face forwards for travel, and backwards when the vehicle was stationary. If I can locate them, I will try and find some pictures.

Ref the earlier thread with the picture of the garage at BBC Radio Lincolnshire, since I was the project leader building the transit vans, I had a conversation with my old boss Roger Hiscox  (then Engineer-in-Charge of BBC Radio Lincolnshire) who pointed out that Radio Lincolnshire had a very useful caravan for doing OB's and didn't need a Transit, but would benefit hugely if I could use the money to buy the station a Land Rover.  So that is why there is a smart Land Rover with Radio Lincolnshire paintwork, sitting in their garage. 

Happy Days

 

[danthecapriman]

On 15/02/2026 at 18:41, BorniteIdentity said:

This one’s caused a bit of a stir on Facebook. RTE’s truck. 80s. Certainly transit at the front but probably something a bit bespoke beyond the b pillar. Thoughts? 

Standard Transit option.

Built as a chassis cowl (chassis fitted with mechanical bits and cowl - front wings, bonnet & grill) as a Transit 100 short wheel base or Transit 160 long wheel base. 
That was then sent to a coach builder who built the bodywork from the windscreen back. The one in your pic is a standard parcel van type which would most likely have been ordered and built via Ford and their coach builder, but there were other coach builders around the customer could take the chassis cowl to and have slightly different bodywork built on. 
The same body style was also used as a small bus with the addition of windows and decent interior trim & seats. These were very common as welfare and hospital type buses and used by the big bus operators as ‘nipper’ style buses.
 

These were offered as mk1 and mk2 Transit options from early on.

[SiC]

6 hours ago, NickSS said:

Radio Norfolk

Isn't that your old gaff @BorniteIdentity ?

[Asimo]

3 hours ago, danthecapriman said:

Standard Transit option.

Built as a chassis cowl (chassis fitted with mechanical bits and cowl - front wings, bonnet & grill) as a Transit 100 short wheel base or Transit 160 long wheel base. 
That was then sent to a coach builder who built the bodywork from the windscreen back. The one in your pic is a standard parcel van type which would most likely have been ordered and built via Ford and their coach builder, but there were other coach builders around the customer could take the chassis cowl to and have slightly different bodywork built on. 
The same body style was also used as a small bus with the addition of windows and decent interior trim & seats. These were very common as welfare and hospital type buses and used by the big bus operators as ‘nipper’ style buses.
 

These were offered as mk1 and mk2 Transit options from early on.

1985 saw these things appear in Cheltenham on a sort of  "merry-go-round" service replacing real busses on a timetable.

They had the, then very new, D.I. Diesel and were hellishly noisy as they were thrashed around the housing estates.

Really miserable, I think they were all gone after three years.

[danthecapriman]

1 hour ago, Asimo said:

1985 saw these things appear in Cheltenham on a sort of  "merry-go-round" service replacing real busses on a timetable.

They had the, then very new, D.I. Diesel and were hellishly noisy as they were thrashed around the housing estates.

Really miserable, I think they were all gone after three years.

That’s the lil’ bastards! 
They were used a lot as nipper buses all over the country. London Transport even used them on a few routes but they weren’t around long on them. I think they were just too small and a bit cramped.

The 2.5Di engine would have come in on B plate ones, 84/85 ish. Noisy and a bit unrefined but a fantastic reliable engine. Much better than the old York unit. That same basic engine went on right through to the end of the mk5 ‘smiley’ Transit.

I think that ‘bread van’ style Transit was used for some ambulances and things like mobile shops and ice cream vans etc etc too.

Heres a mk1 bull nose version.

Mk1 short wheelbase version.

Heres another but made by a different coach builder. Plenty of differences from the more common type above.