Shite Vans.

[Shep Shepherd]

Surprised that nobody's mentioned the Bedford HA yet:

 

 

For me, the ultimate shite van. I think they're great 

[Sheefag]

Driven one of those many years ago, damn quick for what they were and sweet handling.

[Timewaster]

Wasn't a BT or GPO one then. Specially tuned for economy they had a carb the size of a thimble and a 0-60 time measured in minutes, not seconds.

I seem to recall that Gas board and British Rail vans escaped the strangling.

[Shep Shepherd]

Didn't the BT and GPO versions have 23 bhp or something similarly ridiculous?

[Sheefag]

Spot on Timewaster, it was ex BR.

[Timewaster]

Sounds about right. My dad drove one for GPO complete with Buzby stickers and even HE said it was slow.

 

The Ital that replaced it must have seemed like a limo in comparison. (Until a coming together with a mk2 Granada reduced its length by about 3ft.)

[Asimo]

Surprised that nobody's mentioned the Bedford HA yet:

 

imcdb-org-1978-bedford-ha-in-quot-the-beiderbecke-affair-1985-quot.jpg

 

For me, the ultimate shite van. I think they're great 

 

Nnnngg, Barbara Flynn moment!

[Shep Shepherd]

Yep. The pic is a screenshot from "The Beiderbecke Affair"

[danthecapriman]

A bit before my time but where I work at Southern Electric they used the Dodge 50 and later Renault version a lot, but they did use all sorts from Transits, mini vans, commer's all sorts.

 

Some did survive until very recently though. We had an A reg Dodge 50 and an L reg Renault version until only a few years ago.

Both were test vans, which had equipment installed in the back to test cables and locate faults on the cables. They lasted so long because the cost to replace them was so high, but in recent years the technology is now small enough to carry in one hand! The vans were all scrapped or sold off.

They looked similar to this one: https://www.flickr.com/photos/87197384@N07/9613308829

I drove them both on occasions and loved them! They were slow as fuck and very noisy but they were huge and got loads of road respect from other drivers. I really wish I'd bought the A reg one now!

[danthecapriman]

And of course my own mk2 Transit.

 

 

Started life as a standard Transit 100L, semi high roof. It was in a batch that were specially modified to high roof versions and bought by the BBC for local radio broadcasts.

They were only bought in small batches and the exact design of them seems to vary a bit. They weren't used much either and didn't tend to rack up much mileage which meant a long service life for a lot of them. Mine was retired around 2008 ish from what I can find out.

There's a bit of info about BBC vehicles here http://www.orbem.co.uk/locrad/lr5.htm including, a little further down the page a pic of a Transit in the BBC livery mine would of had in it's day.

 

Here's part of the sound gear it had in it when I bought it.

All disconnected and incomplete, but this old mixing desk turned out to be worth a fortune! I sold it to a guy in Belgium and it made about £1200 from memory!

[Skut]

[Skut]

[Ghosty]

 

[Ghosty]

Wait... this long?

 

[Ghosty]

 Royal Mail use Dangel Partners for some of their more rural stuff round here.

 

I spotted a lifted RM Peugeot the other day - must have been one of those.

[twosmoke300]

I saw a P reg Vauxhall Rascal yesterday . That's gotta be a late one and I didn't know they ever badged them as vauxhalls

[chaseracer]

 

[chaseracer]

 

[chaseracer]

 

I think there's a Berlingo under there somewhere...

[Sheefag]

Sacre merde!

[Vantman]

That recovery truck (AEC Mammoth?) is a work of art.

 

AEC Mammoth Major 1955/56.  Probably ex BRS.

[rml2345]

Park Royal cab? Didn't think they were still doing them without tin fronts that late. It's a cracking machine anyway. The Dusseldorf van conversions and later coach built Merc T2s had extremley long lives in some cases as buses due to their unburstability far beyond even the wildest expectations of the industry. It was only really rust that killed the van conversions due to the Mercedes insistance that all their vans must be water soluble.

[JeeExEll]

To danthecapriman.

 

And what might be lurking here?? Please spill the beans. I can hear it burbling.

[danthecapriman]

To danthecapriman.

And what might be lurking here?? Please spill the beans. I can hear it burbling.

That would be my 73 Mercury Marquis.

 

 

I imported it from the states a few years ago. It's a full fat with all the trimmings big block 7.0 V8! Which has just recently had a full rebuild.

 

Edit; you can read the whole tale of woe and despair here http://autoshite.com/topic/18142-huge-yank-shite-its-home-pics-pg-11/

If you want to of course!

[meshking]

I'm currently on holiday in Long Island, usa. Of course, I'm knee deep in Yank shite, there's a house a few doors down that has an old muscle car of some description in the front. I'll try to grab a pic when I walk past next.

 

However, as I usually do on holiday, I'm coming up with a crazy scheme or two. I quite fancy importing a step van, such as http://newyork.craigslist.org/fct/cto/5703464310.html, with the idea of coverting to a Camper. The prices are crazy, and all the delivery trucks are this type, so there must be a cheap supply of these from somewhere. Just wish the pound wasn't so weak.

[legasoil96]

AEC Mammoth Major 1955/56.  Probably ex BRS.

The mammoth major was built in 1955 and registered on the 3rd of Jan 1956. Its got a Hampshire car bodies cab and a standard 9.6 AEC diesel  engine. It was originally a bulk tipper and in the mid 70's was turned in to a lift and tow recovery truck. During this time they split the chassis in half on one side. Its top speed is 34 mph and it does 12 mpg.  

[danthecapriman]

I'm currently on holiday in Long Island, usa. Of course, I'm knee deep in Yank shite, there's a house a few doors down that has an old muscle car of some description in the front. I'll try to grab a pic when I walk past next.

However, as I usually do on holiday, I'm coming up with a crazy scheme or two. I quite fancy importing a step van, such as http://newyork.craigslist.org/fct/cto/5703464310.html, with the idea of coverting to a Camper. The prices are crazy, and all the delivery trucks are this type, so there must be a cheap supply of these from somewhere. Just wish the pound wasn't so weak.

Those big old vans are awesome! I'd love one and I bet one would make a great camper. Most of the old ones seem to have small block chevy V8's too.

When I imported my yank the exchange was pretty good. I got the car a lot cheaper because of it. It's crap now though, I don't think it'd stop me though if it was something I really wanted!

[meshking]

Those big old vans are awesome! I'd love one and I bet one would make a great camper. Most of the old ones seem to have small block chevy V8's too.

When I imported my yank the exchange was pretty good. I got the car a lot cheaper because of it. It's crap now though, I don't think it'd stop me though if it was something I really wanted!

Yes, it's the v8 that is selling it to me. That and the head height in the back... Full standing room would be awesome.

 

Plenty over here, so no rush

[Junkman]

[chaseracer]