The Mighty Sherpa (LDV etc)

[cort16]

the engine shot on that 1991 Ambulance looks almost identical to the engine bay on my 1971 p6 other than the airbox has moved.

[Timewaster]

V8s aside I think LDV lasted as long as it did with hopelessly outdated vans by selling on price to companies where the purchaser would never get to see the van never mind drive it.

 

Can anyone find the price list for say a Convoy compared to a Transit or T4?

What would you compare a Pilot to? L300? Trafic? Vanette?

 

Were they very much cheaper?

[Rover414]

Work had a P-reg ex Royal Mail Pilot which was pretty hopeless and towards the end had great design features such as the nearside headlight coming free from its housing for no reason, handbrake that didn't work at all and doors where you could see through to the road with quite easily.

 

They still have two 51 plate Convoys (blue and white) for shuttles, both will claim to be doing 70mph on the motorway but are definitely going faster than that, the steering has a dangerous amount of play on both but they are just so chuckable, they very rarely break down too and just seem to keep going. Late last year I had a flat tyre on a bus and breakdown instead of bringing the Transit Connect or Land Rover out to change the tyre brought the blue one out, brilliant:

 

[oman5]

  On 22/01/2017 at 22:51, Timewaster said:

V8s aside I think LDV lasted as long as it did with hopelessly outdated vans by selling on price to companies where the purchaser would never get to see the van never mind drive it.

Can anyone find the price list for say a Convoy compared to a Transit or T4?

What would you compare a Pilot to? L300? Trafic? Vanette?

Were they very much cheaper?

From memory, I think a 90s smiley transit was around 15k brand new, A Pilot was around 9-10k. So yes, much cheaper. Honestly, I don't think you could compare a Pilot to any other van produced at the time..it was very,very dated in how it drove- 70 m.p.h was almost it's top speed and they really struggled on hills. Cheapness was its main virtue, but the solid beam axle on the front was an advantage for carrying weight.

I think they are awful machines, but they definitely have a certain endearing underdog charm. They should have fitted the turbo XUD at the factory.

[cms206]

We used our Convoys for everything...

 

... that said they were very light.

 

 

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[Asimo]

  On 22/01/2017 at 21:45, Lord Sward said:

I think they had a LSD ( which was also available on the 200 series.  Why?)

Empty RWD vans have almost NO traction and LSDs are offered to try and reduce that problem. (See also Sprinter, Transit etc)

[Yoss]

Came across this rather grubby Luton out on delivery today.

 

 

Needed a clean but looked quite straight. These must be even slower with barn door aerodynamics.

[Cavcraft]

2.5 diesel for sale on Bumtree

 

 

 

https://www.gumtree.com/p/vans/l-d-v-convoy-long-wheelbase-deasel-van/1211907681

 

 

'LDV Convoy Long Wheelbase van, I bought this with the intension of making a camper but work and time is against me. The van is low mileage and is a first time starter. It has a 2.5 Peugeot diesel engine everything works as it should. Bad points are it needs an exhaust and a battery can be tested down the 1 mile farm drive the van is situated in Middlewich CW10 0JB at my workshop for any more info contact 01244 428211 or 07922364952 I am looking for £350 ono'

 

 

​(Checked on line and MOT expired in 2012)

[Walter White]

  On 22/01/2017 at 17:38, twosmoke300 said:

They didn't make a non turbo duratorq

Well ok, I knew a lot were turbos but the way mine gathered momentum, had no extra punch at any point in the rev range made no turbo noises and in the cramped engine bay I couldnt see turbo shaped goodies and pipework made me think mine couldn't be turbo charged. I sold it a few years ago so can't look under the bonnet.

My word it really was slow then, I once started overtaking an articulated lorry after exiting a roundabout on a piece of dual carriageway. I started ok but once level with the cab ran out of performance and I was about to drop back when the kind gentleman at the wheel of the lorry eased off a little to help me out and flashed me in.

[I_am_Diesel]

 

 

 

Don't say I don't spoil you guys.

 

I started my military mechanic career working on Sherpa's in Freight Rover guise. They weren't particularly reliable as I recall. Later in my career we had LDV crew cab pick ups with the Peugeot engines in. Not very exciting to drive.

After de-mob I briefly worked for a DAF main dealer and we had a LDV Pilot van which I was occasionally let loose in. I enjoyed driving it more than the Escort diesel van we also had.

We also had a LDV Cub, that was grim!!

[Richard]

Did LDV build the Cub or just buy it in from Nissan?

[Cavcraft]

  On 23/01/2017 at 19:12, Richard said:

Did LDV build the Cub or just buy it in from Nissan?

 

Pretty confident it was a rebadged Nissan.

[Guest Lord Sward]

Rebadged Nissan.  Theres a tale that Nissan Spain called LDV to apologise regarding its quality issues, only to realise it was leagues ahead of the 200/300 series quality.  

[dollywobbler]

  On 23/01/2017 at 14:37, Yoss said:

Came across this rather grubby Luton out on delivery today.

 

20170123_131752.jpg

 

Needed a clean but looked quite straight. These must be even slower with barn door aerodynamics.

Drove one of those to France and back when my father in law moved there. Transit engine and it sat at 70 very happily for hour after hour. Well, apart from a hideous steering shimmy that threatened to give us vibration white finger...

[twosmoke300]

And the noise ! Oh my god the noise!

[eddyramrod]

We had a day out on Sunday and passed two Convoys on the M6, then at our destination in Southport there was a day nursery across the road.  With two Convoys and a Pilot standing by for kiddy-hauling duties!

[Bren]

The essex engined transit ambulances did 11 mpg. In today's austerity driven world that would'nt be allowed to happen.

 

I had to drive an LDV flatbed to Brum when the firm I worked for was contracting for jaguar. I thought I was going to reach retirement age before it hit 60 mph. And it would do no more.

 

Anything that makes a transit feel like a bugatti veyron must be utter pish.

 

Did'nt LDV end up in Russian hands? If so I am not surprised - they must have felt at home in one.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

I'm sure I've mentioned my Sherpa faux-pas before, but here goes.

My business partner in about 1995 had an H reg Sherpa 200 minibus- I think it was a Prima engine.

Anyway it had the back seats removed to use for Private Hire( maximum allowed 8 pas.) and he either rented it out or did the occaisional Saturday night in it himself.

I'd driven it quite a bit, just running around town or to tow a car trailer, slow but stable.

It was sitting in the unit and he got a call from a cab company to run a shuttle service from a hotel to MK Bowl for a Bon Jovi gig, then take 6 women to Cardiff. He didn't fancy it but it was priced at a grand for weekend and I'm a greedy bastard....

By about 5 o'clock on the Saturday I was almost crippled, so had the brainwave of fitting a Recaro drivers seat . Dexion was utilised to mount a lovely Saphy leather seat to the bus. All the tools put away and I jumped in to luxuriate in some ergonomic comfort, it was great.

Right up till I started to drive. All I could see were the sunvisors and the edge of the roof! I hadn't thought about the seat now being about 4 inches higher . I drove that fucker another 500 miles crouched down over the wheel like a granny in Moggy Minor. The birds I took to Cardiff thought it was hilairious when I told them why I was bent over, one of em said she thought I was a hunchback!

[2MB]

  On 22/01/2017 at 11:51, wuvvum said:

Here's one with a B series diesel for sale on the Bay.

 

.

I put a bid on that for a laugh and came worryingly close to winning it

[RoadworkUK]

I reckon my interest in Sherpas comes from their remarkable parallels to the Rover 800, including the use of the 0-Series and the fact that it was kept in production until way after its sell-by date had come and passed.

 

Plus a bit of switchgear commonality IIRC

[andy18s]

Been sat a while it seems...

[cms206]

  On 25/01/2017 at 07:52, RoadworkUK said:

I reckon my interest in Sherpas comes from their remarkable parallels to the Rover 800, including the use of the 0-Series and the fact that it was kept in production until way after its sell-by date had come and passed.

 

Plus a bit of switchgear commonality IIRC

I made the mistake of driving many Convoys THEN driving my first 800 (Mo's WeegieBarge). Many disappoints.

 

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[Joey spud]

Back in '84 when i was 16 a mate a few years older worked for Interlink the parcel courier people.

This was a sort of franchised bussiness back then and his boss had two vans,a 2 litre petrol lwb single wheel B reg Transit and a T plated Sherpa van,alas not slidey doored.

 

The Sherpa was my mates van and it was the bollox,it was a 1800 petrol B series with an overdrive gearbox and it also ran on lpg with a massive tank strapped behind the seats.

I can't remember if it had over drive in just fourth gear or third and fourth but i do recall the switch was on the gear lever like an MGB and that if you switched over to gas too soon it would cough and fart about until you switched back to petrol.

 

His boss was a right softy and used to let him use the Sherpa in the evenings and weekends and so we would all pile aboard using the gas tank as an extra couple of seats,we must of done hundreds of miles in that van after hours.

 

Years later at a garage i worked at i was road testing a Convoy along a twisty B road when the steering jammed and by the time i had managed to stop i was up on the path and wedged against a grassy bank.

 

On the later vans the battery is fitted low down in the o/s inner wing by the steering column and the battery is simply / cheaply secured with metal strap and two threaded rods with hooks on their ends.

The strap on my van had worked loose,dropped off the battery and managed to wedge itself in the steering columns universal joint.

 

I often wonder how many accidents loose battery straps must have caused on these.

 

Also remember a story i got told when i started working for the Orange Mob.

In years past RAC ran diesel Sherpa's in the white/blue livery and they were the universally hated by every patrol as they were painfully slow,the vibrations though the controls gave you 'white finger' and they were too noisey in the cab.

Often patrols would be seen wearing ear defenders while piloting them up the motorway.

 

The joke was you could allways recognise a Sherpa driving patrol at any team event as they were the ones at the bar shouting and shaking their beer everywhere.

 

That said when i started in 2001 there were a few seven seater LDV 400's complete with A frames in the back still on the fleet and they were a good tool in rural areas.

[twosmoke300]

And that , ladies and gentleman , is why battery security is now part of the mot !

[They_all_do_that_sir]

After reading this thread I seen THREE LDV maxxuses (maxi? Maxxusssss?) being used in anger.

They looked utterly fucked, and like a sort of Chinese copycat ford transit.

All three drivers looked miserable as fuck too

 

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[Cavcraft]

[anonymous user]

Stop the temptation that link fortunately is showing a sold A40

[Cavcraft]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Leyland-DAF-400-Tipper-Landrover-diesel-engine-spares-repairs-/182434043800?hash=item2a79ea9798:g:tn4AAOSwImRYiRoA

[bramz7]

I have seen some QUALITY Sherpa action over the years:

 

1993 Leyland Daf 400 Series Luton. by Sam Osbon, on Flickr

 

1990 Leyland Daf 200. by Sam Osbon, on Flickr

 

1993 Leyland Daf 200 Series. by Sam Osbon, on Flickr

 

1994 Daf 400. by Sam Osbon, on Flickr

Spanish DAF only edition. Leyland was added for the UK only.

1995 LDV 400 Series. by Sam Osbon, on Flickr

 

1975 Leyland Sherpa Deluxe. by Sam Osbon, on Flickr

 

1986 Freight Rover Sherpa 250. by Sam Osbon, on Flickr

 

1985 Freight Rover Sherpa. by Sam Osbon, on Flickr

 

1977 Leyland AM Sherpa. by Sam Osbon, on Flickr

This was down some grotty road in Tottenham. Very out of place.

 

1977 Leyland Sherpa 2.0 Diesel 'Himalayan' Campervan. by Sam Osbon, on Flickr

 

1993 Leyland Daf 400 Series City. by Sam Osbon, on Flickr

 

1985 Freight Rover Sherpa 1.8 Diesel Van. by Sam Osbon, on Flickr

This one looked really great in its West London surroundings. Sadly scrapped a while back, although LEZ would no doubt have done it in anyway.

 

but the best:

 

Immortal Sherpa. by Sam Osbon, on Flickr

 

This almighty scrap wagon was one of my favourite spots ever. Some ancient old bloke used it to carry all sorts of crud about, I remember once seeing it completely overloaded with old radiators.

Sadly it disappeared after the owner died. 

[warren t claim]

The former MRS_CLAIM was a total Sherpa slag and had owned three, a proper BL Sherpa Highwayman camper, a Leyland Daf 200 and finally an LDV Pilot minibus that managed to simultaneously set itself on fire and jam the sliding door with the kids in the back. She insisted on it being fixed but we broke up while it was at the auto electricians.

 

 

Looks like it lasted a couple of years longer than our marriage.

 

Only I could find a lady with the hots for Sherpas.