Dick

[Joloke]

Van Dyke

[Supernaut]

I'm only a relative young nipper, at 29, but I remember a lot of grey ex-BT Ford Transits trundling about, as well as lots of ex-Royal Mail vans which were all pogweasealed apart from the bits where the stickers were!

 

I haven't seen any of either for a while now, though.

[tooSavvy]

I bought a PO Phones yellow MM1000 from auction.

 

'5p' hole carb restrictor on the S.U.

 

Wooden ladder rack. Bag of winter chains in the back!

 

I stripped the torsion bars to 'drop a spline' in da weeds. There I found the BL chocolate rubber bushes had been replaced by a cut down solid spring eye bush.. Mustardmitt it was in good nick = field proven 'maint/upgrade' lol

 

 

TS

[MorrisItalSLX]

In Australia, You see heaps of Ex-Telstra (Telecom Australia) Hiace vans. They can be identified by the handles on the rear door and big bumper step

 

[Tamworthbay]

Anyone remember the old EMEB minivans? My Dad nearly bought one for me when I turned 17 but I bought a Capri instead I bet they are worth a fortune now.

[egg]

The motor factor my dad worked for ran a fleet of ex BT grey MK3 Fiesta vans on the 90s, they were cheap!

 

I used to travel in the back sometimes!

[Squirrel2]

This is the ex Royal Mail LDV that a mate of mine had for a few years.

 

When he wasn't getting it stuck, by straying too far below the high-tide line, we made slow progress owing to the fact that the makers had saddled these vans with 1.9 N/A PSA engines with a dreadfully unmatched five speed 'box. Despite being less than ten years old spares were pretty much unobtainable - we had to custom make an exhaust system for it.

 

Squirrel2

[Ghosty]

Yep, I remember BT Fords. Even the odd grey Ka van!

As well as the odd LDV post bus or random RM can with the rear doors replaced with a roller shutter.

The modern equivalent is probably the pog pink Post Office Vauxhall Combo...

A fella with a bomb site car lot near me bought a load of ex-British Gas blue LWB Volkswagen Caddies on 11 plates, lowered them, put big wheels on them and put them up for sale for £9000.

I've seen one on the road...

[adw1977]

 

Sadly no longer with us, but this Sierra was bought from BT by an employee who was using it until about 5 years ago.

[bramz7]

That Rediffusion Escort lives local to me. It is utterly fantastic and I think it's had the same owner since they sold it off.

 

I've seen various ex fleet vans over the years, I'll pillage my Flickr later for them.

[barefoot]

Back then, I used to work for the Pru and their motor insurance grouped every single van on the UK roads into group 2 - of 9.

So cheap to buy & cheap to insure too.

[eddyramrod]

What was BRITISH Gas doing with a fleet of VW vans anyway? 

You do still see those knocking about sometimes, also the Combos that preceded them.  AA T4s are pretty distinctive, you do see those around.

 

But yes, it's not like the old days, when you could pick up an ex-BT or BR HA, or a White Arrow Transit etc etc, always for next to nothing.  Apart from anything else, most vans, whether in big fleets or not, are white now, so there's no telling them apart if the stickers have been properly removed.

 

More of our individualism being stamped out....

[Kiltox]

Ex British Gas Caddys are everywhere near me - one of the big van dealers in the area buys them by the fuck tonne

[tooSavvy]

This 'colour' thing?

 

Everyone is base white now + stick on graphics (even solid colours)....

 

Did the green/blue/grey/yellow/orange et al.. come from ordering 300 and giving a paint code/sample [factory buys your paint for the 300 only] >> or >> Ford/GM/BL says we have a *insert colour* you can spec as a special option on the base shell [usually not available on base shell] ??

 

Have wondered myself....

 

 

TS

[eddyramrod]

I suspect it was a matter of the buyer saying "this is our yellow, we want 300 in it please."  Or whatever the other colour might be.  Before the vinyl graphics took off any two-toning (such as the Escort above) would have to be done in paint, making the ex-fleet easy to recognise.

[sierraman]

Didn't a lot of places used to order custom axles etc so suitable for town work?

[Junkman]

Both ordering methods existed.

Most major manufacturers delivered vehicles in the approprite colours for major fleet operators, like Police/Post/Telecom/Military, etc.

But you could also fleet order to your company spec, at least the base colour. E.g. Vaillant is famous for that.

 

 

 

 

Their distinctive turquoise is always factory applied.

[Junkman]

Well, there are some exceptions.

 

[0ldCh0d]

I Remember when I was Young, I used to go to Shotts Motor Auctions (Now Manheim) with my Dad, They used to sell loads of The Scottish Ambulance Service Ambulances,

 

Old MK2 Transits, With the 3.0 V6 engines....My Dad Bought one, Despite the blue lights being removed, the Sirens were still connected...That was a laugh bringing that back Home!!...

 

Also, The long gone now, British car auctions at Newmains, That used to be something else for ex fleet vehicles, from the councils, Gas Board, British Telecom (Dodge Space van Things) through to The Army (Old Bedfords etc) I used to love going there with my Dad, You could back then, jump in & out all the lorries etc.. This was in the late 80's/ Early 90's.

 

Nowadays, You can still buy the Ex Royal Mail Fleet Stuff at auction, & The AA Vivaros etc. The royal mail sales happen quite often.

Also, Ex Council Vehicles come up often.

[sierraman]

The Royal Mail vans are notoriously poor buys, thrashed to fuck by several different people in a week on a tight timetable.

 

When I used to work at Iceland we used to keep them for 100-120k, then sell them off, used to make me chuckle when we saw the ads on eBay for them - 'low miles for year...maintained regardless of cost!'

 

In reality they were clapped out at 100k, it was all stop start work, likely on 2-3 clutches DMFs during that time. They used to rot like fuck as well, the insulation used to get wet through and rot the inside of the panels and sills. Some were having welding at 4 years old...

[0ldCh0d]

The Royal Mail vans are notoriously poor buys, thrashed to fuck by several different people in a week on a tight timetable.

 

When I used to work at Iceland we used to keep them for 100-120k, then sell them off, used to make me chuckle when we saw the ads on eBay for them - 'low miles for year...maintained regardless of cost!'

 

In reality they were clapped out at 100k, it was all stop start work, likely on 2-3 clutches DMFs during that time. They used to rot like fuck as well, the insulation used to get wet through and rot the inside of the panels and sills. Some were having welding at 4 years old...

I was not endorsing buying an Ex royal Mail Van, Agree fully with what you say. I used to work at a Peugeot Main Dealer as a Valeter & they had the Royal Mail Contract for maintenance of their then new Peugeot Bipper fleet of shite boxes.

 

Part of that was, the vans were to get valeted after they had been serviced etc. They are NOT cleaned very regular inside...Infact, they are pretty rank disgusting. That & the amount of panel damage on them after a short time....Hard Hard Life they have.

[chaseracer]

The Royal Mail vans are notoriously poor buys, thrashed to fuck by several different people in a week on a tight timetable...

 

The Escorts can be feckin lifesavers, tho...

 

#bub #chompy

 

[Faker]

My old man had a couple of ex bt HA vans... way way back in the day. Used to ride in the back on sofa cushions! Ah the memories!

[tooSavvy]

^^^ my PO Moggy... Used to shag in the back, on sofa cushions!

 

 

TS

[PiperCub]

Remember many different ones, the worst being Ex-Royal Mail ones, especially the Marina-type vans and Sherpas. Used to see lots of these at Paddock Wood auctions and they were almost always utterly munted piles of shite that you'd be risking it bidding more than £100 on. Beaten on from new until they nearly died by countless posties with a grudge.

 

Incidently, vans, like cars, are white 'cos that's the default these days and apparently you pay extra for anything else (so I'm told), oh and they aren't colours any more, no, they are 'Shades' love.......... (Yes, I said FRO too). Also vinyl wrap is cheaper and way easier than signwriting and easier to remove when it's punted on. 

[PiperCub]

This 'colour' thing?

 

Everyone is base white now + stick on graphics (even solid colours)....

 

Did the green/blue/grey/yellow/orange et al.. come from ordering 300 and giving a paint code/sample [factory buys your paint for the 300 only] >> or >> Ford/GM/BL says we have a *insert colour* you can spec as a special option on the base shell [usually not available on base shell] ??

 

Have wondered myself....

 

 

TS

 

To be honest. I thought the likes of BT, Royal Mail etc. painted & prep'd their own vehicles in-house. May be bollox but that's what I recall being told. Due to the volumes involved it was worth doing. 

[quicksilver]

Good topic that's got me thinking. I guess there's a couple of reasons why ex fleet vans aren't so obvious these days - firstly many big fleets don't have their own unique colour now and just use white as they're leased and white vans are easier to sell I guess, and secondly now all the public utilities have been privatised they don't buy in the quantities they used to. I well remember yellow or grey vans everywhere that were instantly recognisable as ex BT (the grey livery really was horrible) and pogweaseled Sherpas with the Royal Mail name still clearly visible where the paint hadn't faded. There's still a few of the latter about and other obvious ex fleet vehicles are orange vans with chevrons on the back (mostly Transits and VW Transporters) that came from the RAC, and those blue ex British Gas Caddys.

[tooSavvy]

I have seen a few 'colour scheme painted' vans with White door shuts, true.

 

However... in the past, yes ... those PO and Mail were chassis paint before parts [on the line].

 

 

TS

[Pillock]

I had a Ford Commercial brochure somewhere, and in there it described the Special Vehicle ordering process where you give them a colour and a spec and if you're buying in big enough numbers, they make it for you. 

 

Now a lot tend to be wrapped, which is why you see white door shuts - wrapping protects the paintwork a little more, and when it's peeled off it's just a white van so easier to put through auction. A builder would rather have a secondhand white van, than one in Dynorod Orange or something. You still see AA Yellow VW T5s, or RAC Orange Transits but they seem to be dying out....

 

My old local autospares place even had four rows of spray cans on his display - "British Gas Blue" (light and dark), "Post Office Red" and "BT Yellow". Shows how long he's had them since those colour schemes haven't been around for ages, but equally people were buying the vans and needing to repair them in the original colours.

[Dirk Diggler]

An Post (Irish Royal Mail equivalent) still owned and ran their own fleet until 2010 and sold them on the same terms, scrap money

 

The best part was the fetching shade of green (orange and white until the mid 80s) on Renault 4s leading to Kangoo vans, loads of Kangoos still around

 

My favourite was the late 80s early 90s trend of using your ex Post Renault 4 until it was broken, then cutting it in half to make a trailer; they were common round these parts

 

Great nostalgic thread