Working vehicles past their sell by.

[danthecapriman]

32 minutes ago, LightBulbFun said:

I think I have mentioned it before

https://autoshite.com/topic/30877-what-makes-you-grin-antidote-to-grumpy-thread/page/1773/#findComment-1755535

but I would love to import/have one of those, being RHD and all that and I love they just keep on plodding on, also their story is in general is quite fascinating with the fact that the majority of them are government owned except a very few sold privately so to speak, plus I have a close friend of mine who for many years ran a couple of very shonky S10's of about the same generation as what those LLV's are based on  

I do hope that as those LLVs are withdrawn, they can be purchased/preserved by those interested in doing so, because I do fear that otherwise if the USPS are super strict about (like how the DHSS were very strict towards the end of the Invacar scheme), then very few will end up surviving and that would be a big shame, as say what you will about them they are a very iconic vehicle over there

(I do know that there are already a couple here in the UK, but I dont know exactly what their story is, I would love to know tho!)

 

When I got the Mercury imported I was having a nosey round the shippers storage warehouse before I left for home, as you do.

There was a Grumman LLV van in there with all other yank tanks! They are quite utilitarian and basic, but that’s why they last so long. But that wouldn’t be an issue for a man such as yourself😄

[Zelandeth]

Can't find it now, but I'm sure I remember someone importing one a few years ago and having a right song and dance trying to get it registered over here.  Problem being that they were never issued with any sort of VIN from the factory, being treated more as a piece of equipment rather than a vehicle as such.

No idea if there was more/less to it than that, but it sounded like a bit of a potential headache to have to work around.

Imagine they're rather agricultural to drive and probably have gearing that's utterly unsuited to actually travelling at more than 30mph.  Does that stop me wanting to have a shot of driving one?   Of course not!

[jon.k]

I’m sure I’ve see one in the uk with a camper van conversion and a kind of skylight or glass top on the roof.

 

edit: must have been this one.

 

[NorfolkNWeigh]

There’s  a Bedford HA van belonging to an electrician still sign written and working in Milton Keynes. It’s been around for years and is possibly one of a series the guy’s owned and worked, I’m sure it’s been pictured on here before, maybe by @Slowsilver

[Low ontime]

Around here in Devon …;

Local council use 08 plate Astra vans…

Royal Mail use 10 plate battered VX combo vans …. (So they can’t be all shit)

there was a very mint looking HA Bedford on a old Y plate van used for a packaging company … 

and the usual nearly 30 year old transit ice cream vans with the DI lump screaming away going up hill! 

[quicksilver]

1 hour ago, NorfolkNWeigh said:

There’s  a Bedford HA van belonging to an electrician still sign written and working in Milton Keynes. It’s been around for years and is possibly one of a series the guy’s owned and worked, I’m sure it’s been pictured on here before, maybe by @Slowsilver

Mr Jon Myrtle. He has four apparently and was featured in one of the classic commercial vehicle magazines a few years ago. He met the editor at a show and agreed to do a feature on the one van he had taken there but didn't tell him he had more, so the chap got quite a shock when he turned up to find four of them!

As for Bob Carmichael and his legendary F88, it certainly kept going well past its sell by date but I don't think it's still working. Bob retired last summer and the truck had a new V5 in August this year suggesting it's recently found a new home but it hasn't reappeared in public yet.

 

[artdjones]

Are these old Royal Mail Combos 1.3CDTis?

Maybe the Multijet isn't that bad after all.

[Dyslexic Viking]

25 minutes ago, artdjones said:

Are these old Royal Mail Combos 1.3CDTis?

Maybe the Multijet isn't that bad after all.

Or they have spent a fortune fixing them.

[Mrcento]

21 minutes ago, artdjones said:

Are these old Royal Mail Combos 1.3CDTis?

Maybe the Multijet isn't that bad after all.

Some are, some (and i'd assume many of those in service still) are the 1.7cdti's.

[adw1977]

This Bedford TK was still in commercial use with a vegetable oil recycling firm in Bexhill on Sea until at least 2020, although it is now SORN.  They used to have at least one other TK.

[High Jetter]

1 hour ago, adw1977 said:

This Bedford TK was still in commercial use with a vegetable oil recycling firm in Bexhill on Sea until at least 2020, although it is now SORN.  They used to have at least one other TK.

Git! I wanted to pap that first! Though they had an older TK, maybe E reg?

[bunglebus]

Decorator's van in use a few days ago in Braintree 

[bunglebus]

'89ish Transit still hauling scrap metal a week or two back

Not much newer panel van still out there earning its keep

Shirly this has to win? Pretty sure it's just used for promotional purposes these days but it's owned by the Maldon Salt Company

 

[bunglebus]

Ice cream vans are often ancient too, pretty sure the same A reg Mercedes that clattered around our housing estate when I was a kid is still around, saw it on the industrial estate where I work a summer or two back. Can't find the pic I took, but Hemsby and Great Yarmouth area are served by at least two of these

 

[bunglebus]

Another one surely just doing promo work these days

 

[bunglebus]

Saw this one on a small German island, looked a bit too clean to be hauling hay bales etc but I wouldn't be surprised

 

[bunglebus]

Hemsby volunteer lifeboat run this behemoth

 

[bunglebus]

Yeah I know, hipster coffee/ice cream poser crap - but this one has B5 Passat running gear and is genuinely used regularly on the road, guy was emptying stuff out of it into a storage locker

 

[bunglebus]

This rolling heap of salmonella frequents my local boot sale

 

[bunglebus]

This guy is always about locally jetwashing wheelie bins. 2005 Ranger, "Mr Clean" registration

Was much cooler when it had moon disc wheel covers

[bunglebus]

MK2 Transit at the boot sale

 

[bunglebus]

Camper vans are often the last examples of commercial vehicles left, as they tend to have an easier life. Don't know if this MK1 Transit was ever anything but a home from home, but it looked good next to the modern one I had that day

 

[bunglebus]

Didn't capture the reg on this very well, as I was more interested in the unfortunate Granada on board

 

[bunglebus]

These things are still buzzing around in surprising numbers in Europe, I see them a lot in German where they are in stark contrast to the 99% modern vehicles in use there

 

[bunglebus]

Another one just used for promotion jobs now

 

[bunglebus]

Terrible photo of another HY I saw last year on our way to Great Yarmouth, probably more just a fun vehicle now rather than being loaded up full of cheese, but it was good to see a non-static one

 

[bunglebus]

Just too far away in a compound to see the reg, but K plate Transit with a huge body was spotted on one of my Northern jaunts. Manchester maybe? Leeds? Can't remember

 

[bunglebus]

Skoda still doing its thing

 

[bunglebus]

Recovery vehicle (?) hiab thing hidden away on a weird industrial area I wandered into

 

[neil72]

Here's a couple from Greater London, used to see loads of the Transit and VW style 'gown vans' around the industrial part of Tottenham when i was growing up.