Sherpa Freight Rover LDV alert

[Rustybullethole]

[500tops]

4 hours ago, 500tops said:

Now £295 obo!

Sold

Not to me, unfortunately 

[Heavyspanners]

Here's another example of the painted-in square headlights, from the 1982 4x4 brochure (on the left) and the 1984 version (on the right).

Pix yanked off the internet by me, so they're a bit fuzzy. If I had the actual brochures I might be able to do a proper scan.

The brochure layout is different, but the photos are obviously the same - apart from that essential new model styling update! I really would like to know how it was done, because while the square headlights look a bit off (especially to anyone who's seen a real Sherpa), it's still quite an achievement to do it at all, given the tech of the time.



 

[catsinthewelder]

I wonder if there was something wrong with the round headlight models (other than being a Sherpa) that made them change it so quickly?

[Heavyspanners]

2 hours ago, catsinthewelder said:

I wonder if there was something wrong with the round headlight models (other than being a Sherpa) that made them change it so quickly?

I don't think so. There wasn't much difference between the round headlight and square headlight versions, apart from the styling tweaks to the front end and some detail changes to the cab fittings.

It was just a styling refresher. Everybody was doing it at the time...



Incidentally, those pictures show the Transit's forged steel beam axle, located by leaf springs with the wheels swivelling on kingpins - just like the Sherpa. It always amuses me that this old-school design is frequently mentioned as one of the reasons the Sherpa is a bit rubbish. Nobody ever mentions that the Transit was built the same way!






 

[High Jetter]

Those round Lucas SBU or shells were around for ages, maybe a supply, or price issue?

[Rustybullethole]

14 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

Those round Lucas SBU or shells were around for ages, maybe a supply, or price issue?

Id guess fashion moved on and round was considered old hat.

So many of these were bought up for fleet use. Its a shame they're so thin on the ground now. 

Evening standard ones I remember the most. Pretty fricking distinctive.

 

[Rustybullethole]

Mrs's uncle was a carpenter by trade so ran a van all his working life.

His mates took the piss out of his Sherpa as seemed to be popular opinion though he always said it was his favourite van. Him and his brothers have loads of stories about it lots centred around the lack of seat belts and sliding doors. 

 

[Matty]

8 hours ago, Talbot said:

 

8 hours ago, Talbot said:

Peak Autoshite Van.  And no, I do not want one!

Speak for yourself @Talbot 🤣

[Heavyspanners]

1 hour ago, High Jetter said:

Those round Lucas SBU or shells were around for ages, maybe a supply, or price issue?

There was a slightly odd reason why practically every vehicle, from every manufacturer, had the same round headlamps for several decades.

For a long time the 7" circular lamp unit was the only type of headlamp approved for use in the USA - which meant any manufacturer which wanted to sell in the USA had to design its vehicles to suit the mandatory US headlamp. This effectively made that type of headlamp the global standard for years, even for vehicles which were never sold in the USA. Designing vehicles to suit *that* headlamp became the almost universal default option.

US regulations gradually relaxed - but very slowly, over a long time. First, twin headlamps were allowed, then rectangular headlamps. But the regs lagged behind the rest of the world for years. This video explains it:

For a long, long time any manufacturer which designed a bespoke style of headlamp for the rest of the world had to come up with a US-compliant version to sell their cars in the USA.

Sometimes, the fitment of US-spec headlights was quite successful...



And sometimes, it wasn't.



By the 1980s round headlamps were decidedly old hat. They were seen as what they were: nothing more than the default option. So everybody started going square, or rectangular, or anything except round.

Ford used round headlamps to signify its base models. The version of the Transit which got them was the Transit Popular, the entry level model. This meant that if you bought a more upmarket Transit, everyone would know at a glance - because it had the trendy new square headlamps.

(Although, going by this video, even the upmarket Transits of the day weren't all that high-spec. Reversing lights! A quartz clock! Oh, Ford, you are spoiling us!)

Freight Rover used square headlamps to denote the newest models. So if you bought a spanking new Sherpa, everyone would know at a glance, because it had the trendy new square headlamps.

That was the headlamp-language of the 1980s: round was basic/old, square was upmarket/new.

Fun headlamp fact: the last new vehicle designed with the once-default 7" round headlamps was the Dennis Trident bus with Alexander ALX 400 bodywork - launched in 1997.



I will now get my anorak (again).

 

[Snipes]

9 hours ago, Rustybullethole said:

Id guess fashion moved on and round was considered old hat.

So many of these were bought up for fleet use. Its a shame they're so thin on the ground now. 

Evening standard ones I remember the most. Pretty fricking distinctive.

 

See, wonky corner bumpers. Every time.

Look at this in Stagecoach colours;

[Heavyspanners]

12 hours ago, Rustybullethole said:

 

 

That livery even worked on the Austin Maxi.

This was one of 4 Maxis in the 1970 London-Mexico World Cup Rally. It's slightly ironic: the car was sponsored by the Evening Standard, but the rally itself was sponsored by the Daily Mirror.

This was the most successful Maxi in the rally, coming 10th overall - and this was a 1500 car with a cable-change gearbox. Another Maxi came in at 22, not bad given that there were 106 entrants. The other 2 Maxis dropped out, and - another irony - these are the two that survive. One is at Gaydon, the other is the famous one: Puff the Magic Wagon, still rallying today.

A slight digression here, but in a good cause!

[High Jetter]

10 hours ago, Heavyspanners said:

For a long time the 7" circular lamp unit was the only type of headlamp approved for use in the USA

I'd completely fforgotten that. Thanks for a great post.

[chodweaver]

Still a bit sore about the ex school bus ex local garage hire Convoy mwb minibus Mrs CW ran for about three years and loved, but which I allowed to die from rusty inner wings and the associated MOT failure. There might be photographic evidence of it somewhere. It ferried a cohort of kids to bowling, bushcraft events, camps and ice skating. I also deftly reversed it lightly* into a friend's transit camper at one of these gatherings. No harm, no foul and definitely no insurance claims.

Enjoying this thread immensely!

[Heavyspanners]

Two chassis cab pickups are currently on FB marketplace. I'd be interested myself, but I've already got all the Sherpa pickups I can eat. It always seems to be the way, though - as soon as you buy a vehicle, all of a sudden you see the same model everywhere.

This one has been hanging around for some time without being sold. Late LDV 200 series, made just before the Pilot came along. Perkins Prima diesel. A few weeks out of MOT, now on Sorn, so at least it seems it won't be going to the scrapyard. Lots of advisories on the MOT, but nothing that can't be sorted. Asking price £1,100 - but I'd say that £100 is there to be negotiated away. Could be a bargain if it fixes up without too much trouble.




This one is referred to as a Leyland Daf, but it's clearly a Freight Rover, not that there's much difference. Looks like an ex-BT box van, now with alloy pickup bed which isn't the factory type. Out of MOT since 2022, but its last test wasn't tooooo bad. Another Perkins Prima diesel.  It's in Northern Ireland, but that's not an NI reg, so there might be some interesting history there. Asking price of £1250 - I'd try to knock that down, because I spy some rust in the windscreen surround, which is a fiddly fix.



 

[D.E]

2005 LDV Convoy 2.4 TD LWB Minibus Project £500

Quote

73,000 miles from new, no MOT - recently acquired project that is for sale due to lack of space and time.

 

Does run and drive but struggles to start and cuts out after 30 seconds - suspected fuel pump issue.

 

Brakes will also need attention.

 

Downplated to 3500kg so can be driven on a standard car license

 

The van has had a huge amount of work completed by the previous owner - it is very solid in all the usual places, please study the photos. 

 

The drivers side sill up to o/s/r still needs completing (please see last 2 photos) but this should be a fairly straightforward section of welding.

[grogee]

How confusing is this? What a bloody mess! Piss poor branding and marketing. 

Headline: "Freight Rover Equipment & Accessories" 

Message: "A Name for Equipment that Carries More Weight with Freight Rover Operators" (what a mouthful!) 

Picture: A Sherpa confusingly labelled 'Land Freight' (?) 

Contact: "Land Rover Parts & Equipment" 

[Rustybullethole]

57 minutes ago, grogee said:

How confusing is this? What a bloody mess! Piss poor branding and marketing. 

Headline: "Freight Rover Equipment & Accessories" 

Message: "A Name for Equipment that Carries More Weight with Freight Rover Operators" (what a mouthful!) 

Picture: A Sherpa confusingly labelled 'Land Freight' (?) 

Contact: "Land Rover Parts & Equipment" 

It was the fact it looks like something you'd get bundled in the back of and beat with truncheons by men dressed in hats that put me off. 

[stuboy]

i spotted this on tickly tokalls 

 

 

[Heavyspanners]

14 hours ago, grogee said:

How confusing is this? What a bloody mess! Piss poor branding and marketing. 

Headline: "Freight Rover Equipment & Accessories" 

Message: "A Name for Equipment that Carries More Weight with Freight Rover Operators" (what a mouthful!) 

Picture: A Sherpa confusingly labelled 'Land Freight' (?) 

Contact: "Land Rover Parts & Equipment" 

It would have been better to put 'Land Rover Parts & Equipment' right at the top. As it is, at first glance it looks like the name they're referring to is Land Freight. You've got to read all the way down to the bottom of the ad to find out what the name actually is. 

Land Freight is a real company - it still exists, although it looks like a small scale operation. I looked at the company address in Google Streetview and found it's a residential cul-de-sac (with no Sherpas in evidence, so they must have updated the fleet). It's nice that they featured a real Freight Rover van operator in the ad, but they could have chosen one with a less "Huh? What?" name.

Here's another ad for Land Rover Parts & Equipment which shows Freight Rover as part of the Land Rover family (although it was really more like an adopted cousin). As far as I know, these ads - for the parts side of the business - were the only times Freight Rovers were shown alongside actual Land Rover vehicles.

I think the Range Rover-style vertical slot grille worked very well on the Sherpa. It's interesting that it was done, to give the Sherpa a family resemblance. But the Land Rover itself never got a similar restyle, so although it's the original vehicle it looks like the odd one out in this line-up.

The marque badges shown at the bottom of the ad read Freight Rover - Land Rover - Range Rover. But the vehicles themselves have number plates which read Sherpa - Land Rover - Range Rover.  Someone didn't get the branding memo!



 

[BorniteIdentity]

13 hours ago, Rustybullethole said:

bundled in the back of and beat with truncheons by men dressed in hats 

I'm pretty sure this is an extract from Chapter 4 of @warren t claim's Memoirs.

[Cavcraft]

LDV Convoy Campervan Conversion Diesel 2006 MOT till November 2025 | eBay UK

[Dan the van]

O.M.F.G.

[JJ0063]

6 minutes ago, Dan the van said:

O.M.F.G.

Make sure you post a collection thread x

[grogee]

Been "busy" this afternoon. 

Would there be any interest in a group buy of this t-shirt (or something like it)? 

I had to mock up the logo using PowerPoint because the online images are very low res. 

I guess we're looking at £20ish per shirt once P&P is accounted for. 

A black and white t-shirt print is probably cheaper, but the green stripe really sets it off IMO. 

[warch]

This is currently one of my favourite threads on here.

Like lots of people I have spent hours either driving or being driven in a Sherpa derivative, mostly post 2000 models (my local friendly hire firm had them). I've mentioned this several times before on here, but our school bus in the late 80s/early 90s (presumably a Freight Rover) had a knackered rear door lock mechanism, so the last student in had to hold the doors shut with a piece of baler twine whilst in (ahem) transit. 

I have to admit that I did much prefer driving a Transit (usually a early 2000s third generation with the floor shift and turbo engine) or the facelifted version that came out in the mid noughties. But I have to admit the Sherpa was better put together and more durable, and probably a better bet for the owner driver. It does also depend on usage, I don't mind a van that's a bit noisy and sluggish for local work, but it gets a bit old driving long distances every day. My old work Citroen Dispatch was hewn from granite and absolutely unkillable, but also topped out at perhaps 60mph with a following wind, so was fucking irritating to drive on long journeys or where hills were involved. 

The Sherpa is one of those gloriously British monuments to thwarted industrial ambition, where company management was complacent and wouldn't approve design improvements or redesigns if the existing model was still selling well, or saw all their profits siphoned off to keep some loss making BL constituent afloat. It was at least well made and fit for purpose, even if it was dynamically a bit old hat.  

[Heavyspanners]

7 hours ago, Dan the van said:

O.M.F.G.

That's a useful demonstration of how much empty space there is in the Sherpa engine bay. It's very wide, with practically nothing inside the wings. It would be a great place to put a transverse engine.

[Heavyspanners]

1 hour ago, grogee said:

Been "busy" this afternoon. 

Would there be any interest in a group buy of this t-shirt (or something like it)? 

I had to mock up the logo using PowerPoint because the online images are very low res. 

I guess we're looking at £20ish per shirt once P&P is accounted for. 

A black and white t-shirt print is probably cheaper, but the green stripe really sets it off IMO. 

£20-ish with a green stripe seems good to me. I'd buy one.

[grogee]

1 hour ago, Heavyspanners said:

£20-ish with a green stripe seems good to me. I'd buy one.

What does The Circle think:

- Plain tee just with the FR logo

- As above but with an black and white outline image of a FR period Sherpa underneath 

- Something else

? 

All suggestions welcome. I think I'm going to change the above design to a black rounded corners oblong slightly larger than the white logo border, instead of the square edges. 

I guess, rather than group buy and have to swallow the upfront cost, I could just share the files with anyone who wants to make their own. 

[grogee]

Eg