Sherpa Freight Rover LDV alert

[UltraWomble]

Just now, grogee said:

Shirley it's simply* a case of unbolting the rusty body, bolting on a donor then spraying it in the Royal green wellies/gold combo??? 

Finding an un rusty Sherpa body sounds like an impossible challenge.

[N Dentressangle]

My neighbour over the road is a miserable old cow. Proper Hyacinth Bucket type snob, with little to be snobbish about. Moans about everything.

My off-road parking is opposite her house, with loads of room.  I can't see it from my house, but she looks directly onto it. I'd like a bigger campervan.

https://www.facebook.com/share/1E7aXBUT5E/

Could we do a Gofundme? 🤣

[Yoss]

12 minutes ago, N Dentressangle said:

My neighbour over the road is a miserable old cow. Proper Hyacinth Bucket type snob, with little to be snobbish about. Moans about everything.

My off-road parking is opposite her house, with loads of room.  I can't see it from my house, but she looks directly onto it. I'd like a bigger campervan.

https://www.facebook.com/share/1E7aXBUT5E/

Could we do a Gofundme? 🤣

One of my old work vans, was Y833 TDA so the chances are this is an ex Royal Mail machine though there are few signs of that to be seen from the pictures. 

[Heavyspanners]

21 hours ago, 500tops said:

There's a reference to A301 WOF I'm this thread dated 2008.

 

4x4 Sherpa - International Forum - LR4x4 - The Land Rover Forum https://share.google/k5C22bTTQzngv6mFy

There's a lot of speculation on that thread about how the 4x4 Sherpa was created. In some ways they are quite mysterious vehicles, and not the close relatives to Land Rovers that might be assumed.

It would of course have been logical to kit the 4x4 Sherpa out with standard Land Rover underpinnings - but this is BL we're talking about, so logic didn't get a look-in.

Any Sherpa could be ordered as a 4x4. A fully built-up vehicle, straight off the normal production line, would be sent to a specialist converter, Newton Abbot Motors in Devon. They also made 4x4 vehicles for Ford, which resulted in the interesting spectacle of Sherpas and Transits side by side in the same factory (that's a Ford A Series, but there's a Transit in the background...)



Some say the front axle was a Land Rover item. I've also read that it was actually a modified Sherpa rear axle, shortened/lengthened to make the diff offset, and with mountings for Land Rover swivel balls welded on to the ends. That sounds like a roundabout way of doing it, but then, BL, logic, etc, etc...

The transfer box wasn't a Land Rover item. It was bought in from Dana, one of the main suppliers to Jeep. So the Freight Rover Sherpa 4x4 had a Jeep transfer box!

4x4 Sherpas normally used the standard Sherpa wheels, but I see the wheels on the Duke of Edinburgh's Sherpa are different....



This photo of a 4x4 Sherpa (from a Land Rover forum, posted in 2009) shows the same wheels as the Duke's mini bus. So were they some sort of option - larger diameter wheels? Where did they come from? Surely a small specialist vehicle converter in Newton Abbot wouldn't manufacture their own wheels?



The 4x4 Sherpas were killed off when it was belatedly decided that having an in-house competitor for Land Rover wasn't a good idea. But I wonder if another part of the reason was that the 4x4 Sherpas were better than Land Rovers in some respects. They had more ground clearance, a more normal driving position, and more load space.

In a different universe, maybe the 4x4 Sherpa range could have been properly integrated with the Land Rover range. It would certainly have given Land Rover buyers a proper van option...

 

[St.Jude]

Great write up @Heavyspanners

[Dan302]

8 minutes ago, Heavyspanners said:

There's a lot of speculation on that thread about how the 4x4 Sherpa was created. In some ways they are quite mysterious vehicles, and not the close relatives to Land Rovers that might be assumed.

It would of course have been logical to kit the 4x4 Sherpa out with standard Land Rover underpinnings - but this is BL we're talking about, so logic didn't get a look-in.

Any Sherpa could be ordered as a 4x4. A fully built-up vehicle, straight off the normal production line, would be sent to a specialist converter, Newton Abbot Motors in Devon. They also made 4x4 vehicles for Ford, which resulted in the interesting spectacle of Sherpas and Transits side by side in the same factory (that's a Ford A Series, but there's a Transit in the background...)



Some say the front axle was a Land Rover item. I've also read that it was actually a modified Sherpa rear axle, shortened/lengthened to make the diff offset, and with mountings for Land Rover swivel balls welded on to the ends. That sounds like a roundabout way of doing it, but then, BL, logic, etc, etc...

The transfer box wasn't a Land Rover item. It was bought in from Dana, one of the main suppliers to Jeep. So the Freight Rover Sherpa 4x4 had a Jeep transfer box!

4x4 Sherpas normally used the standard Sherpa wheels, but I see the wheels on the Duke of Edinburgh's Sherpa are different....



This photo of a 4x4 Sherpa (from a Land Rover forum, posted in 2009) shows the same wheels as the Duke's mini bus. So were they some sort of option - larger diameter wheels? Where did they come from? Surely a small specialist vehicle converter in Newton Abbot wouldn't manufacture their own wheels?



The 4x4 Sherpas were killed off when it was belatedly decided that having an in-house competitor for Land Rover wasn't a good idea. But I wonder if another part of the reason was that the 4x4 Sherpas were better than Land Rovers in some respects. They had more ground clearance, a more normal driving position, and more load space.

In a different universe, maybe the 4x4 Sherpa range could have been properly integrated with the Land Rover range. It would certainly have given Land Rover buyers a proper van option...

 

Thanks for that it's an interesting read. 

I think they look awesome! You've got to love BL logic though.......

[grogee]

Thanks @Heavyspanners. Fascinating read. The mind boggles that these did not use straight carry-over Series hardware, although maybe the packaging forced that. 

Using the Austin Gypsy bits is crazy. Can you imagine Ford using Sierra parts on its latest Ranger truck?! My point being - the Gypsy was old/obsolete in the mid 80s, yet its parts were still considered 'parts bin' by BL. 

[Heavyspanners]

3 hours ago, grogee said:

Thanks @Heavyspanners. Fascinating read. The mind boggles that these did not use straight carry-over Series hardware, although maybe the packaging forced that. 

Using the Austin Gypsy bits is crazy. Can you imagine Ford using Sierra parts on its latest Ranger truck?! My point being - the Gypsy was old/obsolete in the mid 80s, yet its parts were still considered 'parts bin' by BL. 

There were no Austin Gypsy parts in any flavour of Sherpa.

Jeep, yes, but not Gypsy.

The 4x4 Sherpa used parts bought in from a Jeep supplier, but there was nothing in common with the Gypsy, which was long gone by the time the Sherpa came along.

The Austin Gypsy is interesting in itself. It was quite a sophisticated machine - far more so than the Land Rover (or the Sherpa). In a way it was related to the Mini - it had all-round independent suspension, which depended on the flexibility of rubber, designed by Alex Moulton.

The Gypsy suspension was nothing like the Mini (perhaps I'd better make that clear before anyone says "OMG! The Austin Gypsy had Mini suspension!") but it had rubber, and Alex Moulton, in common.

Look at all this - very clever, but perhaps too clever for its own good:

All that sophistication was the undoing of the Gypsy. Its intended buyers - farmers, military - didn't want sophistication. They wanted something basic which could be fixed with a hammer. So they bought Land Rovers instead.

 

[Heavyspanners]

The Duke of Edinburgh's Sherpa has vanished from FB Marketplace. OK, who's bought it?

I went looking for the ad again because it suddenly occurred to me that the wheels on it are actually not the same as that other 4x4 Sherpa, in the pic I posted above. They're not like any wheel I've seen on a Sherpa ever before.

Here's a wheel, snipped out of the pic I'd previously saved from the ad. What's that from...?



The Sherpa PCD is 5x5, which is pretty common - lots of wheels will theoretically fit as long as the offset is right.

 

[andy18s]

Few for sale over here,Uk plated one has been here a while ...

[R Lutz]

On 14/04/2026 at 23:06, goosey said:

around the Black Country these were known as Merry Hill Minis 

Wrong grille for '87. These used to go past my missus house. 

[R Lutz]

7 hours ago, Heavyspanners said:

There's a lot of speculation on that thread about how the 4x4 Sherpa was created. In some ways they are quite mysterious vehicles, and not the close relatives to Land Rovers that might be assumed.

It would of course have been logical to kit the 4x4 Sherpa out with standard Land Rover underpinnings - but this is BL we're talking about, so logic didn't get a look-in.

Any Sherpa could be ordered as a 4x4. A fully built-up vehicle, straight off the normal production line, would be sent to a specialist converter, Newton Abbot Motors in Devon. They also made 4x4 vehicles for Ford, which resulted in the interesting spectacle of Sherpas and Transits side by side in the same factory (that's a Ford A Series, but there's a Transit in the background...)



Some say the front axle was a Land Rover item. I've also read that it was actually a modified Sherpa rear axle, shortened/lengthened to make the diff offset, and with mountings for Land Rover swivel balls welded on to the ends. That sounds like a roundabout way of doing it, but then, BL, logic, etc, etc...

The transfer box wasn't a Land Rover item. It was bought in from Dana, one of the main suppliers to Jeep. So the Freight Rover Sherpa 4x4 had a Jeep transfer box!

4x4 Sherpas normally used the standard Sherpa wheels, but I see the wheels on the Duke of Edinburgh's Sherpa are different....



This photo of a 4x4 Sherpa (from a Land Rover forum, posted in 2009) shows the same wheels as the Duke's mini bus. So were they some sort of option - larger diameter wheels? Where did they come from? Surely a small specialist vehicle converter in Newton Abbot wouldn't manufacture their own wheels?



The 4x4 Sherpas were killed off when it was belatedly decided that having an in-house competitor for Land Rover wasn't a good idea. But I wonder if another part of the reason was that the 4x4 Sherpas were better than Land Rovers in some respects. They had more ground clearance, a more normal driving position, and more load space.

In a different universe, maybe the 4x4 Sherpa range could have been properly integrated with the Land Rover range. It would certainly have given Land Rover buyers a proper van option...

 

I can't evidence this, but the Sherpa 4x4 used some Austin 3-litre parts. Hubs, drivelines, something. I sadly can't remember. 

[500tops]

3 hours ago, Heavyspanners said:

The Duke of Edinburgh's Sherpa has vanished from FB Marketplace. OK, who's bought it?

I went looking for the ad again because it suddenly occurred to me that the wheels on it are actually not the same as that other 4x4 Sherpa, in the pic I posted above. They're not like any wheel I've seen on a Sherpa ever before.

Here's a wheel, snipped out of the pic I'd previously saved from the ad. What's that from...?



The Sherpa PCD is 5x5, which is pretty common - lots of wheels will theoretically fit as long as the offset is right.

 

This appears to be quite a decent likeness

 

[500tops]

Ford Cortina Bakkie rims appear to be 5x5. If Fords and Sherpas were being converted alongside each other, who knows?

 

Ford Cortina ‘Bakkie’ V6 Pickup For Sale By Auction https://share.google/PH3Lhs3OhNPPpjpDR

[goosey]

1 hour ago, R Lutz said:

Wrong grille for '87. These used to go past my missus house. 

Probably rebuilt with parts from another one, their depot used to be up by the Merry Hill Shopping Centre they used to have a few  of them in their yard that had been stripped for parts to keep others going 

[Heavyspanners]

6 minutes ago, 500tops said:

This appears to be quite a decent likeness

That's interesting. A Ford Cortina P100 pickup wheel. Possibly a South African design, because that's where the P100 originated. I don't think any other Fords in the UK got that type of wheel.

Here's another one, taken from this pickup on the Matthewsons website:



And here's a P100 in full:

I've never seen any other Sherpas with those wheels. Were they an option offered by the 4x4 conversion company - after all, they did work on Fords, too?  Or possibly they were a modification by the Duke of Edinburgh himself, because he wanted his ride to have some sick rims, bro.

 

[catsinthewelder]

The only thing he could find that would fit at U-pull at 4pm on a Saturday. 😛

[Heavyspanners]

I was just taking a sweep through Farcebook Marketplace, and I met an old friend...



It's the very early LDV van I spotted on FB Marketplace back in March, at that time being sold by someone in Bath with an asking price of £1,300.

The original ad is still up - here it is:



Now it's being sold by somebody in Abingdon for £1,000.

It seems it was bought by a flipper, and the flip is now in progress. As the price has now gone down, that suggests the flipper bought it from the original seller at a hefty discount. I bet it sold for about £500 in the end. Still, it means that the van is back on the market at a cheaper price than it was originally, so at £1,000 it would be a win-win for both buyer and flipper.

It would be nice if it could find a proper owner, rather than getting stuck in an endless flip-loop. But it's out of MOT now, so that will knock a few quid off. I'd be tempted to try an offer of about £700....



 

[TMP_319]

I note that the new listing neglects to picture the giant scratch down the left hand side.

 

On the subject of old adverts with useless pictures, it seems that the van which started this thread has resurfaced as well

 https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1486782436324699?ref=search&referral_code=null&referral_story_type=post&tracking=browse_serp%3Ab7c07c50-507a-4688-b06d-3d1db02cc2be
 

[grogee]

20 hours ago, Heavyspanners said:

I was just taking a sweep through Farcebook Marketplace, and I met an old friend...



It's the very early LDV van I spotted on FB Marketplace back in March, at that time being sold by someone in Bath with an asking price of £1,300.

The original ad is still up - here it is:



Now it's being sold by somebody in Abingdon for £1,000.

It seems it was bought by a flipper, and the flip is now in progress. As the price has now gone down, that suggests the flipper bought it from the original seller at a hefty discount. I bet it sold for about £500 in the end. Still, it means that the van is back on the market at a cheaper price than it was originally, so at £1,000 it would be a win-win for both buyer and flipper.

It would be nice if it could find a proper owner, rather than getting stuck in an endless flip-loop. But it's out of MOT now, so that will knock a few quid off. I'd be tempted to try an offer of about £700....



 

Shirley 80% of the target market for that van are on this thread... Niche doesn't come close! That is an ambitious flip. 

I'd give it a couple of weeks and offer him £600...

[High Jetter]

Isn't that a (semi) high roof?

[Heavyspanners]

9 hours ago, High Jetter said:

Isn't that a (semi) high roof?

Yes, it became the standard roof round about 1987.  For a while the low roof and the semi-high roof were offered as options, but fewer people were buying the low roof vans so it was discontinued in the end. The big Sherpas (which eventually became the LDV Convoy) always retained the low roof option.

 

[goosey]

a couple of crew cabs off to the crusher sadly 

[Joey spud]

 

[Westbay]

17 minutes ago, Joey spud said:

 

"Jaws" practice peice 😂

[500tops]

867 miles 

 

https://ebay.us/m/eUgGF7

 

 

[grogee]

6 minutes ago, 500tops said:

867 miles 

 

https://ebay.us/m/eUgGF7

 

 

Hot Sherpa action. £12k.

On the one hand, HFM?! On the other hand, imagine you wanted to restore one... You'd soon run past that if you were welding and spraying body (properly) and refurbing engine. 

Would. 

[fatmanblue]

Very difficult to value but strangely tempting at £12k. I wonder what the back story is?

It'll be interesting to see what it actually sells for, given that 12 large is the lower end estimate.

[Yoss]

Saw this on my delivery a couple of weeks ago then completely forgot about it. 

You can still make out the lettering for A2B Express Travel, a local private hire company. They were still using these long after it was probably sensible to do so. I mean it was probably only a couple of years ago I was still seeing them regularly. It occurred to me recently that I hadn't seen any for a while and assumed they had gone so it's nice to see at least one has survived. It probably is a temporary step before the scrapyard beckons so let's enjoy it while we can.