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.