Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[clan chieftain]

British Leyland must come close with the J2 the J4 and the EA. The PB Commer was murder to work on as well. We had them all in the GPO.
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The Clan Chieftain

[Salopian]

No experience of the EA but the J2 and J4 were truly awful in every way. The Commer however I thought even worse if that were possible. The first Transits in 1964-5 were streets ahead. The 1968 Transit I bought when I was running a couple of Guy six wheelers on brick haulage in 1970 was brilliant although the V4 was not a good engine and the then diesel not the best.
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Jonathan Butler
Alvis SD 12/50 1928 MG TD 1950

[Riley Blue]

I once borrowed a Commer and had to do an emergency stop. The back wheels must have lifted a foot off the ground!

[Minxy]

Years ago I had a Commer PB with a factory fitted auto box
The auto box coupled with the PB's 'unusual' drive made it rather interesting.

[47p2]

I was in my local Rootes dealers which was Andersons of Newton Mearns one day watching the salesman using an aerosol can to spray the front valance of a brand new Commer campervan as the paint was falling off it.


Worst vans for me to drive were Sherpas
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ROVER
One of Britain's Fine Cars

[Kenham]

Well I must say I drove many miles in my J4 van with no problems other than a few suspension bushes now and again. You had to grease the vehicle regularly which a lot of people find hard or the king pins wore out quickly. I found it a very good van and a lot better than the V4 Transit that replaced it. I dont think I ever drove it for more than a week without it breaking down. I must say I did like the Mk1Transit but those V4 engines were about the worst thing ever made by Ford, I could have the head off and change a head gasket in a very short space of time. We planed heads ,changed heads tried different makes of gaskets but no way could you keep water in the dammed thing,two days after I sold it it caught fire on the M20, best thing it ever did! I then had one with a Perkins 4108 which would not pull a greasy man out of bed, another wonder from Ford (I wondered why I bought it). The J4 was much better in my experience although the Transit I had with the 1600 crossflow engine was a good van although it rusted away before your eyes and of course it was a few years after the J4. Saying that I would like to have all of them now, Ken

[V8 Nutter]

The worst van I ever drove was a split screen Volks Wagen, just to keep it straight I had to keep moving the steering wheel like they do in old time movies.
EA's had so many mods it was almost impossible to get parts that would fit first time or without altering something else.
Many years ago a friend of mine drove a J4 across the Sahara Desert and back without any problems. Needless to say he was a total eccentric.
I found V4's could be troublesome but once you got right the 2 litre would certainly pull well

[Bitumen Boy]

No direct experience - in fact I don't think I've ever seen one - but I've come across horror stories of the Standard Atlas vans before now, does anyone remember those?

[RUSTON]

[Penman]

Hi
If we go a little heavier, to the old 3 ton unladen (now7.5 tonne GVW), I remember driving a threepenny bit cabbed box van, approaching some T/lights just round a bend, in the wet and unladen; the lights changed, I braked blinked and found myself facing back where I had come from and neatly parked at the side of the road.

As a contrast the Ford D series that we had at the same time were a dream to drive.
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Bristols should always come in pairs.

Any 2 from:-
Straight 6
V8 V10

[47p2]

The threepenny bit BMC 550FG that my then employer had were terrible, freezing cold in the winter, roasting hot in the summer, always breaking down and bursting injector pipes
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ROVER
One of Britain's Fine Cars

[colwyn500]

I am seeing a lot of thumbs up for Ford. I wonder did anyone ever try a Ford P100 pickup? I think mine had the 1600 petrol engine; you reallly needed a tank the size of the pickup bed if you had any size of load, but then the cab seemed to take up half the vehicle anyway.

It must have been deigned for use in the desert, I think it was made in South Africa; there seemed to be no rust-proofing at all. In fact they had used was very little paint under the vehicle.

Mine was anly 5 years old but I had to replace the petrol tank, the rear chassis cross-member and I remember removing the few good bolts that secured the pickup body, going to the scrapyard and driving home without it. The new one I made out of thick timber and steel did nothing for the fuel economy.

Probably collectable now!

[clan chieftain]

There is a J4 van on ebay needing a clutch and a tidy up. Looks as if its a camper as it has a pop up roof but there are no photos of the inside. Not the worst.
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The Clan Chieftain

[Ellis]