I used to love the space in the LDV minibuses when I was at school. The school driver preferred using these than the Ford Transit (1990) which was smaller and tight on space. Back in 90s-2005 Ldv vans/buses were a very common sight on UK roads popular with schools and many large businesses. They must of been doing something right. How did they fold, what went wrong? Sad to see yet another thriving British manufacturer killed off. I always thought that their vehicles were well equipped, ie. minibus had stereo speakers front and at rear for passenger enjoyment. Interiors were well thought out and spacious compared to it's rivals. Real shame, with some investment could have been built better and with stronger engines and become a class leading product easily.
It was probably Tony blear with the sell of British brand scheme and give out countries money to foreign owned company's I'll look into it But most UK brands closed down when Tony blear changed from exporting UK made products into exporting UK jobs and companies.
I spent 15 years of my working life driving these vans for the Royal Mail they were great mine always started first time even better when LDV put in power steering in the revamped sherpa 200 or pilot its bigger the 400 bother was better to drive and mine was converted into crew carrier I had six posties their bikes and mail bags second mail bags to drop of to my posties later on their walks in my 400 taking them to thier delivery walks Happy Days
Quite a helpful vid, some good shots of one with the high roof being fitted. Should help me visualise before I tackle the many jobs required to tidy up my Convoy bus before adding a few camper fixtures. Not too many horrors found, yet...glad I bought a welder last year though!
The Convoy has different engines depending on the year. It started out with the 2.5 litre Peugeot Diesel (or optional turbo Diesel) carried over from the 400, then in about 1998 it switched to the Mk5 Ford Transit 2.5 Di _banana_ engine, then in about 2001 it switched again to the Mk6 Ford Transit 2.4 Duratorq (turbo as standard, but optional intercooler).
The Maxus was a joint 50/50 LDV/Daewoo Poland product. LDV did most of the body and chassis development, Daewoo did the drivetrain and electrical work. So halfway there.
You know it really annoys me when I see the likes of Tescos, Sainburys, ASDA etc buying Merceces sprinter vans, these so called British organisations should be ashamed of themselves, maybe if they had bought LDVs they would still be around.
Hoping things will change after brexit maybe they will use British built vans but don`t think we make any now. Hopefully ford will be the main choice now. People who criticize these vans have obviously never took a Mercedes sprinter in for a main service and paid over £700 for a basic service and a cambelt change that does not need doing.
I travelled in the minibus version quite a lot as a kid. I remember going to Wales on a trip one year and this old thing was screeching its head off going up the hills. Massive inside though.
Lord almighty our local council used to use Convoy minibuses for a few rural services. They'd get you there but you needed to bring your own ear defenders!
The gap between the official management blurb and reality is as wide as it ever was and demonstrated here. In the early 90's I was tasked with introducing a track side just in time delivery system for small fix fasteners - how boring is that? What wasn't boring was turning up at Drews Lane in my old school Leeds Utd umbro training top to be greeted by what seemed to be the entire blues zulu firm and they remembered me from the 1985 battle of St Andrews it would appear. Great memories Great people Top lads on the tracks. Terrible management and even worse vans!
8:30 The wonderous clutch release arm pivot that wore a hole in the clutch arm of every Pilot given long enough 😂 (about 50k miles for mine) Still managed to drive it 40 miles home though, the best bit was trying not to stop, or you had to knock it out of gear, turn the engine off then start it with it already in first.
@MilibandDavid you wont see them in the breakers yards though, most are now being shipped abroad to eastern europe where a reliable work horse that is cheap as chips comes ahead of comfort and fancy gadgets.
Being an evolution of the leyland sherpa from 1974 which was cobbled together from 1960s era BMC vans it was extremely crude and dated especially by 2006 when they left production but seemed to be simple reliable workhorses albeit slow and uncomfortable
It's no surprise that they crashed like the Hindenburg. While they were reliable for the most part, the vehicles survived by being cheaper than other vans of the class. The collapse of Daewoo was the start of the end. The Maxus could have saved LDV for sure, however buying the assets of the shared development programme from Daewoo, shipping the tooling half way across Europe and then retooling the plant in a timescale which can only be described as impressive put them in the red and ate basically every penny of their cash flow, from there they didn't stand a chance. The first vans were barely off the line when the money ran out and they were brought out by a investment group who them sold them to a Russian vehicle company which was nearing financial collapse at the time they acquired LDV. What else could have happened? They were a lost cause. I wish they could have survived, you could see they wanted to make good products and they did what they could with a pitiful budget. The lads in the factory really tried. I drove many LDV vans over the years and while gruff and rough, they did the job. Apart from the Maxus....which because of the chronic underfunding of its development and LDV's money troubles and corner cutting meant it had too many rough edges. The one time I went to close the drivers door of a 3 week old Maxus and the whole door card fell off! The Electrics of the same van were constantly causing trouble too.....then it started leaking water through the bulkhead.....then the electric windows stopped working.....then it started to rust like crazy......then the wheels went porus....the list went on.
What kind of flaws does the 2004 convoy 90hp have, I have one I enjoy it but it's at 53k Miles bought it 6months ago and have had to change the flywheel and clutch, back brakes, left wheel bearing has been giving a lot of trouble so likely needs a who new hub and axle,.abs etc, the ignition barrel got stuck so that needs to be fixed, the air blew it's fuse and now after replacing only blows out cold so debating if it's a few bits to spend money on and then it will be right or if it will be a money pit 🤔 great for lack of rust to must have been stored indoors any insight greatly appreciated
£ for £ one of the best vans i ever had, i had 2xsmiley transits, an X reg Ducato, a brand new 04 Relay and a 53 plate sprinter 311cdi xlwb, to be seen it it had to be the £11,000 merc but returns per £ it was the Convoy (£1200)
All very nice... but i need an Adwest assisted steering block... the big one .. I am on the continent and my van has a peugeot engine. I am having trouble finding anyone who could recondition my steering block... do you have any contacts in France, please? Any ideas ?
Anyone on here know where I can get hold of a roof rack or roof bars for my 2004 LDV Convoy LWB High Top Minibus please ???? I cant find anyone or anything to fit , it could be that I buy a mk7 transit high top rack and add an extra 5" of metal in to the mounting brackets , mine need to be atleast 20" deep , thanks ladies and gents .
What kind of flaws does the 2004 convoy 90hp have, I have one I enjoy it but it's at 53k Miles bought it 6months ago and have had to change the flywheel and clutch, back brakes, left wheel bearing has been giving a lot of trouble so likely needs a who new hub and axle,.abs etc, the ignition barrel got stuck so that needs to be fixed, the air blew it's fuse and now after replacing only blows out cold so debating if it's a few bits to spend money on and then it will be right or if it will be a money pit 🤔 great for lack of rust to must have been stored indoors any insight greatly appreciated
@@tonentrace They're back, but from China now. ...and they did have Perkins Prima engines at one point. Very good it was too, between blowing head gaskets.
Mine used to leak front the vent in the roof, I took it out, cleaned it and put lashings of new sealant on when reinstalling it. Prone to leak from the edges too, on the forums lots reported completely removing the room and resealing it back to the gutter. Lengthy big job but well worth it
Ours came with a DIY skylight bodge from previous owner, we replaced that and stopped most leaks in the walls still need new seals for back doors for ours and its suffering badly with condensation currently as we are fixing it up before MOT, then it will be used on the road and as camper once its done.
What kind of flaws does the 2004 convoy 90hp have, I have one I enjoy it but it's at 53k Miles bought it 6months ago and have had to change the flywheel and clutch, back brakes, left wheel bearing has been giving a lot of trouble so likely needs a who new hub and axle,.abs etc, the ignition barrel got stuck so that needs to be fixed, the air blew it's fuse and now after replacing only blows out cold so debating if it's a few bits to spend money on and then it will be right or if it will be a money pit 🤔 great for lack of rust to must have been stored indoors any insight greatly appreciated
In Australia we never got the British built LDVs which obviously better built than the Chinese built LDV they are as with all Chinese built vehicles not the best build quality and on various British you tube channels the British built LDV vehicles are still around after all they were built in the 1980s but the Chinese built LDVs will not be around in 40 to 50 years time they will last about ten years were they have a tendency to rust and that doesn't happen in Australia rust hasn't been around for 30 years but Chinese built LDVs are rusting after we have very few roads if any are salted well my 27 year old Toyota Hilux only has a bit if surface rust and the lack of serious rust means in N.S.W we have a yearly registration inspection for light vehicles over 5 years old and my Hilux has never been failed for rust but when a 5 year Chinese built LDV will more then likely fail because of rust
i dont think drivers of British Gas and Royal mail liked them. transit's sprinters were way better loads of them is still on the road thats how good they are. cheap products arent good they should of always stuck with transits's sprinters etc.
They make ldv sound so good in this video but it's complete drivel! I own a Convoy, they're absolute crap! It's no wonder they went out of business, just like Rover and all the others, always cutting corners and churning out piles of crap!
