No frills! 2003 LDV Convoy with Ford 2.4 Duratorq tested 

That brings back traumatic memories of school trips on knackered old LDVs driven by inexperienced teachers! This one looks much better than the ones I suffered.

When ever I see a mini bus spec I think back to my childhood watching my favourite program balamory

I drove thousands of miles in various versions of the Sherpa during my previous life in the Met Police 🙂 In the early 80s, as part of the then mandatory support for the ailing Leyland, the Met went completely BL, ditching the then superior handling and more spritely Mk2 Transit. So we had Metros, Rover SD1s, Allegros, Ambassadors and Maestros/Montegos etc. The Sherpa's handling during high speed blue light calls was erm... Interesting? The back end was seriously light and bouncy. One workaround we employed was to place bags of sand under the rear bench seats - This helped, but the thing always suffered from the narrow and dated J3 floorpan/roof dimensions and suspension. Having said all of that, they were fun and very predictable, in their own way, despite at times feeling like a derailed railway carriage! 🙂

I hadn’t realised what nostalgia I had for these from my childhood. The rattles when you got up to speed and the low end engine rumble are so familiar! Of course at the time I didn’t realise I was witnessing the end of the British original car industry, but with hindsight I’m glad I got to see some of it. Fondly remember all the Royal Mail vans too.

I think I'm correct in saying that these LDV vans in the UK are the most reliable vans on the road. I love vans like this as they are the epitome of simplicity and are seriously rugged and I've seen some older ones of these over the years and they were rotten as a pear but still soldiered on. Amazing vans and equally amazing video Mr Hubnut! :D

Had many vehicles in my time but none that have been such a pleasure as one of these. Did UK to Bulgaria and back 8 times one year and it never missed a beat. If I could find a mint one tomorrow I would happily buy it.

Loving the old Van content! Your knowledge of all these vehicles is impeccable!

My Army unit had a Sherpa mini-bus in the late '70s and it was regularly used for the short journey between Chertsey and Aldershot across the Pirbright ranges. Although it went like stink, even with a few passengers on board, it would bounce all over the road and in the wet, it was lethal!

I lived in the London area in 2003-05. These were everywhere back then! I bet they're becoming rare now.

"Not the most refined package... but it does the job!"would make a good T-shirt for the merch store.

Ahh yes the convoy. I remember very well living in a small village in Wales being picked up by one of these by the local school every morning which was 4 miles away. I remember it being quite comfortable to sit in and was the embodiment of a working van really. The local school liked theirs so much I saw it still in service until at least 2012-2013, and I think only stopped using it because of fuel consumption and becoming more green. I think that's a testament to how reliable and beloved the convoy was.

Takes me back to the Royal Mail days in the late 90's/2000's When I was a driver with the Company. I think I was about the only one in the delivery office who had a soft spot for both convoy and pilot vans. Others would moan on about how basic they were but my argument was " It's a workhorse, it doesn't need to be fancy ". Cheers Ian for a little trip down memory lane.

The last ones had a Ford 2.5 Diesel engine. Always thought it bizarre that Ford sold running gear to what was probably their greatest competitor in the UK at the time. Every Convoy sale was a lost Transit sale and LDV sold a lot of these. Well priced, good warranty (4yr two decades ago!) and loyal following from what I believe LDV called 'knowledgeable' van buyers.

Now this is a reason why I enjoy this channel so much: all the quirky UK-DM stuff that we never ever got here in Sweden. We are geographically so close, but man, is that an exotic sight or what!? Keep the UK oddballs coming! 👌

A Transit and then a Convoy?! The content just keeps getting better!

When I was a lad my school somehow had a V8 400 minibus alongside a more conventional diesel version that was used more regularly. I only got the opportunity to go out in the V8 once and I was so excited when we did, sadly none of my class mates shared my vehicular nerdiness so it was a moment I kept to myself for the most part.

There are still quite a lot of these LDV vans on the road today. I always liked the style of them. My local garage has a Recovery Truck version of it, which is in regular use for tow ins. Loved this informative video.

Served my apprenticeship on those and the older Peugoets diesel versions. I preferred over the transit. Ldvs with the transit motor were fantastic. It's odd that the mini LDV buses I was going on school trips in were still being used when I served my apprenticeship as a mechanic at the council working on the same mini buses I rode in as a kid. Forever freeing off caliper pistons. They have flaws but I adore them and the earlier sherpa vans J4 also.

I travelled a lot of miles in Sherpas, Pilots and Convoys...all painted a certain shade of red. I had a real fondness for their simplicity, ruggedness, reliability and general usability. Great machines, great channel, great fun.

I remember seeing a lot of these during the 2000s when I was a kid, now you barely see them anymore

Up until a few years ago I used to work in schools and drove a variety of vans of various vintages (I say vans, minibuses in truth, but vans was pleasingly alliterative.) Mostly Transits, but also bigger and more modern auto Mercs, LDV Convoys/Pilots and, yes, a Maxus! I used to like getting the LDVs, mostly because of the rush of nostalgia when opening the doors as they used the same internal door handles as my Dad's Morris Landcrab in the 70s. On school trips the kids were always slightly bemused by me insisting on calling their bus a Sherpa...

I had an LDV Convoy hi high top. It had the Pug engine in it and was as hard as nails. I ran it from the south of England to the south of France for ten years+ and it never broke down. I run a Transit these days, a very good van but I still miss my LDV.

Shame it’s not got the banana engine of the Transit! They always seemed even louder and more agricultural in the LDV’s

The ubiquitous J4, loved by the police and the Mail. Sticking the new nose on the front end always reminded me of the trick they tried with the Mini Clubman. A bit like the late Queen these vehicles appear to have been around my entire life and I was once interviewed in the back of one that was painted a very dark blue, with a matching light in its roof.

The National Trust used to use LDV's as minibuses. I remember being in them on working holidays.

Oh you were just near us. The butchers next to The Wagon of Lime is great and has excellent pork pies. If you like that sort of thing.

This brought back so many memories of various vehicles in various jobs, including a V8 ambulance with manual gearbox

I remember when I attended boys brigade as a kid , in Scarborough , they had a blue one these , the long wheel base 16 seater high roof minibus version

The sound of school trips in the mini buses, my school had 2-3 of them

Always had a soft spot for Convoys. Having driven a couple to various events, they are surprisingly fun to drive and like you said, very characterful!

Another great review. Nothing is wrong with old technology.

I used to drive these at work. (Ex postman). The smaller versions always felt a bit "too tall for its wheelbase" for want of a better description. The ones with the slightly wider wheelbase felt much safer and more stable to me.

One of these was my old schoolbus. It had algae on the inside of the windows, you could see the road through the rear doors, the engine sounded like it was going to explode all the time, (unless idling, when it would work like one of those intermittent detonation stationary engines, shaking the bus), and from 2nd gear onward an ear-splitting scream would come from the diff, meaning most journeys were spent with my fingers firmly lodged in my hearing holes. As far as I could tell, it had bricks where the suspension should have been. Every day I wished it would die, but it never did.

I subscribed to you after your trip in a camper version of this vehicle just before the world went mad with COVID.😉

Love these quirky reviews. The sort of vehicles that blended almost invisibly into the damp grey winter murk backdrop of midlands motorway driving in the 80’s / 90’s that now become suddenly quite enthralling … nice historical review too …

We got a great big Convoy, rockin' through the night. We got a great big Convoy, ain't she a beautiful sight?

Fondness for these and the Sherpa from back in the day. Who needs glamour!

Looks quite modern with the digital mileage reading. Proper van shape and probs simple to fix unlike modern vans.

Love the Convoys.

Maxus is one of several well-known brands under the parent company SAIC, based in China. After acquiring LDV in 2010, SAIC manufactured these LCVs under the MAXUS moniker for the home market in China and select left-hand drive markets in Europe such as Spain, Belgium and The Netherlands.

My secondary school had one. It nailed being the loudest yet slowest van on the road. I really like them as they are so flawed.

I have a DAF400 and i absolutely love it

Post office loved them because the beam axle meant you could smash them into the curb and not wreck tracking

Something refreshingly traditional about this one…you really ought to have one.

Driven a few of these and it's sisters back in the day. Massively underrated imho. Nice to see this survivor still doing a job.

Littlewoods Group ran a large fleet of LDV Vans, with their 'Home Express' mail order catalogue delivery arm, the 200's with sliding driver's door, and passenger seat removed to allow the Driver easy access to the rear load area, and to hop out to throw the parcel onto a doorstep. They did a ridiculous number of drops each day if memory serves me correctly, albeit in a small geographical area. In 1994, they launched their 'Business Express' Next Day delivery arm, and I managed to land a job with them at the Corby depot. We had a fleet of hire vans initially, before a fleet of brand-new 400's arrived, I was given M439LOA. These were fitted with a Peugeot 2.5 L Turbo Diesel, and once the turbo cut in, they were a bit of a flyer. Some of my fellow drivers thought they were at Silverstone, I recall one coming in, (think it was M441LOA), for 'poor brakes', the Mechanic put it on the ramp and took the drums off, I have never seen anything likeit before or since. The shoes were completely gone, worn away, to the extent the ends of the pistons were wearing where they were making contact with the drums. How the piston's had not left the cylinders, dumping the brake fluid I will never know. The Next Day side of things took off better than expected and soon came to a crunch. Either Littlewoods needed to pump more money in to provide the required vehicles to keep up with demand, or scrap the idea. Sadly, they scrapped the idea, the vans went over to the Mail Order side and I found myself looking for another job in the Spring of 1995.

As a young fella I drove a 1987 Sherpa, 4 speed with an overdrive, even then they where old skool. You where steering it even on a straight road, it used to wonder about the place :-), ex royal mail.

The company van that picked us up each morning was a late 70's Sherpa, with two rows of benches in the back. The driver and passengers in the front had the luxury of observing the road as the floor-wells slowly decomposed over the years. The wipers didn't suffer with a triangle of doom, as most of the time they just plainly refused to operate, and clearing the screen was achieved by getting some speed up and letting the wind clear the water away!

I hired a box van version acouple of time. It was terrible in many ways but the gearchange was great and I managed to max it downhill at maybe 75mph which was terrifying. I liked them.

When i was in school, my primary school used to have one of these. This LDV was also featured on a childrens program called balamory.

You know, they did bloody well really, they dragged the basic design for these kicking and screaming from the 70's into the 21st century. And given that it was hardly what you'd call "cutting edge" even in the 70's, that's going some...

This has truely made my Day! An LDV Convoy, Love them or Hate them, I certainly Love them! Spent Many Many Miles in the Back of one of these. It's strange saying this about a Van, But I miss these Things. Sure the Transit Gets all the Credit, LDV's Cheap to buy and no worse or Better than a Transit. Infact, Given the Option I would go LDV. They are Just Epic in alot of ways.

My Dad needed a cheap workhorse and bought a 1994 one of these in 1999, it was full of rust even then. You forgot to mention the brand lives on as they were bought by a Chinese company. The Maxus is a popular van there and also in Australia too. I believe they sell them in the UK too.

I had a Pilot, Long wheelbase and XL wheelbase over the years. They were cheap, simple to work on and er.....cheap. I loved 'em! They were about as secure as an old garden shed and the XL was frightening to drive at speed when unladen but they were tough. It was also cheap! I love the van stuff, if you are in London at anytime you can give my old Talbot Express Camper at blast. It's about 95% original.

This has more doors than the last one you drove on the channel, literally

The LDV nameplate, at least, lives on. The IP was sold to SAIC in Shanghai; vans with LDV branding are reasonably frequent on the roads in Auckland now. I did a double take when I first saw a dealer for them, because I'd remembered the brand as long deceased, but here they are again--is it too soon to say, reborn like a phoenix?

Nice to see another commercial vehicle 👍

Thanks Ian! Reminds me of my old Pilot I used as a taxi around 20 years ago. (Ex-MoD minibus) Had a night off and my driver told me an interesting tale, he'd been with another bus on the firm to pick a bunch of squaddies on a stag weekend. One saw it outside the hotel and ran to the other bus and got one of the other lads to swap places with him. Apparently the last Pilot he'd travelled in had gone round a roundabout and tipped over..

Ever since the Spy who loved me I've always had a soft spot for the Sherpa.

Thanks Ian, this is another van that I also remember well, the LDV and it’s predecessor the Freight Rover 300 with the Peugeot 505 Diesel engine I believe, they didn’t seem very quick, in fact a bit sluggish, so when they got the Ford Engines they were much better. Our old comprehensive school had a pair of old Petrol Ford Transits from the 80’s but then they splashed out and replaced them with a pair of LDV Convoys(a bit after my time at the school though). As you said, they were simple vans, and that’s probably why they were favoured by the Royal Mail and Councils due to purchase price and servicing costs. You don’t see many about now, certainly not many in fleet use. They’re also thin enough on the ground to warrant a higher used price as well now. Great video again, thanks.👍

I remember these vans being popular with the Police in the 1990's and coming with both rows of benches for riot police and with a cell in the back part for criminal storage. I hored one on an occasion to move furniture and remeber the Luton Van model i had as being very bouncy when not fully loaded. These vans were everywhere in the 1980's and 90's, but usually always second place to the more succesful Transit. Great couple of van videos you just made Ian, thanks for the trip down memory land of my youth in the UK. Warmest greetings from Copenhagen.

Love this old van!

Hymn of Royal Mail mechanics. 'Lord don't you buy them Mercedes-Benz, let them drive Sherpa's they're easier to mend'.

What a treat HubNut and a great new tack to your video content. Thank you 👍

when i was in junior school (i think i'm showing my lack of age here) my school had a convoy from new, think it was a t reg, that was the school's only minibus. when they got a transit to go alongside it, my fellow classmates swarmed to that and would often scoff at the poor ldv. I always preferred it though; it was noisy, smelly and constantly driven within an inch of its life just to get to the speed of surrounding traffic. wouldnt mind one as the basis of a camper project one day.

I drove a lot of miles in these in use as support vehicles for a certain Police Service. Great to drive, surprisingly comfortable and capable of carrying heavy loads (dual rear wheel version). We even had an automatic model with the Land Rover V8 engine, which was fun when empty!

I used to drive a yellow P reg Convoy with the Peugeot engine. Loved it

Another great van review Ian, we used to travel in the older version of this at school.

The convoy was the underdog.......and well all love an underdog Personally I think the facelift had a handsome look to it

I had one as a works van. R reg crew bus with 4 back seats, and 3 front. With a boxed in rear. Had a long range fuel tank that would hold 140 litres. I loved them. I also owned an LDV200 not long after.

I used to work for a company that converted these vans to automatic in the 90s they came to us straight from the factory. They did go better 😎👍

Ah, drove one of these for many years as an emergency ambulance. 3.5V8 and no brakes, questionable handling. They had air suspension at the rear, but the bones of the chassis were prehistoric, so maybe the 2 halves argued? Did my blue light training in the basic LDV minibus - but they had the older, clattery, ford transit boat anchor - and I remember the instructor booming about going faster and overtaking cars. I could only dream of the smooth, turbo powerhouse seen in this one.

Loving the commercial reviews 🙂

Ah many a school trips taken in one of these back in the day. Takes me back.

I have a soft spot for these vans - a peat bog in the west of Ireland! I have to qualify that by saying the first early model examples I drove at work were already very much clapped out when I was handed the keys, and this very much coloured my view of even less clapped out ones that came along later! Also, I had one whose wiring went on fire while driving along. I later regretted not leaving the keys in the ignition and it continuing to burn, because the workshops only went and fixed it! So I got to drive again a van I didn't really like which also smelled funny!

Great video Ian 👍 being in my late 20's now, our school bus was an LDV Convoy and brings back alot of memories. Keep up the good videos mate 👍

I like the LDVs in a nostalgic way, the trouble is when they were new, I would not have purchased one, over its rivals, unless they were practically giving it away. I remember at school, there were two minibuses available for sports teams etc, 1 a Transit, the other a LDV Convoy, if you didn't get in the Transit, you felt a bit deflated!

Great review on this LDV Van, I remember these by used by the post office, still had that distinctive Sherpa shape to them..nice to see one preserved, best wishes.

I remember you drove a similar van a few years ago Ian, that was a good one too.

Our college had a few high top LDV Convoy minibuses. So dated but kept going.

I adore these things, fond memories my'89 300.

Love this video👍👍

Brilliant video,I must admit to liking the ldv vans,a proper " Hubnut vehicle " .

Had quite a few adventures in a J4 van, and so always had affection for the marque!

My memory of driving LDV minibuses in 2002-4 was how horrendously slow they were when fully laden and how much they hated hills. That said, an empty one was a lot of fun

Wonky steering boxes apart I bloody loved these !!

HubNut goes commercial and I’m loving it. The Transit video made me realise how long it has been since I have seen one in the wild. Hello from New Zealand.

Let's not forget that Land Rover also used that 2.4 lump in the later Defender pumas. Easily spotted with the huge bulge in the bonnet needed to clear the top of the engine

Back in the 90's we had the model before this for our day trips out at school..never failed to do the job from what I remember..Good times.

Love the van fest , we had two transit mini buses one with a 1600 cc petrol, used to flash the trucks in when travelling up the M40 ! Very comfortable though

Enjoyed this, they also made a version in Turkey I believe. Great to see people keeping things like this alive.

We ran a few of the Sherpa 300 crew cab pick ups in the Falkland Islands when I was working there for Turner GCMS in the mid 90’s Ours were running Land Rover diesel engines of that era. They were rugged and simple….perfect as a work vehicle in that environment…..yet surprisingly smooth to drive even in that early form.

Greetings from Nevada USA. Same front axle-leaf springs-king pin configuration as my 1959 GMC pickup 👍 Great video!

Got to love the old LDV 400 or Convoy. Had 3000kg in the back often and you couldn't tell.

Thanks for the interesting history on this family of vans. We have these here in New Zealand and I have often wondered where they came from.

My friend used to work at a automotive plastics firm and he gave me a grill badge for one of those hot off the press ,I still have it 😎

Hey Ian I'm loving this journalistic reach into the light commercial vans of yesteryear as these vehicles although somewhat agricultural were the backbone of the logistical world that kept things running in all walks of life & yes some folks on here will be slating the hell out of them but the fact is that they did a dam good job. Well done sir hubnut 👍

Drive these a few times at university - we hired them from Sixt Kenning for the walking club and took groups all over the U.K. - loved driving them!

Another fabulous video, and I must confess to absolutely adoring these vans. I’ve had many Sherpas, Freight Rovers and LDVs. Absolute favourite was the FR 200 with the superb Perkins DI engine. My final one was a factory stretched 400 chassis cab which we made into a beautiful car transporter. I received so much stick for not having a Sprinter or the like, but it did the job so well and I loved it ☺️.

Now this is what I call a proper van. Pretty sure LDVs had a bit of a rust issue, but proper vans non the less. Were they part of British Leyland?