Another camper van on ebay

Or this one. It reminded me of the broom that has only had twenty handles and fourteen heads.

'Recently had a reconditioned engine, so not sure about the correct milage, new radiator, clutch kit, fuel filter, water pump, cam belt, timing belt, inlet manifold and manifold exhaust, new thermastat housing, new internal water taps in bathroom. I have receipts to prove this.'

191242486615

I wondered what the smell was... I'm glad my tetanus shots are up to date.

Heh!

They weren't even a good van when they were new. The front track is narrower than the rear by about 8 inches, making for 'interesting' handling. The over-long gear lever moves about 18 inches for-and-aft, and about one inch left-to-right. It makes 2nd to 3rd gear changes tricky as you tend to 'catch' 1st. As a result, knackered 'boxes were common.

Chris

Just in case you thought the other one was bad.

181468254656

Steve

I was almost tempted to ask the vendor how long was the MOT?

A full year from the last test...

...unfortunately, that was in 1983.

They were minging, altogether. Out of a very bad bunch of vans, the JU, J4, Commer, the Commer was the worst I drove. The horribleness was compounded by the knowledge that a Transit could have been bought instead - this was in 1978/9 and the van was only 3 years old, so the Transit had been in production for a decade and more. Why anyone bought these heaps of shit, I don't know.

[...]

It would be fairer to compare the Commer with the Bedford CA, and the Ford Thames however; they were from similar eras. Both of those suffered with only having a 3-speed gearbox, and the Thames didn't even have synchro first, making it a pig to drive in hilly areas when loaded. The CA didn't come with a heater. The Thames effectively had no wipers when going uphill.

The Commer was 4-speed, with a heater as standard, and electric wipers, so almost luxurious!

At a time when any vehicle with no window behind the driver's door was limited to 40mph, I suppose performance wasn't considered important.

Chris

No, not really.

Those Commers were built until 1982. The Transit was launched in 1965, 17 years of overlap. By 1982, the Mk2 had been in production four years. The CF was launched in 1969, 13 years of overlap.

The only reason the Commer continued in production for so long was because of the contract they had with the Post Office; it was not really viable after about 1970.

Try start dates for a better comparison; the Commer was 1960, the Thames

1957. Another way would be to look at the heritage of the power (FSVO power!) plants used.

I based my view on what was in regular use on the roads in the mid- sixties.

FWIW, I owned both a Commer and a CA as motorcycle race transport, and did a lot of miles in them. I drove quite a few Thames vans also, but never owned one. Overall, the CA was the least horrible, although it was the slowest.

Chris

BMC kept a couple of Vans long past their sell date too, The A35 was still available in 1968 ,I think one of the gas boards had the them as a fleet vehicle. And the larger Cambridge van was made up to 1973 and unlike the Cambridge Car the Van retained the original 1950's shape for the front end albeit with the occasional grill change.

G.Harman

Fine. So the Thames was launched three years before the Commer, which was launched five years before the Transit.

I'd agree with that - of that generation, the CA was the best, until the Transit appeared. Which only goes to show how horrible the rest were. The CF was a brave stab at rivalling the Transit and worked quite well, but the boneheaded decision to have a semi in-cab/ semi under-floor engine scuppered it, imo. That idea should have been left behind with the CA, where it belonged. I quite liked the CF, but later ownership of various Trannies converted me to them, even historically.

Holy crap....that's quite the beater.

But listen, it says that's a 1978? It looks more like a '68...what were they....A100's?

Wow, the dash looks 78'ish...weird.

Cool that the steering wheel's on the wrong side. (Which means I'm not from the UK.)

I had a '74 mail Jeep (a DJ-5) with the wheel on the wrong side, the door pulled back, instead of out. Looked like a box with a half a Jeep on the front. Not sure if you had those there. I rebuilt it with a small block Chevy, TH400 trans, dual exhaust, small lift, 30 in tires, custom interior. I'd buy another one in an instant if I could find one local.

Right now, I've got a 1965 Chevy shorty van I'm rebuilding...one of those long-term slow-going deals.

It's right hand drive...

Tim