Peter Simpson meets a man with many Pilots…
I once heard someone describe driving an LDV Pilot back in the day as not dissimilar to staying in a Travelodge. Both did the job fine, but it was prety clear that someone else was paying!
When introduced as the Austin-Morris Sherpa in 1974, the van which would finally translate into the LDV Pilot was hardly cutting-edge. The van market had moved on dramatically in the 1960s due mainly to the all-conquering Ford Transit’s arrival in 1966. The Bedford CF of 1970 wasn’t universally approved-of due mainly to its belt-driven overhead camshafy. But it, too, was a more modern package and generally considered better. And by the time it had become the LDV Pilot in 1996, the former Sherpa wasn’t just like something from another age. It really was a 1970s throwback! It was a pretty-much totally price-driven purchase for the domestic UK market. Oh, and the revised frontal treatment that accompanied the change from LDV 200 to LDV Pilot was as much about meeting tighter pedestrian safety rules as modernising appearance.
Not all bad
It did, though, have one or two plus points. Being narrower than many rivals it could get down some alleyways and so on which they could not. The simple no-frills mechanical layout also appealed to some, along with the widespread use of tried and tested (albeit old) BL-era components. And finally, the LDV was quintessentially British. This, along with the price, appealed to publicly-owned authorities and water boards, plus the police and armed forces. They were also, of course, popular with the Post Office. Relatively few were bought by individual buyers. In short, it was a cheap van to do a job, but that was about it.
Nowadays, apart from caravanette conversions, LDV Pilots are rare. Most have rusted away or been worked into the ground. They do, though, have their fans. One such is Devon-based Andrew Leonard, who has assembled quite a collection.
In the beginning
This started with L793SAV, a 1993 Leyland DAF 200 with Perkins Prima diesel engine that was new to Anglian Water. This van was bought from a specialist dealer who had bought it from the water company – most likely via British Car Auctions in Peterborough. He kept it for 15 years – it was, apparently, the “dearest van I ever bought, but also the best.” Eventually, however, the 200 got to the stage where Andrew needed to replace it. Post sale it was restored to an extremely high standard and now lives alongside an equally well-restored 200 chassis-cab and a maestro van…
Andrew had, however, already got two replacements lined up. The first was 1996 Pilot P874LYD. This came from two builder-brothers based in Chard, Somerset. They’d owned it from new and it was the last in a succession of similar vans which started with J4s. When he initially enquired, the asking price was around twice what Andrew wanted to pay. So he left his offer on the table to be considered. Three months later his offer was accepted. This van has a Peugeot XUD engine, fitted when the Perkins engine stopped being available due to tightened emission regulations. Being indirect-injection, the XUD engine is quieter than the direct-injection Perkins unit, though the latter is more economical. It’s also, in Andrew’s opinion, “better than the Peugeot XUD, if you can cope with the smoke.”
The youngest PIlot
The other, younger Pilot registration WJ52JSZ, has the Peugeot DW8 engine – the last used in Pilots. It was new to Torbay District Council. Andrew suspects it may have been used for housing repair/maintenance. He bought it in 2010 from a chap based in Princetown, up on Dartmoor, following an advertisement in Autotrader, the principal attraction being the low mileage – just under 60,000. However once bought it was stored for ten years, due to the Leyland DAF still being available and then the arrival of the 1995 Pilot. The 1995 van also seemed in better condition, mainly because the later van’s roof guttering was very rusty, and Andrew suspected that this would be the typical difficult three-skin welding repair.
However, when he found time to look at it properly, he discovered that the guttering is one-piece and simply spot-welded on. He also found a complete set of replacements in his stock of parts. These had cost him £2.50 each, when the local dealer was having a clearout; a price too good to pass up! With that discovery, the old gutters were soon knocked off, and replacements spot-welded on. Then it was a case of removing the typical dents and similar minor damage which most working vans pick up, followed by repainting both sides.
This work, which resulted in the tidy van we see today, was all completed in 2020. Since then the van has been Andrew’s back-up, and still has only 62,000 miles on the clock. Most of its use has been local, though on one occasion Andrew did use it for a run up to Rush Green Motors in Hertfordshire. On this run it returned “high 30s” in terms of economy, and seemed happy enough to cruise at 70mph. Andrew has made one change to improve useability. The wire mesh that was behind the cab area has been replaced with a proper bulkhead taken from a rusty ex-Royal Mail van which he bought for spares. Incidentally, I have seen the aforementioned red van, and it really was beyond viable restoration.
Pair of pick-ups
The mailvan also came in handy when it came to restoring the next Pilot in the collection; 1997 R245UDV. This is a relatively recent acquisition, from a nursery in Exeter, where it was latterly being used to block off an area no longer in use, and prevent vandalism. Sadly though, the vandals had taken their frustration out on the pickup, and smashed everything they could within the cab. It came to Andrew’s attention via a mate who, apparently, spotted it while returning from a rugby match and immediately thought of Andrew!
Andrew made contact with the lady who owned the nursery. She made a note of his details and said she would be in touch. Three months on she still hadn’t, so Andrew phoned again. This time he was invited over to take a look. She agreed to sell, but then asked if he would also be interested in “the other one”, with a gentle hint that it might be a case of buying both or buying neither. It turned out to be a 1990 Leyland DAF 400 that was parked in a greenhouse. Andrew agreed, and though in need of restoration, it’s actually a very good starting point, having covered just 39,000 miles from new.
Initially, Andrew saw R245UDV as a spares donor. However, as often happens, he found that it was actually in better condition than at first thought. He also realised that he already had moist of the stuff needed to return it to the road. So it is now a sort-of background project. Interestingly – and perhaps somewhat optimistically – the paperwork describes it as a ‘Pilot Premium’ pick-up, though what luxuries it had to justify this certainly aren’t obvious! It might possibly be down to the Ingrimex dropside body. Though this was fitted at the LDV factory in Washford Heath, Andrew thinks a more basic type of dropside might also have been available.
Ongoing renovation
Anyway, the Pilot Premium started easily enough with a new battery and a few improvised wiring repairs. It is now back in running order having had much of the cab interior renewed using parts from the mailvan. Work to be done includes further cab renovation and, of course, a cab repaint.
And finally, we come to the grey LDV Pilot. This was under restoration at the time of our visit but has since been completed, albeit in slightly different form. R240WYD had probably been a cattle float from new, and was bought from a local farmer after being off the road for about four years. Renovation involved extensive welding to the cab, in particular the steps and floor. The initial plan was to keep it as a cattle wagon, but Andrew had second thoughts because he doesn’t actually keep cattle. Instead, another Ingrimex dropside body has been fitted. The cattle float turned pick-up is now tested and running.
Spares and stuff
Andrew is under no illusion about the Pilot range’s shortcomings; the overall driving experience is “as dreadful as they ever were.” Realistically, leaf springs and box-based steering all impact. But what he does like is their basic simplicity; the 52 plate van is a bit more complex, but the older ones are all straightforward and with a refreshing lack of electronics. They are dead-easy to maintain and very traditional in terms of what is needed; and those ‘needs’ include a grease gun! Parts sourcing requires a bit of knowledge; a few years ago LDV Pilot parts were, seemingly, everywhere including panels. In fact, the latter were often the ones which buyers of job-lots didn’t really want but took to get they did want. Nowadays, though, things are a bit different. Most mechanical stuff can still be found though knowing what cars used the same items sometimes helps.
There is, though, now a specialist supplier of all things Freight Rover and LDV by the name of Sean Turnbull; he covers the whole range of LDV 200 and 400 variants from Sherpa to Pilot and Convoy, including body panels imported from Turkey where production continued under the BMC brand after it ended here, and decent quality pattern parts are also available. To find out more, go to www.seanturnbull.co.uk call 07710 817595 or email seanturnbull@hotmail.co.uk or find seller 400convoy on eBay.
So there we are. Few would claim that these vans didn’t have significant shortcomings compared to other products of the era. But the fact remained that they sold in sufficient numbers to be seen on most street-corners. They served a purpose, and provided an extremely cost-effective means of transport, especially in cases where travelling long distances wasn’t the priority. They were there, and preserving the past surely shouldn’t just be about preserving the best?
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