Has van design gone to far?

[frank horton]

here in Crete plenty of old Merc vans 207's and early Jap trucks (transit size)
as well as all the usual 70's thru 90's Hi Lux's, Mazda's and of cource Nissan...
all still working....
wanted a pass door handle , 1979 Nissan pick up.....next day del from the local car parts place not the dealer....
can't be bad.....
and I still love my 1999 VW T4 Kombi...did ask at a VW dealer (2 years ago) in UK for a replacement for the T4
LWB plus a full leather trim 5 seats....£54,000....no thank u....
my van dont look outta place here...dents and all......hahaha.....

 

[frank horton]

gonna buy one just for fun.....I love early Jap Stuff, reminds me of living in LA all those years ago....hahaha....

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

No it had rust welded 13mm nuts that had eroded to 12.5mm nuts so a 13 was too big and a 12 to small..heat and the pink soup in my skull got over the problem though

I know what you went through.
That's why I got myself a Irwin removal kit.
Sometimes the sockets need a tap with a hammer, if they are nearly a fit.

Plus keep a punch near by to knock out the nut from the socket.

Picture from the WWW, as I am not at home.

 

[8ob]

here in Crete plenty of old Merc vans 207's and early Jap trucks (transit size)
as well as all the usual 70's thru 90's Hi Lux's, Mazda's and of cource Nissan...
all still working....
wanted a pass door handle , 1979 Nissan pick up.....next day del from the local car parts place not the dealer....
can't be bad.....
and I still love my 1999 VW T4 Kombi...did ask at a VW dealer (2 years ago) in UK for a replacement for the T4
LWB plus a full leather trim 5 seats....£54,000....no thank u....
my van dont look outta place here...dents and all......hahaha.....

With jap stuff it all goes went wrong after 2005, lots of badge engineering between manufacturers and way too much complication for works trucks. Sticking with my 20+ yearold diesel Delica kennel/toolbox which has a timing chain and not had a spanner on it in anger at 250k miles, you can keep your ECU`s, DPF`s,CATs and addblue.

Bob

 

[MCKDAVID]

With jap stuff it all goes went wrong after 2005, lots of badge engineering between manufacturers and way too much complication for works trucks. Sticking with my 20+ yearold diesel Delica kennel/toolbox which has a timing chain and not had a spanner on it in anger at 250k miles, you can keep your ECU`s, DPF`s,CATs and addblue.

Bob

+1 for dinosaur engineering... I like simple....

 

[Greeves246]

Whilst I like my VW T6 I really loved the Ford 15cwt Thames van I had in the 60s. Replacing a clutch was easy, Hardy Spicers regularly and rubbish vacuum wipers but still fabulous to drive. Or is it 50 year old rose tinted glasses?

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

Whilst I like my VW T6 I really loved the Ford 15cwt Thames van I had in the 60s. Replacing a clutch was easy, Hardy Spicers regularly and rubbish vacuum wipers but still fabulous to drive. Or is it 50 year old rose tinted glasses?

Both.

But what else our memories for?

 

[cheb]

Every time I think fondly of my old ex BT mk5 Transit I remember I like the novelty of being able to accelerate up hills.

If old vehicle were so good we'd all still be driving them, and keeping them on the road wouldn't be seen as a tedious chore.

 

[ajlelectronics]

No it had rust welded 13mm nuts that had eroded to 12.5mm nuts so a 13 was too big and a 12 to small..heat and the pink soup in my skull got over the problem though

If you had proper spanners it would have been easy... 12.7mm in funny money is 1/2" AF on real tools.

 

[MCKDAVID]

Every time I think fondly of my old ex BT mk5 Transit I remember I like the novelty of being able to accelerate up hills.

If old vehicle were so good we'd all still be driving them, and keeping them on the road wouldn't be seen as a tedious chore.

it's not all roses and fine wine and we're all guilty of rose tinted glasses, but the simple fact is that they've become unneccessarily complicated. It's a van....not a limousine....functional / reliable is what I'm after - it's there to earn, if I want comfort / gadgets we have the car...

The older vans might not have been perfect,; a long way from that, but they were mostly built for function, didn't have (or need) mostly unneccessary gadgets / complications.

 

[bricol]

You'd prefer a viscous or fixed belt-driven fan.

ah . . . my Dolomite Sprint had propeller assist at reasonable speed - sounded like a vacuum cleaner . . . seized viscous coupling . . .

 

[pedrobedro]

Whilst I like my VW T6 I really loved the Ford 15cwt Thames van I had in the 60s. Replacing a clutch was easy, Hardy Spicers regularly and rubbish vacuum wipers but still fabulous to drive. Or is it 50 year old rose tinted glasses?

Column change gear linkage that used to pop off and leave you at a junction in neutral trying to get the engine cover off in the cab to push it back together, yes we had fun.

 

[Alan Reynolds]

Lets over complicate everything.

Electric handbrakes. My pet rant..

Why ?


Got a Pug Partner, New, if thé doors not properly shut, you can't pull away.

Hâte it, tells you when to change gears, then it's gutless, arrgghhh.

I had the door thing with my daughter's new Merc when I cleaned it. (She;s 30 and never cleaned any of her cars, always leaves it for me.) I wanted to reverse it while looking out of the drivers door. Nope! Handbrake? Nope! Start without your foot on the brake. Nope! Open the bonnet, well good luck with that because once you manage to find the bonnet release that works the opposite way to logic, you will never find the safety release without a 1+1 honours degree. Although once you do get the bonnet open, the lever is marked bright yellow! I loath designers and architects these days.

 

[Bobupndown]

This is the type of radiator I've changed most of. Nothing too complicated there...

 

[MCKDAVID]

I loath designers and architects these days.

personally I'd have them spendsome time in the workshop repairing, replacing the parts they've put in completely inaccessible places and see if their design stays the same...

just spent nearly an hour changing a limit switch on the bottom of a lawn tractor, (clutch switch) should have been a two minute job, but no, mr idiot designer thought it would be smart to regroup the limit switches all into one place (probably to save a foot of wire)... Damn thing was almost impossible to get too, without taking off the entire central console needed hands the size of a child.... idiots..
do you think the customer will pay an hours labour for changing a switch... idiots...

 

[CompoSimmonite]

My pet hate with vans is rust and rot. Why don't they simply galvanised them like cars ? Actually I know the answer - manufacturers want them to fall apart so people have to buy new replacements

 

[CompoSimmonite]

Same as myself, looking at the old mercs (207D) and the old VW LTs.

I bought an old (2002) and cheap (£450 with 12 months test) 1.4 petrol Citroen Berlingo Multispace Forte as a "banger" to run around in whilst my Smart is off the road. Son borrowed it for months and I only recently got it back Already love the little vehicle - nice and simple, plenty of space to work under the bonnet, take back seats out and it's then a van, possible to make it into a mini camper with detachable interior fittings, more than big enough to carry my mobility scooter, no rust rot nor ever welded and much more. I originally only intended keeping it for a few months then after deciding it was too useful thought about getting rid and buying a new model but now plan on just keeping what I'd got - maybe with a diesel transplant.

 

[Blobber]

Going back to the 1st post I think the vans have 3 water pumps, all to do with the keeping the emissions down, along with putting weeny bearings and p*ss that is supposedly oil in the gearboxes so they fail pretty quick, injecting animal pee into the exhaust, super doopa tyres with less rolling resistance etc etc!

 

[CompoSimmonite]

ah . . . my Dolomite Sprint had propeller assist at reasonable speed - sounded like a vacuum cleaner . . . seized viscous coupling . . .

Changed the water pump on my LDV Cityvan and didn't tighten the viscous fan. After starting the engine no problem but when engine stopped the fan simply undid itself and fell off !

 

[bigegg]

My pet hate with vans is rust and rot. Why don't they simply galvanised them like cars ? Actually I know the answer - manufacturers want them to fall apart so people have to buy new replacements

If the mk5 transit's bodywork was as unkillable as its bananananana engine, ford would never have sold a new one since.