Newbie Says Hello...

Loop · Post by **Loop** » Sat Feb 25, 2017 12:31 am

Hi to all at this forum. Just signed up to admit that I am an addict and I accept that I need the thrub of a V8 to make me feel complete. I guess it is okay to say that here.

My matching numbers, factory built 'ride' is a 1984 Freight Rover Sherpa V8. If I could work out how to post pictures on this site then I would surely include one at this point. Basically, if you imagine a Rover V8 carb engine with a Freight Rover Sherpa wrapped around it then you will be in the right kind of place. It has a factory LSD rear axle as well, with drum brakes...'cos nobody needs to slow down in a hurry, do they? It left the factory in Birmingham with non-ventilated front discs and no anti-roll bars or power steering either. Driving it is challenging but rewarding.

I've spent the last year overhauling it, buying New Old Stock and generally fettling it. Luckily, previous owners have clearly spent much time and money on preserving it so the job has been straightforward. If working on a 1984 Sherpa can be described as straightforward...

Anyway, best wishes to all.

DaveEFI · Post by **DaveEFI** » Sat Feb 25, 2017 9:40 am

I well remember those early Sherpa V8s. I worked in TV, and Thames TV had a fleet of them used as camera cars for local news coverage. Coach built bodies with a rear cab for 3 and sliding doors to that, the the rear a fitted locker for all the equipment. As you said, very heavy steering, which was odd for basically a town vehicle which had to park in odd places.
They also suffered badly from fuel evaporation on a hot day, so had the idle speed set very high to provide a blast of air to the carbs, etc.

Loop · Post by **Loop** » Sat Feb 25, 2017 10:55 am

Dave, you have jogged my long lost memory! I had completely forgotten that fact. I too worked in film and TV in the 1980s and I also worked for Thames for a short while.
I remember the arthritic V6 Ford A Series vans but not the Sherpas.

Could you hazard a guess as to what year you might have seen the Sherpas? The V8 Sherpa range was launched around August 1986 - the first batches going to Scottish Ambulance Service and the second larger contract went to the Met Police.

Any ideas you have would be so valuable. They would help me as I am trying to build up the history of the vehicle range. As you may know, all the BL/Leyland admin, documentation and records were thrown away by the management company who sold the company to SAIC. In a supreme act of industrial vandalism, everything was destroyed, leaving even the Gaydon and Beaulieu Motor Museums without any docs.

DaveEFI · Post by **DaveEFI** » Sat Feb 25, 2017 11:30 am

My base at Thames was the Teddington Studios. The news and film operations were run from the Euston studios, so I'm not that well up on when they first arrived.

The Bill also used them as camera cars when it went weekly in 1998. That I did work on, so can be more definite, News and film had more or less the same Sherpas for some time before that.

They weren't ideal for drama like The Bill as they were too small to carry some of the camera dollies used - and had a very high loading platform. They were replaced by Renault Masters after a couple of years. They were diesels and a lot slower - but didn't need filling up with fuel every day.

Loop · Post by **Loop** » Sat Feb 25, 2017 3:12 pm

I was freelancing for them in about '85 - prior to the Sherpas, but I do remember seeing them when I later lived in Mitcham, near the location base for The Bill.

Thanks for that. I shall now plod through who owns the archive for the now-defunct Thames TV!

DaveEFI · Post by **DaveEFI** » Sat Feb 25, 2017 3:41 pm

There were three of them on the Bill. One was bought by a friend on mine for the same sort of use as a freelance - but lay unused in his garden for ages.
Another was seen locally used by a builder.

One bit of trivia was The Bill base - before moving to Merton - was on the site of the old Rootes group factory in Barbary Road, just off Wood Lane, Shepherd's bush. I got my SD1 then - and still have it.

Loop · Post by **Loop** » Sat Feb 25, 2017 7:01 pm

Hmmm...was working on The Bill, turns up one day with a VDP Efi...I am guessing you must have been Gaffer Sparks?

DaveEFI · Post by **DaveEFI** » Sun Feb 26, 2017 9:40 am

Loop wrote:Hmmm...was working on The Bill, turns up one day with a VDP Efi...I am guessing you must have been Gaffer Sparks?

No - the gaffer would have had a new one, not used.

I was the sound recordist.

ChrisJC · Post by **ChrisJC** » Sun Feb 26, 2017 3:19 pm

Great choice of ride!

I ran a 200 series V8 Sherpa for a few years:

http://www.cowdery.org.uk/sherpa.php

Love it. Of course it went to the scrapyard in the sky eventually.

Wouldn't mind another one day.

Chris.