To Oiltreader, we used to service and repair the LD ambulances for Berkshire Ambulance Service and I think that some had Wadham bodies and others were Lomas? There were both petrol and diesel versions, I remember that we fitted a massive Zenith carb to one as an experiment and then tested it at 80+ mph! I was riding passenger and it was quite an experience I can tell you, things got a little lively! There was no airfilter fitted, just a tin shield over the carb, and when my mate put his foot down a sheet of flame appeared from between the two halves of the engine cowling close to me leg as the vast amount of fuel injected by the accelerator pump ignited! Another time we took one for the MOT braking test with a Tapley meter, it pulled up ok but a second after it came to a halt we heard a ‘clang’ and spotted the bell from off of the front bumper rolling down the road ha ha. The ambulance chassis usually had an offset differential to enable a lower floor in the ‘cargo area’ as well.
Robinswh, that would have been one of the FV series which had either a Saurer diesel (known for running backwards!) or a sidevalve petrol. They had mostly gone when I started but there are still a few on the rally circuit.
windrush:
To Oiltreader, we used to service and repair the LD ambulances for Berkshire Ambulance Service and I think that some had Wadham bodies and others were Lomas? There were both petrol and diesel versions, I remember that we fitted a massive Zenith carb to one as an experiment and then tested it at 80+ mph! I was riding passenger and it was quite an experience I can tell you, things got a little lively! There was no airfilter fitted, just a tin shield over the carb, and when my mate put his foot down a sheet of flame appeared from between the two halves of the engine cowling close to me leg as the vast amount of fuel injected by the accelerator pump ignited! Another time we took one for the MOT braking test with a Tapley meter, it pulled up ok but a second after it came to a halt we heard a ‘clang’ and spotted the bell from off of the front bumper rolling down the road ha ha. The ambulance chassis usually had an offset differential to enable a lower floor in the ‘cargo area’ as well.
Robinswh, that would have been one of the FV series which had either a Saurer diesel (known for running backwards!) or a sidevalve petrol. They had mostly gone when I started but there are still a few on the rally circuit.
Pete.
Hi Pete, I had an LD with the 2.2 petrol, it drank the bloody stuff, I think them solex carbs leaked more fuel out of the throttle spindles than what went in the engine. A guy at work made me an adapter elbow to put an SU carb on, it made a world of difference to it. I always wanted one of those lwb twin wheel LD’s which I thought looked the business, I ended up with an EA with a 2.5 diesel which was lovely to drive but an absolute pig to start !
The Solex carb was never a very efficient instrument Trev, I bet the SU improved things no end. I remember the EA when it first appeared, a box with a wheel at each corner like the Commer Walkthrough which when you think about it is ideal as a parcel vehicle. My God didn’t they smoke on cold startup though, worse than a Gardner firing up! One food company were forced to tow them outside before starting because of all the fumes. They were virtually the old LD mechanically, apart from opening the engine up from 2.2 to 2.5 litres and leaning it over, and the same gearbox and split rear axle. Never win a competition on looks but they were practical enough!
They didn’t have as long a life with BL as the LD had with the BMC though, I guess that the LDV series replaced them?
oiltreader:
This 1955 model looks like it may have originally been a van or maybe a diy cab to a scuttle.
oily
That is an early LD1 with the heart shaped grille and ‘crash’ gearbox, they did make truck versions and some of the breweries had them for small deliveries. Wethered brewery at Marlow, Bucks, had at least one of them, though I think that was a later model with the slatted grille and synchomesh box, and I think that it is in preservation? The LD was a good van, very reliable and easy to work on. The Post Office had special ones (didn’t they allways?!) with twin rear wheels and drop tailgates but I dont recall them being offered to other customer’s. There WAS a version known as the LCFO which had the LD front end marrried to a twin rear wheel chassis, these were fitted with the 3.4 diesel and again the ‘crash’ gearbox and were normally turned out as mobile shops! I did a job on one as an apprentice and the owner gave me 10 Park Drive ciggy’s as a ‘tip’, I didn’t smoke at that time but they started me off on five years of being a smoker until I got engaged and could no longer afford them! The later LD 30 cwt is in the pic above, together with the earlier PV (parcel van in top pic) which came out just as war broke out and continued until the early 1950’s when the LD 1 appeared.
The Roadline Terrier is a later version, the earlier ones had hydraulic brakes with NITROGEN actuators. The nitrogen cylinders were fitted one either side behind the bumper and their was an engine driven pump which powered the brakes hydraulic fluid with a tank behind the cab, they were very good brakes, too powerfull at times, but the nitrogen actuators would lose pressure and require recharging and then the truck would brake to one side! The later Terrier’s had standard vacuum/ hydraulic brakes, I was due to attend a course at Cowley on the earlier braking system but left the BMC dealer to go to work at a Bedford agent before the appointed time so that was that!
Pete.
My brother drove an LD for a while when he came out of the REME in the late 50’s. It was a LWB van, twin rear wheels and a 3.8 engine, body appeared standard 30cwt LD but a bit longer with rear arches added. The firm he worked for expected him to carry about 4 tons of flourescent control gear, he asked for a bigger motor, got fed up with waiting and got a job elsewhere, a few weeks after, we noticed they’d bought a new Bedford TK 5-tonner.
Bernard
Thanks Pete it was a diesel and I suppose in the 20 mph world at the time it had adequate power.Also days morris is on page 80 of the thread scrapbook memories Thanks for your reply Wayne Robinson
Have to confess that I have never seen an LD artic Oily, and I guess not a lot of other folk have! Good link though but look how dated the Austin K8 van looked, it ceased production along with the Morris-Commercial PV range, when Austin and Morris amalgamated and the LD arrived but the Austin engine was retained. I suppose that there were a lot of ‘specials’ produced over the years by various coachbuilders based on the factory made chassis/scuttle, I can recall a few Luton bodied LD’s that I worked on.
Aye those LDs had a very good back axle, I had a Stock car with a one in , stood up very well with its star wheels welded to lock it up, Regards Larry.
A great article to read, my uncle was a designer at Adderley park, he was a designer for the 50’s JB van.
Another good reliable little van Trev, early ones with a sidevalve engine from the MO Oxford car and three speed box (the JR) and later with the 1500cc OHV and four speed. Yet again the Post Office must have had thousands of them, it was a good contract for the BMC as all of the commercial range from mini van to artic (or Prime Mover as BMC called them!) were operated by them! Those days are long gone for any manufacturer aint they?
When I worked at Thomas Ingles we had an FG with the 3.8 engine, it wasn,t very old when we stood it on a stack of railway sleepers and put a 3,000 gal fuel tank on the back. It stood alongside the garage and gave years of reliable service !
Trev_H:
When I worked at Thomas Ingles we had an FG with the 3.8 engine, it wasn,t very old when we stood it on a stack of railway sleepers and put a 3,000 gal fuel tank on the back. It stood alongside the garage and gave years of reliable service !
It drank a lot of fuel and travelled nowhere eh Trev! I remember Ingles, they ran Big J’s.
Trev_H:
When I worked at Thomas Ingles we had an FG with the 3.8 engine, it wasn,t very old when we stood it on a stack of railway sleepers and put a 3,000 gal fuel tank on the back. It stood alongside the garage and gave years of reliable service !
It drank a lot of fuel and travelled nowhere eh Trev! I remember Ingles, they ran Big J’s.
Pete.
Well at one time Pete they had a lot of Scania 110’s, after I left and the owners changed hands they were replaced with Guy’s
Lawrence Dunbar:
Aye those LDs had a very good back axle, I had a Stock car with a one in , stood up very well with its star wheels welded to lock it up, Regards Larry.
Some mates of mine are into tractor pulling, got some seriously powerful engines in their machines, e.g. Merlin, and a jet helicopter engine. They use FG rear axles, don’t last for ever, but the best they’ve found for the job. A couple of pics attached, the “Robin” has a tuned TS3 in it, sounds well with that open exhaust. (can’t seem to post a link but you can see/hear it on Youtube, see robin reliant tractor pull) And a picture of a nice FG local to me.
Bernard
There was no airfilter fitted, just a tin shield over the carb, and when my mate put his foot down a sheet of flame appeared from between the two halves of the engine cowling close to me leg as the vast amount of fuel injected by the accelerator pump ignited! Another time we took one for the MOT braking test with a Tapley meter, it pulled up ok but a second after it came to a halt we heard a ‘clang’ and spotted the bell from off of the front bumper rolling down the road ha ha. 
The ambulance chassis usually had an offset differential to enable a lower floor in the ‘cargo area’ as well.
The later LD 30 cwt is in the pic above, together with the earlier PV (parcel van in top pic) which came out just as war broke out and continued until the early 1950’s when the LD 1 appeared.
Good link though but look how dated the Austin K8 van looked, it ceased production along with the Morris-Commercial PV range, when Austin and Morris amalgamated and the LD arrived but the Austin engine was retained. I suppose that there were a lot of ‘specials’ produced over the years by various coachbuilders based on the factory made chassis/scuttle, I can recall a few Luton bodied LD’s that I worked on.
