His first concept, called CV300, used the ADO17 1800/2200 power packs for front drive and, as a result, was blessed with a superb low loading floor, very much like that of the Citroën HZ. Dews soon set about his task of producing a new model with which BLMC could fight the successful new Ford. Stan Dews, an ex-Longbridge engineer who had previously left for the bright lights at Ford, becoming a key engineer in the Transit programme, was lured back to Longbridge to take on, amongst other things, the solution to BLMC’s panel van problem. The idiosyncratic Commer PB (with a car track under a wide van body) – so much loved by the GPO, or so it seemed – was about the only van that BLMC could beat on product terms.
The company’s LCV panel van market share was dropping off rapidly, as the more modern Ford Transit and Bedford CF vans muscled in. We all know and love it from the James Bond film, The Spy Who Loved Me, but Leyland’s Sherpa had a vitally important role in life – to beat Ford’s all-conquering Transit.Īnd given the resources available at the time, it was a fantastic effort.īy the late 1960s, BLMC’s offerings in the light commercial vehicle (LCV) sector were becoming very old hat indeed: the J4 was rather long in the tooth, and the JU, while better than the J2, was not much loved in the trade either.
