Turkish Leylands

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Seafarer1966

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I came back this week from a holiday in Turkey and very nice it was too. I saw shedloads of Sherpa commercial vehicles, mainly pick-ups with a Sherpa cab on saying 'Levend' at the front and BMC at the rear.

When I got home I looked it up and yes they are Sherpa's...well a Turkish version. The British Motor Corporation went into partnership with the Turks in the 1960's.

Levend is pronounced by the Turks as 'Lay-and'. So Leyland lives on (unfortunately).

I really hoped we'd seen the back of that magnificent example of how not to build vehicles.
 
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Ghastly things....anyone would have thought they originated from behind the Iron Curtain.....the Zastava of commercials.
John :)
 
Totally agree Burner my owd. Handbuilt with a hammer and a trowel by ******* (the British versions I mean). The next generation won't remember Leyland, Austin Rover and Rover thank goodness. How many of these fine examples of a British socialist initiative did we used to see broken down by the side of the road? Good riddance to Longbridge and all the other tax-sponge car factories. Hundreds of millions of our money were pumped into that dinosaur of an organisation.

A Turkish guy told me that the Levend is a really popular commercial vehicle and ultra-reliable so they must be building them properly.

I noticed lots of old Renault 12's on the road (saloons and estates). The Turks used to make their own version of these too which were the main taxi model back in the early 90's when I first went to Turkey.
 
We had a late 80's Sherpa and a mate had a mark one transit (early 70's) and the transit was way better than the Sherpa despite about 20 years difference
 
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The biggest customer for the Sherpa was the Royal Mail. Then somebody eventually realised that the Sherpa was rubbish and they stopped buying them.
 
What engine would a Turkish Sherpa have? B series? O series ? Some obscure diesel ?
 
I think they used diesels which were basically conversions of the petrol engine of the day.....B and O series - and I guess the B series would be 1800cc. I don't remember much about them because they'd never bloody start in the winter :eek:
John :)
 
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