LCV B post query

[POMMReg]

Finishing touches to the LCV bodywork section..

Anyone explain this?.[frame][/frame]

[1098]

Yeah,it's newness.

[POMMReg]

It's an early '68 ex-postal van, been with us since '73!

[les]

The explanation is you forgot to remove the rubber seal before you painted the van, that's why you get over spray!

[POMMReg]

No, Leslie, the question is WHY the bottom of the B post has
been chopped.

Do you think GPO garages bothered about overspray when
repainting their vehicles?

[les]

Early lcv's appear to have the chopped B posts but later ones used B posts from 4 door saloons with the more conventional curve. Well that's my theory, the area at the back of the post, where the hinges were for the 4 door are filled with pieces of timber.
The gpo would have dismantled the van before painting, time no object then.

[1098]

It's an early '68 ex-postal van, been with us since '73!

Pomm reg boy..dropped my mobile. Thought it was lost for ever,until I found it on the weighbridge,for my second weigh.
Drove over it after first weigh,44 tons,it was very flat. Please send your mobile number to eddiegpovanmadfarrell@hotmail.com
Ed.

[POMMReg]

Cannot blame el splattaro phono on thy Scania!

07846 033956

[IaininTenbury]

There's at least two, probably three B post pressings used on LCVs probably concurrently. The usual one is shaped like a 4door saloon and has the usual foot to match the door. It has the recesses for the rear door hinges which are filled with fillets of wood the edge of which are covered by the rubber seal so no one knows till you pull it all apart. There's another version which tends to be later LCVs which does not have these recesses and can only be an LCV B post.
The third version, in your pic with the bottom foot cropped off, I assume that at some stage there was a fault with a press tool and it was modified or repaired to the simplified shape (rather than scrap an expensive tool) and then purely used for LCVs as buyers of small commercials would be unlikely to be concerned about the appearance of the Bpost.

I do have a NOS B post of this type (will try and get a photo of it). Sadly this type of B post is rarely seen as more and more LCVs are restored with the conventional B post bottom repair section, and if you do preserve or repair one of these, it just looks like you've bodged it up with a flat plate over the B post bottom.... Such is life.

Maybe someone who's into recording production numbers and data could also extend the survey into types of B post and we can build up a picture of when the cropped B posts appeared and when the hinge recessless ones where introduced...

[POMMReg]

Change point to flat back B posts on LCVs is known - as for the
other types, have seen both used in the same GPO series.

Something else to investigate.

[IaininTenbury]

So go on then, when did the flat back B posts come in? I'm guessing very late 60s say 69-70ish just from experience on ones I've rebuilt. I've got an example of the cropped foot type on a '68 and know of another on a '66. My '64 van had conventional ones, before they were repaired. Not dure about my Series 2, its well buried, but I would guess its conventional B posts.

[POMMReg]

January 1971 for flat-back B posts.

As for the bottom of the B post, no idea!

[IaininTenbury]

Makes sense. Last flat back one I had in was an Aqua coloured pickup with steering lock. Stripped shell so no idea of reg but obviously late. Seems odd that they would have retooled so late in production - Maybe the other broke or wore out....

[POMMReg]

Did it have a blanking plug below the speedo?

Any idea of the chassis number or colour of chassis plate -
probably DEG.

Wonder whether Traveller's have an exact change point
for steering lock introduction(?). Did THEY have black engines,
last built recorded as April '71, couple of months after the LCVs
changed to black.

Most people write off any Adderley Park built Minor, but the
info IS out there if you've the patience to record every detail of
survivors!

[IaininTenbury]

No blanking plug - just a smooth trim panel with no hole. Didn't have chassis plate as all interior was stripped out inc door panel.
Got a very late traveller at the moment. Black engine, column lock etc. Will check details.

[POMMReg]

Obviously Traveller's had the blanking plug with the intro of
Neimen steering locks, but unsure whether they progressed
to NO hole like Civvy LCV's - PO vans never blank due to
interior light switch.

Both Civvy & PO vans LC change from grn to blk engines is
known, have yet to work out Traveller HC's. Ditto for the
body number change - probably 7/22.

Thanks Iain, if you would supply details,deffo advert for you
in the book!

[IaininTenbury]

What the end of an original 'cropped style' b post looks like.[frame][/frame]

[Splitscreen48]

Obviously Traveller's had the blanking plug with the intro of
Neimen steering locks, but unsure whether they progressed
to NO hole like Civvy LCV's

I have a late Traveller with no hole/blanking plug. Unfortunately I can't date it precisely as it was bereft of all numbers when I purchased it from a scrapyard many years ago.
It's far too good for scrap - one day I might even start restoring it!