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Cheers, the interior will be quite spartan the way it should be.

I have made some progress, but I’m at the stage where I’m scratching around for bits and pieces that I’ve “securely stored”.
Damn you M7 and M5.

I think you’re right about maintenance, it will reduce. Our current new vans require very little at the moment. Ours get a full service once a year at MOT and that’s generally it. We average at less than 10,000 miles a year.

I doubt we’ll see much of a fuel saving as we are such low mileage, but there will be some.
Maintenance is included in the monthly figure.
I figure we get into Evs as soon as we can and learn to work with them.

Regarding charging this is also quite a good resource.
https://www.zap-map.com/live/
There is an area just north of Clapham Common which has one on every streetlight.
We have also got fuel cards which enable you to pay on most of the networks, from Allstar.

Well it got through its first day ok, well received by all who drove it.
It drives nicely, slightly larger turning circle than the ice version.
Range is not much of an issue as the majority of our vans do less than 30 miles per day.
Payload is more of an issue, but I’m hopeful we can manage this by better vehicle allocation.
The cost will be between £7-800 pcm over 2 years which isn’t a massive uplift over a traditional ice. I have also been looking at electric trucks and they are at least 4 times the cost of diesel and really not that good.
Mercedes are doing it over 2 years as they expect developments and improvements to come quickly.
This one is conversion of the standard sprinter, a ground up all new electric van is in testing and development.
At the end the 2 weeks we’ll be swapping it out for an eVito.
I am very much of the opinion that even if it doesn’t fit the bill exactly, if we can make it work in some circumstances then we really should make the effort. If we can change 10 or 15% of the fleet initially, then that’s a good thing right?

Yes I think it manageable, though payload is compromised so it can’t replace all diesel vans.
The idea would be to replace a percentage and manage them according to weight and distance.

I'm being told to expect a real world range of 80 miles.

I’ve just been lent this beauty.

Are they old school open pros or second generation?

The floor looks good and it’s nice to see someone having a good experience with the work being done to a good standard.
We normally only hear tales of woe.

Very flattering, but I’m not sure I would be up for it even if I had the time and space.
As for the sack* I dread to think how big it would need to be for a DS restoration.
Even this has cost at least as much as it’s worth, financially it doesn’t make sense.
As a project to keep your hands busy maybe so, but there are times when I wonder why the hell I started it and if I’ll ever get it finished.
It’ll be a long time before I do something similar.
That said I’ve got a couple of motor bikes that I need to do.

The start up was just for you, I’m glad you made me think of doing it.

Amazingly the rest of the front end is held on with 8nuts and 6 bolts, quite a clever design.

A little victory today🙂

I’ve just managed to order some car parts from a German website, who had been unable to ship to these sunny uplands since mid December. I now need to wait and see if it arrives and if I get stung for import!

A little bit of wiring, other bits and pieces and the windscreen in today.
Hopefully I’ll finish the wiring tomorrow and get it running.

Ive just checked it’s a hatta njs not a 75.

I picked up the seat upholstery today, really rather good, it seems paler than the sample which I’m happy about. I then set about fitting the front.

Well I hope to finish by March, as then my “couple of weeks project” will have only taken a year.
Then some time in south London and on to the world meeting in Switzerland 🇨🇭
Cheering welcome and rides may be available.

I do know of a similar van for sale!
Red and and first registered in Brixton brand new in 74, currently residing in Crystal Palace.
In red but still not fast.

They are excellent

The painter is Rob via Allen Autos in NW10. Rob used to work for AA but is now freelance, I have used them through work for several years and they are all round excellent, this is not AAs regular work and is very much a favour.
But Rob & AA are absolutely amazing.

Probably not and certainly not since I’ve had it. It wasn’t the intention when I started back in March as I’ve always had quite weathered ones before.
But it has kind of spiralled out of control!

Please note the nos Solex carburettor complete with damper, to potentially allow for future fitment of a trafficlutch.
A few pictures of paint and prep.