SIERRA VAN !!!!
Discussion
well lads it has finally arrived , after months of speculation and head scratching and with a huge thank you to declan rafter ( black magic ) i am now the proud owner of what is believed to be the only sierra van in exsistance , now i know the sceptics among you will say " ah sure thats just a feckin estate with panels instead of glass " !!!!! but you'r wrong , from what we can gather from the first owners they wanted a mid size van from ford and something " a bit different " ,the local ford dealers here tried to sell them an escort van and a small transit but it wasnt what they were after so after a lot of searching they came up with this solution ,three of these vans were produced in-house by ford as an experimental demo vehicle to see if they would take off ,as you will see in the pictures it has a proper bulk head divider and a full flat floor , they were shipped to ford in cork and this one was delivered to sligo in january of 91 and subsequently bought by barton smiths of sligo , the other two vans dissapeared , maybe shipped back to england because they didnt sell , who knows , just ask yourself this " have you ever seen one " ???? the van has led a bit of a chequered past up until now and the most up to date info we can get on it is that she ended up in the hands of a sheep farmer ( hence the big pile of s
te in the back of it ) but again thanks to declan, he was aproached and a deal was done , it suffered a snapped timing belt in 2003 and it has been off the road since , dumped in a field !!! so enough talk, here are the pics i took of her last night as she was being delivered .
Read more: http://irishfiestaclub.proboards.com/index.cgi?boa...
te in the back of it ) but again thanks to declan, he was aproached and a deal was done , it suffered a snapped timing belt in 2003 and it has been off the road since , dumped in a field !!! so enough talk, here are the pics i took of her last night as she was being delivered .Read more: http://irishfiestaclub.proboards.com/index.cgi?boa...
That looks disgusting inside!
But what a cool van! Loads of potential. What are your plans for it?
I like the old sierras, uncle had a white estate for ages, it just kept going and going and going, I think he still has it as a drive ornament even now.
Please keep us updated with this one!
But what a cool van! Loads of potential. What are your plans for it?
I like the old sierras, uncle had a white estate for ages, it just kept going and going and going, I think he still has it as a drive ornament even now.
Please keep us updated with this one!
bit of an update lads , spent all day yesterday shoveling pooh.gif and taking off a lot of bits off the van to see what the actual shell itself was like , turns out its not too bad at all despite twenty years of dog and sheep piss rotting away into the carpet and the sound proofing , it came out in chunks instead of one piece !!!! bit of a nightmare getting out the seats and the rear door was siezed shut but plenty of WD40 and brute force shifted her , we found and managed to remove five rats nests from the back of the dash , id say there is more in there just have to get the dash out first !!!!!! we also had to take out the rear floor because the amount of pooh.gif gathered under here was unreal and we would have not been able to clean it properly other wise , anyway after a lot of stripping we got it o where it was ready for a blast of the power hose , its in the shed now drying out and we will start the body work soon , couple of sills and maybe a passenger floor might do the trick , fingers crossed , here are some more pics .
Kudos to you for rescuing it! That could very easily have ended up as a pile of parts still rotting in a field but it certainly looks like it's going to be rescued!
What's the plans for it, engine wise? While it's rare it's not exactly sought after (I wouldn't have thought), so I think it'd be ok to fit a different lump to it - BDA? Duratec?
Looking forward to seeing more progress pictures.
What's the plans for it, engine wise? While it's rare it's not exactly sought after (I wouldn't have thought), so I think it'd be ok to fit a different lump to it - BDA? Duratec?
Looking forward to seeing more progress pictures.
ha ha thanks for all the replys lads , the plans is to restore it as it was originally , 1.8 td lump to go back in and restore it to its fromer glory , now i know the cossie men among you will be tut tutting and saying cossie lump bumpers etc but i think with something this unusual it would be a sin to chav it up and spoil it , just my opinion mind !!!!!
the hearse in the background is a 1949 dodge b2b , its another barn find and we are in the process of getting it going , it has a flat 6 petrol engine and it was siezed solid after twenty years in a shed but we have it freed out now and we are awiting bits to get her running , originally based on a pick up and improted into ireland and converted to right hand drive and into a hearse in 1952 , here are a few pics of her as we found her !!!
the hearse in the background is a 1949 dodge b2b , its another barn find and we are in the process of getting it going , it has a flat 6 petrol engine and it was siezed solid after twenty years in a shed but we have it freed out now and we are awiting bits to get her running , originally based on a pick up and improted into ireland and converted to right hand drive and into a hearse in 1952 , here are a few pics of her as we found her !!!
You, Sir, are a God among motorists. I commend you on your Uber-Shed.
I keep seeing really shagged old Sierras around my area - not the fast ones, just bog standard blokemobiles, in various shocking states of rubbishness. I assume that they are driven by ex bankers, as the local Maserati population has declined a bit. Karma, or what?
PS; at current values, which do you reckon is worth more - the van, or the wheelbarrow full of sheep****? Either way, you are quids in, so well done.
I keep seeing really shagged old Sierras around my area - not the fast ones, just bog standard blokemobiles, in various shocking states of rubbishness. I assume that they are driven by ex bankers, as the local Maserati population has declined a bit. Karma, or what?
PS; at current values, which do you reckon is worth more - the van, or the wheelbarrow full of sheep****? Either way, you are quids in, so well done.
Edited by Breadvan73 on Monday 12th March 14:12
skeggysteve said:
Whilst it's going to take a lot of work I'm sure it will be worth it especially if you can get Ford to confirm it's build history etc.
Got to love Ford's optimism - 150mph speedo
The vans were available from Ford in the Dutch market - I reckon this will be a RHD order of one of those.Got to love Ford's optimism - 150mph speedo
Rollcage said:
The vans were available from Ford in the Dutch market - I reckon this will be a RHD order of one of those.
Have you read the OP's first post?If you have more information on the Dutch connection I'm sure the OP and the rest of us would be very interested to read it.
The above is not meant as a dig just asking so I'll add this
skeggysteve said:
Have you read the OP's first post?
If you have more information on the Dutch connection I'm sure the OP and the rest of us would be very interested to read it.
The above is not meant as a dig just asking so I'll add this
I did see the info, and it sounds like a load of salesman's puff to me! If you have more information on the Dutch connection I'm sure the OP and the rest of us would be very interested to read it.
The above is not meant as a dig just asking so I'll add this
Might have heard about them from my dad, years ago. He used to be a motoring correspondent, and had quite good contacts with Ford. Can't be more specific than that - sorry.
I do see, from a little Googleing, that the OP has been told similar already.
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