Bill's buy which proved a van-tastic bargain

That was the Ford 10cwt van, model E83W. And one of our pictures from the past this week showing one of them in the shadow of the Coalbrookdale railway viaduct brought back memories of those machines for Bill Kerswell, who lives near Church Stretton.

"Morris's bakers had a lot of them and I bought about five of these vans from them. They had wooden bodies and were condemned," recalled Bill.

"They were sold to me for £2 each. This was in the early 1960s, so I had all of them for a tenner. I used them for years delivering logs so I know all about them. They were terrible vans.

"Then years later Mr Goddard of Morris's rang me up and said: 'I don't suppose you have one of those vans that we sold to you about 20 years ago?' I said I had the wreckage of one down the field. He said: 'I'll buy it off you.' They bought it and gave a few hundred pounds for this thing.

"They restored it and take it around the shows and now it's a precious thing. Its registration is NUX 163 or NUX 162.

"They're probably worth 20 grand now – and I had bought them for £2 each. I had had all the spares as well and had driven them around for eight to 10 years.

"They were terrible primitive things, with no heater. I had one in the 1963 snow and the only advantage was that they had 18 inch wheels and could go anywhere in the snow. They were almost as good as a Land Rover.

"The oil fumes from them were terrible. They did about 30 to the gallon and you would not get much more than 40mph, although they were limited to 30mph. It was supposed to be a half ton van but I put a ton in it.

"They were prone to having the cross member break. They had a three speed gearbox, and if you stopped in traffic the petrol pump would boil and you had to wait for 20 minutes for it to cool down.

"They were made from 1938 to 1957 and were based on the Model T. Thousands were made, but they were horrible things to drive. They were marvellous vans really and so primitive."