Maybe someone can help me with a few ideas about my van.



It's an ex French post office van. In the picture you may be able to see four tapped holes on the sides where the post office would have mounted advertising boards ("post early for Christmas" - that kind of thing).


The pyramids for the seat belts look very professionally fitted:



with neat domed bolts on top, and a well-reinforced additional plate underneath:



And under the dash there's a neat aftermarket fitment for the brake fluid warning light, which doesn't look like the kind of thing an amateur might do:



The pedals look reasonably professionally replaced - I think the original manufactured version would have had the clutch and brake floor mounted:



So - my question - is it possible that the conversion to the 602cc/disc brake engine was done by the French post office themselves, probably as part of a bulk change, with other upgrades? If I remember rightly, the drummers used a different brake fluid, so the change to disc might have led to the installation of the warning light too. The pedals would be changed too. Seat-belts would have been a good idea, even for postmen.

There is even some evidence - slightly obliterated and difficult to photograph - that originally the van had the postman's bike-carrier. There are drilled holes, now filled, and I think reinforcements, just below roof level, that look as if they corresponded to the carrier mounts.

And, another question - what date would the van be?

Hi, Have you any pictures? The engine sounds like it could be an M4?
Interesting.

Hi, Have you any pictures? The engine sounds like it could be an M4?
Interesting.

Hi, Have you any pictures? The engine sounds like it could be an M4?
Interesting.

Or early '70s M28 - but that engine number sounds like it's a '79 lump. Don't take this the wrong way - but are you SURE there's no oil filter...?

Does the exhaust go round the front of the fan on one side only, or back on both sides?

Other than that, sounds very much like a fairly normal windowless 400. Good, because it means one less place for rot to start, not so good in traffic...