With a New USPS Truck Announced, Is Now the Time to Start Shopping for an LLV?

They are going to be great for Ice cream trucks , 

the driver is even on the  curb side , 

But really the guy that bought the Florida oval track needs to buy 50 of them and rent them out for a race series......

Dose it have wings and rocket boosters like it did in Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs or was that just for the movie?

Mine will be a blown V8 mounted in the rear cargo area, with MASSIVE wheel tubs and drag slicks, the exhaust will exit through the walls,  and at least an 14 inch chop.

Paul B

My dad mentioned today he bought 100 shares of Oshkosh stock a while back at like $50. As of today it was like $110.

I was thinking about this the other day when I had to pull my mail-lady's Grumman off of a snowbank she got high-centered on. Those Grumman trucks are still built on an old S-10 chassis, as I recall. I always think that they must be terrible to drive (though, perhaps better than the old Jeeps?)

How secure are the Grummans? In considering it more, they have the potential to be the perfect platform for mobile mechanics to use. 

4x4 conversion for little campers?  Or perfect for a track bike rig.  

irish44j (Forum Supporter) said:

Those Grumman trucks are still built on an old S-10 chassis, as I recall. I always think that they must be terrible to drive (though, perhaps better than the old Jeeps?)

IIRC, they're the rear end of a 4wd S10 mated to the front end of a 2wd one (which gives large track width mismatch).  I'm not sure the S10 front end is going to drive much, if any better than an old Jeep.  Both are pretty bad without some work done to them IMO. 

The other possibility is to try to make yourself a homebrew clone of the LLV-R roadster.

In reply to MadScientistMatt :

Oh. My. Gawd. I've never been more inspired in my life.

John Welsh said:

earlybroncoguy1 said:

It's a good thing the new ones have A/C because the windshield has more solar area than the Sahara. Plus, holy crap they're ugly.

As for the windshield, it looks that the wipers will only swipe the top half of the windshield and then I'm concerned that if the blower/defrost comes out of the cowl/bottom of windshield, it will only be strong enough to clear the lower half of the windshield.  If the blower/defrost comes out of the top of windshield then the bottom half of windshield will neither be cleared via wiper nor defrost thereby negating the whole extreme visibility thing.  

It is a CGI of the prototype.  It remains to be seen what the final version looks like.  I can imagine the windshield being simplified a lot for production and future replacement cost concerns. 

rslifkin said:

irish44j (Forum Supporter) said:

Those Grumman trucks are still built on an old S-10 chassis, as I recall. I always think that they must be terrible to drive (though, perhaps better than the old Jeeps?)

IIRC, they're the rear end of a 4wd S10 mated to the front end of a 2wd one (which gives large track width mismatch).  I'm not sure the S10 front end is going to drive much, if any better than an old Jeep.  Both are pretty bad without some work done to them IMO. 

I had heard the rear axle was from an Astro, but knowing GM, that cold also be the same as the rear axle of a 4x4 s-10.

former520 said:

4x4 conversion for little campers?  Or perfect for a track bike rig.  

This was my first thought too, but then I realized how small they actually are. Think Transit Connect, minus any pretense of refinement. I'm also not sure they are capable of interstate speeds, at least not in stock form.

It's hard to show in a photo, but one of the worst things of the LLVs driving characteristics is that the front track is narrower than the rear axle/track.  The reality is that the rear tires do not follow in the path of the front tires.  This would probably be horible for off-roading.  

The reason for this narrow front track was to meet the turning radius requirement.  I am not sure of the actual turning radius but the expectation is the LLV can u-turn on a standard 2 lane street.  The reason for this requirement is the driver are very forcible required to never drive in reverse for safety reasons.  

Okay, back to build ideas:

Big block. Don't matter what, but what DOES matter is getting the front transaxle from a Toronado to drive the rear wheels and put all the weight back there. WHEELIE TRUCK. Front end hits so hard even looking at it gives someone a concussion.

God the first bids for old LLVs are gonna be NUTS.

In reply to John Welsh :

My postman will drive up the driveway to deliver packages and then does a three point turn so as not to have to back up

What I'm hearing on this "no backing up" discussion is this: USPS should have spec-ed bigger engines so the drivers could just stomped the throttle and kicked the tail around to make tighter u-turns

GIRTHQUAKE said:

God the first bids for old LLVs are gonna be NUTS.

 

You really think so? I remember going into one of my usual pick-n-pulls almost 20 years ago and there was a whole row of postal Jeeps sitting there, pretty much unmolested for parts. While I can see a few individuals interested in an LLV for the novelty,  the supply ( >100,000 units) should outweigh the demand. But, what do I know. The last serial numbered one could end up at a Barrett-Jackson auction.

In reply to DeadSkunk (Warren) :

Personally? I think it'll boom, then glut right after when people realize what it is underneath. Guys like Hoovie and Donut garage will buy them for the memes and show just how bad they are, and that's when the prices will seriously fall.

DeadSkunk (Warren) said:

GIRTHQUAKE said:

God the first bids for old LLVs are gonna be NUTS.

 

You really think so? I remember going into one of my usual pick-n-pulls almost 20 years ago and there was a whole row of postal Jeeps sitting there, pretty much unmolested for parts. While I can see a few individuals interested in an LLV for the novelty,  the supply ( >100,000 units) should outweigh the demand. But, what do I know. The last serial numbered one could end up at a Barrett-Jackson auction.

I agree. I'm really trying to figure out who would want one. LeMons and Challengers and similar... that would be a few hundred? Max? Then probably some local delivery companies, maybe... But I'd question how these are any better than almost anything else, unless they're just so cheap. Some folks will repurpose them into doughnut trucks or donut trucks or mobile mechanics... But I just am not seeing how these will be desireable to almost anybody. 

They have two things going for them: They're cheap, and they're robust. But they're OLD. And I know that they're reliable, but they're OLD. 

So where is the real market for them? How many Cliff Clavins need a new Cliff Clavinmobile?

DeadSkunk (Warren) said:

In reply to John Welsh :

My postman will drive up the driveway to deliver packages and then does a three point turn so as not to have to back up

I've got a semi-permanent oil spot in my driveway from when they drop off packages at the door!

Chassis swap with a shortened P71? Or normal length fox body.