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Plum, but not duff

15th January 2004
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Every week, CM will be dropping

in on a dealer somewhere in the UK to see what's on offer, and to take a close look at one of the vehicles on the forecourt.

This week'sTaking Stock subject represents one of the UK's best sellers, the Iveco Cargo 7.5-tonner, albeit with a slightly unusual body on the back. It comes to market from its one previous user courtesy of the Iveco 2 programme, which rehomes ex-contract buy-backs.

Specification

The chassis specification of W587 LDC is plain vanilla.The pre-Tector,5.9-litre six-pot engine comes with an output of 143hp and drives through the basic five-speed transmission.The cab is similarly basic, with wind-yourown windows. Seats are cloth, however, and there's a functional radio-cassette player to while away those hours on the road.

Originally fitted with a basic box body, this Cargo has been made more distinctive by a new cream-painted drop-well pantechnicon-type body.The .ar opening is formed of a roller iutter top section above a drop awn ramp.The ramp continn inside across a third of the idth, with flat extensions at the de above storage spaces in the topped section. Flooring is of :cent phenolic resin ply.

leasurements he body measures 24f1 long,7ft wide and 8ft 6in high, giving a lad volume of 1,500ft3 or 42.5m3, he only significant cab option tted is a roof spoiler.

Externally this Cargo looks a t dull at the moment thanks to le cab and chassis being blessed ith paintwork in maroon, the lost fade-prone shade in the spectrum. However, there are no dents or scratches apart from a few minor stone chips on the grille panel and some over-exuberant pressure washing on extremities like wheels and brake servos, so a good polish would soon have the shine restored, As W587 LDC's next owner might well prefer a different colour the cosmetics won't be sorted until its sold.

The interior is totally unblemished — in fact, most of the factory fitted protective film still covers the rear of the cab.The seats are free of stains, burns and general wear and tear.

Although the Cargo's dash mouldings have often been criticised for their cheap-looking plastic construction, its only fair to say to that after nearly four years of admittedly less than intensive use the dash looks no worse than when it left the production line.

Driving Manoeuvring around the yard with a cold transmission produced a bit of drag into first and reverse gears,but this soon disappeared once we had some heat in the system. Other than that the five-speed box worked j ust as it should.

The lack of a handy motorway prevented us taking the Cargo to the max. It reached 60mph willingly enough but le the impression that the modest output and tall body would make the final lOmph somewhat harder to achieve. Bra) and steering did all the were meant to, as did a. the electrical equipmet The impressively qui mechanicals were bad; up by a complete absei of any unwanted creak rattles within the cab; t] peace was only disturb by a significant amount of wind noise from the vicinity of the top front corner' the driver's door.

The £12500 asking price is a couple of grand higher than Glass's retail for a simple box van with another 100,000km on the clock,but apart from the paintwork there's little scope f( condition-led haggling. The net body gives the Cargo a level of versatility beyond a straight bo and is arguably more convenie than a tail lift.

The relatively easy life enjoyt by this Cargo so far should enst it still has a good few productivt years ahead of it— the buyer wil get a new test certificate and 12 months' driveline or six montlu comprehensive warranty. et Dealer profile

Grays Tno:ks

Located in the capital of Surrey's stockbroker belt, Grays Trucks is to be found on the Slyfield industrial estate, where the VOSA test station and Chambers recycling plant rub shoulders with plush Audi, BMW and Lexus dealerships.

Grays has been around since the 1960s, with the current directors staging a management buyout in the late '80s. It now has two packed sites in Guildford with another in Croydon.

Although the emphasis is very much on iveco trucks, the firm has also stayed loyal to the Blue Oval's vans since the parting of the lveco Ford ways.

Vehicle: lveco Cargo ML75E15 Body: Drop-well box

Registration: W587 LDC

Year: 2000

Mileage: 76,500km

Price: £12,500 (ex-VAT) Dealer Grays Trucks, Guildford Contact: Ian Carlisle, 0208 680 060( info@graystrucks.co.uk