with the release of a new postal truck, here’s how you can get a grumman llv
Earlier this week (February 23, 2021), the United States Postal Service awarded a contract to the Oshkosh Corporation to replace the USPS’s aging fleet of Grumman LLV mail trucks, in service since 1987. To speed things up, early last year the USPS awarded Mercedes a contract to replace up to 10 percent of existing Grumman LLVs.
that means the usps is beginning the slow process of scraping and scrapping its fleet of grumman llvs. so how do you get one of these long-lasting vehicles? I have bad news and good news.
the bad news
the truth you probably don’t want to hear is that the usps will probably send most of those 140,000 grumman llvs to the junkyard where they will be shredded and recycled as scrap metal.
I contacted the USPS for an official statement on the fate of these LLVs, and according to PR representative Kim Frum,
“We are developing a plan to dispose of the llvs. no further details are available at this time.”
read that statement as much or as little as you want.
the grumman llv has an optimized purpose, to deliver mail and not to serve as a passenger car.
In their current, dilapidated form, llv’s are dangerous and unsuitable in modern traffic for the average traveler. Equipped with the infamous iron duke four-cylinder and a three-speed automatic transmission, these 33-year-old mail trucks probably put 60 hp on all-new wheels. today, who knows how fast they are.
Before mailers can drive them, they must be certified and pass a road test. Sure, it only takes an afternoon, but this is no ordinary truck. it is right-hand drive, has limited visibility, and is inherently slow.
Equipment-wise, they have no airbags, no air conditioning, and zero amenities other than a fan.
postmen have gone on record that while driving around town was bearable, driving an llv on the freeway shouldn’t even be legal.
“the slow acceleration, the deafening noise and the strong vibration were bad enough, but knowing that the body of that vehicle would crush like a soda can in an accident is what made it such an experience. terrifying. “
The icing on the cake is that they are setting themselves on fire more and more. It’s a serious uptrend. Last year alone, 24 grumman llvs burned to a crisp.
Logically, in its 33-year history, the USPS would have probably auctioned off a handful, but when was the last time you saw a decommissioned Grumman LLV driving around?
the good news
It’s not entirely impossible to get a grumman llv usps postal truck. there are a few isolated cases in my research of these grumman llvs making their way to the public.
Your best and most legal bet to get one of these USPS mail trucks is government auctions. the most popular sites include govdeals.com and govplanet.com. you can also monitor auctions at your state, county, and city level, just to be safe.
there’s this lone 2013 listing of a 1991 grumman llv mail truck making its way to the public. With 230,000 web visits, it appears to be the most famous internet auction one. because of what has come before.
Another source to find one of these is Grumman LLVs are ones sold to Universities and colleges to deliver on-campus mail. You’d have to do your research, phoning or e-mail large universities asking what kind of delivery vehicles they have and what happens to them when they’re retired.
david stacy, a corvette engine aficionado, earned his grumman llv from ball state university in muncie, indiana. that llv made the rounds on the internet for swapping a corvette engine.
You can also try your luck getting one from a movie studio. Movie studios often have Grumman LLVs as prop vehicles for movies, commercials, etc. UK-based electric conversion company, classic and electric vehicles got a new one to use as a prop for a potential electric vehicle conversion in 2019.
You can also join a dedicated group of grumman delivery vehicle enthusiasts on a forum or even on facebook. here’s one for metro, grumman, & vintage vans.
In discussions, there’s a good chance a grumman llv will show up for sale or someone will have a lead.
Another source from which you will have a good chance of finding a grumman llv mail truck is word of mouth and a few hits on the pavement.
usps postal service vehicles are not supposed to stop for more than 10 minutes at a time if they are on the clock.
if you’re driving and keep seeing a parked grumann llv postal truck, there’s a good chance it’s not in service and has made its way into the public. now is your chance to write a friendly note and contact information on a piece of paper, leave it on the llv and hope for the best.
if you hit it off with your mailman, offer him a cold drink and ask if he has any leads on these broken grumman llvs. They may very well have insider information on an errant grumman llv that slipped through the cracks and was spotted in a junkyard used by the usps somewhere.
finally, members of the usps maintenance division surely know where most of these grummans end up. if you really want one, it’s up to you to contact someone in that division and let them know of your desire to buy one. They’ll probably tell you to get lost, but someone could be nice and let you know that there’s a grumman llv lurking.
if you really want a usps grumman llv, if you’re resourceful enough, you’ll make it happen.
Any other potential clues you might know? let me know in the comments.