I recently went to Morocco, whereby, as a long time Sprinter owner, I took notice of the stock of vans running around the country. Modern cargo vans are rare. Modern vans are usually passenger vans for the tourist trade. They normally are outfitted for 18 seats. Predominating country-wide are Sprinter NCV3s and VS30s, followed up by VW Crafters in northern Morocco and Ford Transits, Renault Masters and a few Peugeot Boxers elsewhere. Surprising, Hyundai and Toyota are almost completely absent. I did over 3000k in a VS30 416 outfitted in such a manner. My butt and knees will not be the same. This is the one, with 460,000k in 6 years:
But the real revelation was the overwhelming numbers of TNs/T1s. They are the backbone of the rural, especially in the Res and Atlas Mountains', transportation system. In the Res, on the back roads, these geriatrics are the major of total vehicles on the road – outnumbering all other vehicles including cars.
The TNs/T1s date from 1977 through 1995, at which point the T1Ns took over (more on them below). There is no record that they were produced or assembled in Morocco. So it appears they were all imported from Germany. Most models are 207D and 407D, which means that most have the straight 4-cylinder engines.
These old Sprinters predominate in the rural “mixed” transportation market. That market is the down scale market of communities basically on subsistence farming in the Res and Atlas Mountains. The vans transport both people and commodities. Notably, when in the more productive valleys, these Sprinters become scarce, replaced by fleets of Transit Connect type vehicles of French and Chinese origin – and, outside of the southern desserts, seem to be privately owned. A sign of enough wealth to buy their own wheels and forgo public transportation.
Blow this picture up and see the load of rebar on the roof:
Another major market for vans is for school buses. The school authorities seem to go with the lowest bidder, so their fleets are polyglot. Some old Sprinters are still in the school bus service:
Catching Sprinters on the road is hit-and-miss. But the TNs/T1s are lined up for the town market day – parading in for the morning and out in the early afternoon:
Some of the Atlas rural routes do not have Sprinters, but are dominated by another geriatric, diesel Ford Transits – and to the north more rare, old Peugeot Boxers:
I asked why the TNs/T1s are still around. The answer was simple: they can be repaired time and again. Standardization of models and parts; simplicity in engineering and assembly, good brakes. Most repair shops are small and no bays – they work in the front yard. Mechanics are self trained, and the TNs/T1s don't need ECU diagnostic equipment. Mechanic shops seem to specialize in a limited selection of vehicles, so you find Sprinter only shops.
Further, there seem to be several larger shops that specialize in rebuilding Sprinters – though I did not see them. I surmise this due to the prevalence of a large number of vans with the exact same color that look relatively fresh. Red and blue are the current fresh colors. Clearly, rust is not a problem in Morocco.:
I put together a random album here: https://sprinter-source.com/forums/index.php?media/albums/1097/
So, there are TNs/T1s, NCV3s and VS30s. What about T1Ns? That whole Sprinter cohort is almost totally missing from Morocco. I saw only a handful. They clearly did not compete well with the older generation, and, if they were around, clearly did not survive.
But the real revelation was the overwhelming numbers of TNs/T1s. They are the backbone of the rural, especially in the Res and Atlas Mountains', transportation system. In the Res, on the back roads, these geriatrics are the major of total vehicles on the road – outnumbering all other vehicles including cars.
The TNs/T1s date from 1977 through 1995, at which point the T1Ns took over (more on them below). There is no record that they were produced or assembled in Morocco. So it appears they were all imported from Germany. Most models are 207D and 407D, which means that most have the straight 4-cylinder engines.
These old Sprinters predominate in the rural “mixed” transportation market. That market is the down scale market of communities basically on subsistence farming in the Res and Atlas Mountains. The vans transport both people and commodities. Notably, when in the more productive valleys, these Sprinters become scarce, replaced by fleets of Transit Connect type vehicles of French and Chinese origin – and, outside of the southern desserts, seem to be privately owned. A sign of enough wealth to buy their own wheels and forgo public transportation.
Blow this picture up and see the load of rebar on the roof:
Another major market for vans is for school buses. The school authorities seem to go with the lowest bidder, so their fleets are polyglot. Some old Sprinters are still in the school bus service:
Catching Sprinters on the road is hit-and-miss. But the TNs/T1s are lined up for the town market day – parading in for the morning and out in the early afternoon:
Some of the Atlas rural routes do not have Sprinters, but are dominated by another geriatric, diesel Ford Transits – and to the north more rare, old Peugeot Boxers:
I asked why the TNs/T1s are still around. The answer was simple: they can be repaired time and again. Standardization of models and parts; simplicity in engineering and assembly, good brakes. Most repair shops are small and no bays – they work in the front yard. Mechanics are self trained, and the TNs/T1s don't need ECU diagnostic equipment. Mechanic shops seem to specialize in a limited selection of vehicles, so you find Sprinter only shops.
Further, there seem to be several larger shops that specialize in rebuilding Sprinters – though I did not see them. I surmise this due to the prevalence of a large number of vans with the exact same color that look relatively fresh. Red and blue are the current fresh colors. Clearly, rust is not a problem in Morocco.:
I put together a random album here: https://sprinter-source.com/forums/index.php?media/albums/1097/
So, there are TNs/T1s, NCV3s and VS30s. What about T1Ns? That whole Sprinter cohort is almost totally missing from Morocco. I saw only a handful. They clearly did not compete well with the older generation, and, if they were around, clearly did not survive.
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