Agreed, it does look like that. Perhaps they were using up 350 bodies & welding in a bit extra?

There would also need to be a seam at the front of the van box to match the side. Although it's not a great picture it *doesn't* look like there's an obvious seam there?*

* it could be because i have my mulled wine goggles on!

The other small ripple 400 with the large ripple rear doors i posted earlier - could it be that the rear doors have been replaced? rather than all side panels? Just thinking aloud here. Did they fit the 'teddy bear' indicators throughout Spanish production?

it is - and it's fascinating! I love it, and I'd love something with a low roof I think

Would it though? what's to say the front and rear of the van box aren't 400 pressings? It's all a bit odd isn't it. I wonder if any Spaniards out there know the answers to this?

Guess Russell wins this week's Poirot award?
As well as the cigar...

Haha, beat me to it, i've been thinking about it! Yes, it could be they had a load of old 350 roof pressings left to use up - that makes sense. Later Spanish 400's had square headlamps, plastic grilles & no ally side trim on the van box. Nor did they have any signs of welding/extending... Hmm...

1977:







Yes, not great pictures - i can't find the ones i found earlier where it was clear there wasn't a swage/weld line.

no! 1973:



1975:

When I was in France, around 2004, I was in the area east of Poitiers(I'm fairly sure) and drove past a compound full of ex-post office vans(about 15-20 of them, some were grey ripples). I've been trying to remember the name of the place where this compound is situated, but so far, I can't I know the road is on an east-west alignment, but looking at the map and Google earth, I'm yet to locate it. If/when I do, I'll post on here and perhaps somebody can find out their fate, when in the area.

AK 400, 350 or 250 only relates to the volume in the cargo bay. This was done by the French solely to determine how much good the 2CV Van could carry. Whatever they decorated the rest of the Vans with is in a way irrelevant. The Spanish AK is a 400 body but 350 motor (Ami 6) + all the other ’’ bits ’’ they fitted from many other A series.
As soon as a 2CV Van doesn’t fit ‘’common’’ look, many folks gets confused including myself when I saw my first AK 250 in France some years ago. That has been dismissed many times, nevertheless I still see the ‘’odd’’ AK 250. It is not odd to me, just a normal healthy AK 250, no more no less.

Viking,
I'd have thought that 'payload' might be closer to the mark, as there's a heck of a difference in weight between 1.26 cubic metres of different cargos.

Even if transporting something such as timber, the maximum volume in an aks400 would need to be considerably less than 0.5 cu.m. to avoid overloading...

ken.

OK I shall eat a bit of humble pie. Forgot to mention that the 400 is endeed max 400 kg and 350 kg and so on but the 400 kg is also related to the room available, hence the higher roof on AK 400