When in 1983 the company was bought by Dempster and became known as Shelvoke Dempster, front loaders joined the company's range of vehicles. Vehicles produced under the RouteChief-RouteKing names were also introduced, using the swing-link packer method of their identical American counterparts. Despite similar outward appearances, the Shelvoke-Dempsters had composite-construction bodies as opposed to all-steel construction. "In fact they had aluminium bodies with only the bracing ribs and frame being made of steel, as well as a short two-foot section at the rear of the body where it met the tailgate/hopper assembly" notes Bill Wotherspoon who operated Routechiefs and Revopaks in his hauling firm Wastebusters. "This had a steel inner lining designed to prevent puncture/abrasion damage from the load as it was crushed into the body." 
Routechief swing-link system mirrored that used on American Dempster Route Chief bodies 
Swing-link packer lowered into hopper The Dempster association would prove to be short-lived one, as the firm was sold once again in 1988 to private interests, and ceased operation altogether in 1991. Thus ended a nearly seventy year run as a producer of the highest quality refuse vehicles, in many cases hand-built to meet the demanding needs of the industry. Above all, it was for their standards of engineering excellence that Shelvoke & Drewry contributed to advances in the design and operation of refuse collection vehicles. The extraordinary success of the Freighter, which remained in production for thirty years, established a company that although not producing the cheapest vehicles, was regarded by many as "the best."
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