The front wing on the Renault 4 was looking a little sad after someone managed to dent it while I was parked, that and the bodged repair on the top edge where the rust had eaten away at the thinner folds meant it needed to be replaced. I got the wing from Germany and the paint online, early June I painted on a warm day and then left it to fully dry and harden for a while. Yesterday I got to fitting it on the car…
VW LT28 Reimo Camper Update
Over the past few years the vehicle that has proved to be the most reliable on the road and a real workhorse for holidays and trips has been the VW LT28 Reimo camper. Not written much about it but feel the need to update it’s status and throw in some pictures too.
2014
Trips for the year started at Easter with a trip to the New Forest. It all started well but as we travelled the M3 we got some traffic problems and then a problem with front caliper, the front brakes seized on. Luckily we were close to a service area so we pulled in and called the AA. After about 90 minutes the patrol arrived and we agreed the caliper was seized. Together we managed to free the caliper piston but it was not working as it should. It was Good Friday and the beginning of the bank holiday weekend. The AA guy managed to arrange for a new pair of calipers to be in Southampton for 9am in the morning, we set off for some wild camping in Southampton, lead by the AA van and breaking only with the hand brake and tapping the pedal enough to activate the brake lights. We made it to a park in Southampton and waited for the AA guy until the morning. He arrived and we paid for the calipers, he fitted the one that seized and we were on our way. We spent a few days in the forest, horses and all.
We spend the May half term week in Paris and then a couple of days by the coast in Dieppe. What has become a typical start saw us driving to Paris in one day, nothing out of the ordinary, takes all day but worth the effort for a good few days camping in the Bois de Boulogne.
Late July took us on a trip to Cornwall, to the Port Eliot Festival, 5 days camping in grounds of the beautiful Port Eliot house.
In August we headed back over to France for a road trip taking in Metz for a long weekend, on to Alpirsbach in the high black forest in Germany and then down to Freiburg for almost a week where I spent some time looking to buy a Renault 4.
I eventually bought a Renault 4 in Freiburg but on eBay, in Essex. The LT works very well for a family of four, no mechanical issues or camping kit issues on this trip, the van just worked well, actually I remember one minor problem, after two weeks of sunshine we left Frieburg on a rainy morning heading north, joking about how on a trip to Glasgow long ago in the rain the wiper on the T2 camper came off and as if it knew, the wiper came of the LT! Finding a place to stop and do the repair was fun in the heavy rain but we were soon on our way.
2015
I seem to remember Easter was early in 2015 so we spent the holidays in an AirBnB in Rouen, very good but just not camping.
The camper fun started in May with what had up until then become the annual trip to Paris. Another days driving and we were there. We did the normal things, find the pitch, sort out the bikes etc and fill the on board water tank under the bed with lots of water for a weeks stay. The next morning I went to fill the kettle with water from the on board supply only to find no water in the system, looking in the tank it was totally empty, I knew that I had put about 70L in the day before and we had used none at that point, so where was the water and what had happened?
Looking over the tank and feeling into the almost inaccessible areas where the water enters and leaves the tank I found that all was well there, not damp at all, turns out after much fiddling about that there was a hairline crack in the seam of the Fiamma water tank, all of the water that I put in had run out into the voids under the floor of the van, the ground was dry so all the water was still in the van, not good.
Over the next few days the floor of the van became ‘spongy’ as the water soaked into the 1980’s styrofoam insulation and 18mm old style MDF / fibreboard floor, by the end of the week the areas that you can walk on had become styrofoam porridge and van had started to smell quite interesting.
We made the journey home, windows open and hoping that the water damage was reversible. Over the next few weeks I stripped the van back to the original LT floor, everything was taken out and what could be salvaged was, the bed was fine, everything else on the floor needed to be replaced. We had a plan to leave for Cornwall on July 28 and it was mid-May.
Over the coming weeks I repaired the metal floor, primed and painted it, then treated the voids with waxoil and prepared the area forward of the partition for a new floor.
The first job was to install some battens to screw the floor to, I discovered SikaFlex 221 and stuck the battens down, opting for modern thin foil insulation I packed the voids under the floor with that and then measured, cut, shaped and installed a high quality 12mm ply floor.
The water had damaged about 8cm of the plywood walls of the van too so I retrofitted some new ply panels to the walls complete with some small vent holes to stop moisture build up behind. All of the new timber was treated with some extrior varnish. The bed was reinstalled but no water tank, I have opted for a jerry can located in the wardrobe, easy to fill, easy to see if it leaks!
When fitting the floor I needed some more orange paint, I couldn’t work out exactly what colour it was so I ordered some Rustoleum CombiColor in Red and a RAL 2000 (I think) Orange, mixing the red with the orange until I got it just about right for a match, the original colour is on the outside, my mix on the inside, turns out it is exactly RAL 2004.
During the refit I noticed that there was also a leak in the gutter of the van that was damaging the wall behind the sliding door, after much head scratching I decided to remove that section of wall lining and replace, this involved making a new window frame, new upper lining section and then lower section behind the spare wheel. After having discovered the SikaFlex stuff I just had to use a couple of tubes to reseal the gutter all the way around the van, it’s a job well done the front of the van is dry now and much nicer place to be.
The floor at the rear kitchen area of the van was replaced, the floor under the sink and fridge was left untouched as time was running out and Cornwall was calling, we spent another 5 days at the Port Eliot Festival before taking the Brittany Ferries ship from Plymouth over to Roscoff.
It was quite a wet time in France, lots of rain, I discovered that water was leaking in the rear doors, nothing could be done, just had to plug the holes. Further inspection when we made it home revealed the the ladder on the door had actually caused the door to loose it’s slightly curved shape and the seal no longer did it’s job. The ladder has sadly since been removed and the door repaired.
The van’s 30th year went well in the end, not bad for something as old as it is and what is basically a shed driving along the road.
2016
The van year started early with an early MOT, why, because I wanted to start work on the floor at the back of the van and repair it properly. The cam belt, water pump, all the belts and leak off pipes have now been replaced as well and another of the injector pipes, an oil and filter and the engine was back to just how it should be, sounding great for a 2.4L straight six with 400,000+ kms on the clock.
Stripping out the kitchen revealed quite a bit of water damage, all of the floor needed to be replaced and the walls too, just like the rest of the van. I decided to replace the old fridge too, it was a 12v only unit from the 80s, totally inefficient and a bit to big for it’s internal size. The outer wall of the van need some welding to repair some of the rust / rot, this was done simply and correctly, treated, painted and sealed with wax oil.
I repaired the floor with the same method as I used in the main area of the van, cleaned and repaired the metal floor, primed it, painted it and installed some battens, insulation and new 12mm ply floor. Refitting the kitchen on top was quite straight forward and the van is basically back to how it was but essentially new, I am very pleased with that and it feels very comfortable to be in.
After all the work was done inside I spent some time tidying up the paintwork on the outside, fitting a new shelf / table under the side window and finally adding a small sliding window to the sliding door, more of a safety thing that a need for more light, it kind of opens up a blind spot, I let my dad loose with a jigsaw.
I had bought a new 3.2M Fiamma F45 awning in a winter sale, so I fitted that too, drilling holes on the inside of the van to secure the mounting plates to, a nice new addition to the van, looks modern too, all white!
In May time had come for another road trip, France again, well no, not this time as the French had decided to blockade the refineries and diesel was in short supply. We filled the van in Kent and headed left from Calais into Belgium and on to Brugge for a few days. Some great weather for a few days, cycling around and generally enjoying the more comfortable interior, until day four…
Day Four was wet and windy, in the afternoon we had arrived back at the van in a downpour. After drying off the rain out side got heavier until it looked like a solid wall of water. Suddenly there was a massive ‘bang’ and the van shook, sparks came out of the electric sockets and all of the wiring in the walls was glowing white for a few seconds then it was gone. I assumed that the post outside the van that has a campsite wifi aerial on it was hit by lightning, all over in a flash and apparently no harm done. A short while later after the rain had stopped a German guy came over to tell us that he saw the roof of the LT being struck by lightning, thinking about it I went onto the roof to look, there was a small hole in the fibreglass about the size of a new 5p coin, about 10cm from where my head was inside, all over in a flash.
I discovered a couple of days later that the strike had damaged the wiring to the rear lights, so a lash up was required and we moved on with limited rear lights. Further investigation also revealed that the on board battery charger, leisure battery and a couple of other driving bulbs had been effected too.
Not much more to say about that other than I spent a day upside down under the van replacing and repairing the rear loom including a new towing relay, the rear lights have never been better.
In late July we set off ffor the Port Eliot Festival in Cornwall, 5 days of sunshine and camping in the Cornish coutryside. This time we travelled back to Portsmouth for a Brittany Ferrries ship to St Malo and two weeks in France.
After all of the events with the van over past few years behind us we had a quiet trip travelling around southern Brittany, camping and eating AND no van issues at all.
Looking forward to 2017, what will happen next….
Renault 4 Update
It’s been a while since I posted anything about the Renault 4 so it’s about time I did.
Over the past 18 months the Renault 4 has become my car of choice, I have several others, namely the new VW Transporter that I have been busy converting to a camper and travelling in, the VW Up! and the Reimo LT28, the Renault 4 has been the car I choose for many reasons. It’s small, it’s reasonably economical, it’s got great character and it’s super easy to clean inside and out.
Other than the MOT in May last year and the minor preparation for that there had been little to do on the car, I still had some odd less than smooth running, the car would run and drive but it didn’t feel that it had all of it’s limited power.
I replaced the carburetor with a reconditioned unit from France, a Zenith 28IF no less, this was a massive improvement. I had fitted a repair kit into the existing carb but there was actually a crack in the casing that I noticed after fitting the recon one.
I also took the time to inspect and replace the exhaust manifold gasket, the gasket was fine but only a couple of the nuts on the stud were actually tight. I decided to put a small air cleaner on the carburetor rather than the stock unit and with all the work done the car runs flawlessly, very economical and super smooth running.
In late summer, after much driving and wondering why the car was filling with exhaust gas I discovered that the problem was not actually at the front of the car at all, it had nothing to do with the exhaust system either, it turned out to be the tailgate rubber seal, the door wasn’t closing quite as snug as it should and the gas was being drawn back into the car, I ordered a new one and as a temporary measure a couple of pieces of 15mm foam pipe lagging from Poundland fitted perfectly on each side and the door closed and the seal was made, no more gas in the car, marvelous.
In September I found a set of Renault 5 Turbo Gordini wheels for sale somewhat locally on eBay, I bid and won them for £10.00 each, they looked quite rough and when I collected them they were rough, oxidised and very dirty. I spent around 10 hours each on the wheels hand finishing them, lots of rubbing down with wet and dry paper and then polishing with Autosol Solvol, they have come up really well and not bad for the cost and effort. I ordered 12 new wheel nuts from a website in France (Top Retro) that fitted the profile of the nut seats on the wheels. I went for Uniroyal RainExpert 155/75 R13 tyres, all in around £200.00 for the wheel and tyres.
Setting of for Hundon to do some work on the car in late September, loaded with the four wheel and tyres and the thoughts that I would get those on the car and perhaps, once and for all, find the source of the front wheel ‘rattle’ during the days tinkering. I got as far as Sturmer is Suffolk and the problems started. Lots of noise from the front of the car, water temperature up and squealing belts. I pulled over to have a look, the water pump had lost a securing bolt and water was simply running out of the front of it, time for the AA. After a quick relay to the workshop I took the pump off, deciding to tap and plug the hole in the water pump and fit a bung in it I managed to get the pump back on the car and running again quite quickly, hopefully the repair will be long lasting, I have found a brand new head and head gasket since so I have one in stock should problems with the water pump return.
The same day I fitted the Gordini wheels on the car and found the problem ‘rattle’ from the front end. The wheels look great with the slightly wider tyres, more on that later. The ‘rattle’ turned out to be simple in the end, though not knowing what to expect I hadn’t noticed the problem before. I stripped both brake calipers off the car and inspected those, lubricated the running pins and reassembled, that is when I noticed that on each side of the car only the outer brake pad actually had a retaining clip, as it was the same both sides I assumed that that was how it was, I had new pads and clips so I fitted those and not it is rattle-free from the front end, I will have to get a radio now for entertainment.
So, winter came and much driving around in the car, me and the dog going for rides and long walks, cafe trips and trips to Suffolk all went off without issue. New Years Day comes and it’s time for a family trip with the dog, two adults, two children and a dog all in a Renault 4, now another problem. Up until now it had only been me in the car, sometimes with the dog, sometimes some guitars, sometimes the drumkit, some computers, but only ever me. Fully loaded the car wouldn’t go around corners as the rear typres contacted the wings, we limped home all leaning to turn left and right, no damage done but it is now a car just for two. I have the original wheel that I want to refurbish so I will use those for the summer months to come.
All good fun.
The Story of my Renault 4
Why did I want to buy a Renault 4? In January 2014 I was sitting in a cafe in Montmartre during the winter Paris classic car tour Vincennes en Anciennes watching the normal selection of old Citroen 2CVs and Dianes, Fiat 500s, obscure Italian sports cars and a variety of old British classics driving through the square, I wanted something that was different but still cool but I didn’t know what that was. I took a photo of a Citroen Diane which I really liked but couldn’t get away from the memory of driving to London in the early 80s, screaming down the motorway in a 2CV holding on to the roof, wasn’t much fun, I also have a soft top buggy so I wanted something with a solid roof!
I also decided that I wanted something useable, not just an occasional car, something I could use everyday that was practical, robust and fun. Eventually I decided that car was a Renault 4. The Renault 4 seemed basic enough, something that could be repaired with a few basic tools, simple design, agricultural engineering and not to fussy.
There didn’t appear to be very many for sale in the UK, most of what I came across on the internet where either to far gone for sensible repair or owned by enthusiasts who seemed to be trying to hard. Eventually I found one that was reasonable local and described on a Renault 4 website as a ‘Classic French Car’, there where lots of pictures of the car during it’s ‘restoration’ and it was now for sale. I made arrangements to see the white Renault 4 and went off to see it. I have been involved with VWs for about 30 years now and have seen the scene grow from the 1980s minority interest to what it is today, I wasn’t prepared for the Renault 4 world at all and found that it attracts some rather odd people, the owner of the white Renault 4 was the first….
I arrived to look over the car, it all looked good from the outside, not to bad for a mid 80s car, typical random coloured fluffy seat covers on the inside etc. The seller was apparently a Renault 4 expert with a website so I was in luck. I had a look underneath to see the condition of the floor, it had been welded with strange shaped plates here and there, probably gasless mig welding, the spatter was everywhere and the job clearly not done very well, the plates where not painted and had take on a lovely brown rust colour. The engine sounded OK and looked clean enough but after about 10 minutes running on idle as we discussed the price I noticed that there was a steady stream of oil coming from around the rocker cover, the expert told me that ‘they all did that’ to which I replied ‘surely they only do that when there is something wrong?’, this is when the seller seemed to take offence at my identification of the ‘bad points’ and decided that the car was not for me. I was happy with that, an oily rusty car for good money is not what I was after, I went home.
I know a thing or two about buying and importing cars from Germany, the T25 that I have talked about in the past came from Karlsrhue and the three day train and road trip to get it was a great caper so I took a look in Germany. I found a chap called Chris in Freiburg im Breisgau, a city that I know quite well and I though I knew where his car lot was. He had a large selection of Renault 4s from France all for sale. I kept an eye on the listings he had and made a plan to visit in August to take a look.
While looking for a car I found one car that came up a for sale a few times, once in Norfolk, then South Wales then Burnham on Crouch. I had had a chat with the seller of the car when it was in South Wales but decided he wanted more for the car than it was worth, I had a number of pictures of the car and though that is was structurally OK but probably need some minor cosmetic work. It eventually came up for sale again in late July shortly before I was going to Germany, it turns out a German bloke had bought it from South Wales and decided it was not for him.. more on that later…
In August I visited the car lot in Freiburg to look at the Renault 4s, I had decided that I would buy one if there was one that was solid and sound enough for me to drive to the UK on export plates. There where some great looking cars, a 1970s chrome bumper model was very nice but all far to expensive, some around 10000 euros. I decided to try and buy the car I had seen for sale in the UK, so while in Freiburg I made contact, arranged a price and a day to view and collect the car from Essex.
Later I found that he had takes some pictures of me looking at the cars, this one I found on his web site.
The day for the trip to Burnham on Crouch came and I set off with a one way ticket and a pocket full of money. When I arrived at the station I saw the car waiting for me, it looked exactly as I had hoped and I recognised the car from the other times I had seen it for sale, the pictures I had of the car where good and the car was as good as I had hoped. We went for a drive in the car and it was clear that it was structurally sound but there was something odd with the mechanical side, it rattled everywhere and was running quite poorly, starved of fuel I though. Looking over the paperwork I was satisifed that everything was OK, French and UK paperwork seemed in order but there was no MOT certificate, we checked online and it had 11 months MOT, so I decided to buy it and drive it home, just as well as I had already insured it. While inspecting the car it was clear that the was something wrong with the issuing of the MOT certificate, apparently no advisory notices on the MOT. I am not an MOT tested but I don’t think one bald tyre, one missing windscreen wiper, the lack of rear brakes and only one working headlight are grounds for passing a test, clearly a dodgy MOT.
The drive back to Cambridge was great fun, wonky steering, lack of power unless at full throttle and the rattling sounds from all over, but really good fun, what a crazy car and just what I wanted. On the trip I made the decision that I would drive the car for a month before doing anything to it, just to see if it kept going and find out what was going to fall off. During the month I made an exhaustive list of all of the work that I needed to do to make the car as good as it could be, anyone who knows my other cars knows how well maintained they are, they are not all shiny and perfect but they are mechanically excellent and so far totally reliable as a result. The list went on and on, five new tyres, four new shock absorbers, new disks and pads, new shoes and wheel cylinders, new read wheel bearings, new front upper wishbones, new windscreen wipers, replacement front indicator / sidelight holders, new headlamps, new water pump, new exhaust, new fuel pump, carb repair kit etc. etc. I spent hours looking for new old stock parts on Ebay from all over Europe and a steady stream of parts arrived for bargain prices. I set about fitting all the parts.
Before I bought the car I had though that I would use some local classic car and specialist Renault garages to do some of the work that I didn’t have time to do, so the first job for the local classic car garage was to fit a pair of new Firestone tyres to the back of the car, investigate the torsion bar rattle on the right side of the car and, as they have a ramp, inspect and replace where necessary the lower wishbone bushes and find out why it was running poorly. This is where the real classic car garage comes into it’s own, experts doing expert jobs. Alas, not this classic car garage, they failed to find the problem with the torsion bar, they failed to fix the play in the lower wishbone bush and only found lesser branded tyres. It appears from the cars in their garage that they only change lightbulbs on Triumphs. I moved on.
A month or so later it was snowing, I decided to ask a local Renault specialist to source and replace the rear brakes as I had not had time to remove and inspect them to find the problem, perhaps they could look at the torsion bar probles too, I had sorted out the front wishbone problems myself. After a week in the specialist garage they couldn’t identify the rear brake shoe manufacturer and could see no problems with the torsion bar. I asked for a picture of the brake shoes, obvious what they where to me as soon as I saw them and I ordered a new kit from Lyon, arrived in two days. I collected the car and we fitted the brake parts, job done. So much for the local experts.
Over the winter I fitted all the parts I had sources myself, the waterpump was a bit of a problem and I had to find a thermostat with the correct temperature. The hardest part to find was the full lenght single section exhaust, none of the UK suppliers had one, I found one in Germany and one in France but the shipping was impossible, the package was to long. I planned a trip to Le Touquet for a few days to get an exhaust but before I booked the crossing I managed to find a full lenght exhaust in the UK by using the OEM part number, it was listed on Amazon for £19.99 including delivery, it arrived next day in a 9 foot box!
I solved the problems with the poor running by refurbishng the carbureta with a 15 euro kit from Germany that I fitted in about an hour, then adjusted the mixture and timing by ear, no need for any expensive kit, when it sounds right, it’s right.
In May I took the car to my local garage for it’s MOT, I was sure it would be fine and it was, it passed with no advisories at all, I was very happy with that, all the cars I considered stated that they that had ‘passed with flying colours’ or ‘flown through the MOT’, all rubbish, a car passes or fails the MOT and mine had passed, only passed and the emissions where in the normal range.
A couple of weeks ago while trying to work out how best to remove the front torsion bars without personal damage I came across a French Renault 4 workshop manual that had a description of the process, my loose translation of the bit about rebuilding the suspension after servicing it was that you should ‘take care to replace the rubber collars on the torsion bars as they could not be fitted when the bars where installed in the car’ (basic French to English). Rubber Collars? I couldn’t immediately see those on my car in the same place as the ones on the line drawing in the manual… I found that the ones on my car had worked their way to the very front of the torsion bars and where up agains the anti roll bar. Some further lying down under the car, looking and measuring I decided that the passenger side of the car had a slight dip in the floor pan, just enough to cause the torsion bar to come into contact with it during normal driving, in fact there was some minor wear on the floor pan as a result and it was quite shiny. I cleaned the torsion bars up a little with some WD40 and found I could slide the rubbers back to the correct position but the floor was causing the rubbers to get squashed. I got a few bits of timber and made a yoke around the torsion bar, lifted the car with a trolley jack with my dad keeping a close eye on the floor pan, at what seemed like a great height there was a loud pop and the floor pan went back into shape, I let the car back down and took a look at the torsion bar, there was enough clearance and I could secure the rubber collar in position.
Now when driving down the road the sounds of that Salvation Army playing tambourines in the passenger seat are a thing of the past.
For anyone considering a Renault 4, you will find a ready supply of ‘new old stock’ parts on Ebay both in the UK and elsewhere in Europe for very little money. My advise is not to read any of the Renault 4 forums, they are all full of the normal enthusiasts who will always tell you you are doing it wrong and their way is the only way. It seems that everywhere you go someone will want to talk to you about the car, they had one, their parents had one, their geography teacher had one, they learned to drive in one, so much to talk about, I took the Renault and the VW Buggy to a show a couple of weeks ago, plenty of interest in both and lots to talk about.
Enjoy.
DIY Wind Turbine – WindBlue DC-540
Having a look at the videos I have on my YouTube channel and found that this one has just clocked up over 125,000 views. I posted it in late 2009 and the viewing has been pretty consistent since then.
The original Description Text read “This little film shows the making of a wind turbine that is based around a WindBlue DC-540 PMA. The turbine was made in two days using some great tools and with a clear plan in mind. It is currently mounted on a 4m mast with three guy wires. Output is connected to the battery bank via a diode. Charge control is handled by a Xantrex controller and dump load. Maximum unloaded voltage is 68v, not measured the current yet. This is not a WindBlue endorsed video, I am simply a customer who ordered the DC-540 from their web site and had it shipped to the UK.”
I have had numerous emails from viewers and many responses direct to the YouTube page and it made me wonder why the people who respond even bother. Looking at the responses it seems that I have got it ALL wrong, there are so many suggestions on how to make it better, faster, bigger, more efficient etc. The fact the I made the turbine with an off the shelf alternator from the US and some scrap I found lying around AND when it was on a turbine mast in my garden it ACTUALLY PRODUCED POWER seemed to have passed everyone by. While I can appreciate that some degree of optimisation is a good idea it is not worth getting to technical about it to the point where you actually don’t make anything, sure refinements are a good idea but you can only take so much power out of the wind before a stall, consider everything but MAKE SOMETHING!
There have been a number of responses from viewers who like the approach and to them I thank you for your interest, you are the people who will probably get something out of the film, perhaps they have all made under performing, inadequately sourced, poorly constructed wind turbines, but al least they may have had a go at making one and learned a lot along the way.
The real problem for me is when the experts wade in, I find this along the way with all of my projects and interests, the fetishisation of the items, the construction methods, the components used, the tools etc is all pointless, the fact that I made the item and got it working is enough for me, it does what I wanted it to do. After almost 6 years the exact same turbine is still on a mast, producing enough of an output and combined with a couple of other doubtless under performing poorly designed turbines with dodgy unoptimised blades to run an electricity meter in reverse while connected to an inefficient grid tie inverter, but it does the job and the bills are lower as a result of it.
Long Time No Talking To You…
Well, that is what my Japanese mate Yukio used to say. It has been a long time since I have added anything here, the last year or so has been a year of change for us here in Cambridge and it’s time for some retrospective documentation of those changes, developments and all the fun that comes along with it.
The last year has been full of creativity, changing a few vehicles here and there, making stuff, fixing stuff and travelling with many trip to Cornwall, France, Holland and places in-between. There is the story of the VW LT Camper to tell, to update where I left of with that. The story of the Renault 4 and all the people I have met along the way with that, the story of the Beach Buggy and the minor refit after 25 years of ownership. The change from T4 to T5.1 and another new VW joins us, just today.
This week sees the arrival of the long due Allotment album, ‘Songs From Meadow Long’, more on that to come too along with some other band news.
For now though, here is a picture of the Renault 4, the day it arrived in September 2014.
VW Beach Buggy
It’s been a while since I have posted anything on here, I have been quite busy with work over the past few months. There have been some developments in the VW area though. We went to Amiens in France for the brocante in April, it’s been an odd year for the weather so far and even then in April it was much colder that we have been used to in previous years. The van held up well and got us there and back with no drama.
Over the past few months I have been searching out as many pictures and videos that I can find documenting my VW history, from a picture of my in 197x next to my dad’s 6V beetle and even a video of my 1972 Bay Devon Moonraker that I made in Chichester in 1991 on cine film… all to be posted on here very soon.
The VW Beach Buggy that was purchased and built in 1989 from Country Volks in Basingstoke has finally made it to Cambridge, it’s my time to look after it now, so after 24 years in Suffolk it’s made it to the city. I have take it to a few shows this year, Stanford Hall was the first outing in it this year. After 50 miles in 10 years it did 250 in one day, no problems to speak of, except the non-functional fuel gauge, I found that a wooden fork can tell how much fuel there is.
We all went down to Battlesbridge for the show there on the Sunday and a couple of weekends ago we took the LT to Jimmy’s Farm for the show there, all very good events.
The next trip in the buggy will be to the show in Holt on July 6th, looking forward to that one and lets hope the weather is ‘Buggy Weather’.
Reimo and Flickr
The interest that the Reimo van gets is always a surprise, this though is the most surprising. I found that someone has made a couple of the pictures in the photostream favourites on Flickr, not unusual as this has happened before but what happened next was certainly something different.
I got an email from Leah Giberson in Boston MA, she has posted a painting of the van that she has completed. More surprising is that her other work is of classic AirStream vans and the such like.
Leah has offered to send a print of the painting in the new year, more on that when it arrives.
Allotment – The Plough and the Well
With just about a week to go before the ‘Folk in Autumn’ gig at the Cornerhouse in Cambridge it’s time to go back into the archives and play something from gigs gone by.
This time it’s from the 2010 Ely Folk Festival, The Plough and the Well.
But The Something Happened – Kindle Version
Back in July over at Golden Books we published our first book, ‘But Then Something Happened: A Story of Everyday Dementia’ by Chris Carling. We are now very please to announce that we have published the Kindle version too.
The printed book is available from Amazon and all other book retailers, the Kindle version is available from the Amazon Kindle store.
More to come from Golden Books very soon with the announcement of or latest book….