1990 Bedford Rascal Van2
Discussion
Nice spot... Lol.
Anyway, the Rascal is now an award winner, in a real, legitimate competition where people had to vote on their choice of car.
I was at the big VBOA show this weekend along with my club, it's probably the biggest vauxhall/bedford/Opel show in the country after PVS but brings together many many owners of all sorts of different Vauxhalls from the oldest to the newest.
Every club enters one vehicle into the Chairman's Cup, and then everyone visiting the show has the opportunity to vote on their favourite. There are 3 categories - Best Pre-1990 vehicle, best post-1990 vehicle and best Standard vehicle (as the other categories winners can be modified as many vauxhall owners choose to do)
The van won Best Standard Vehicle! I am chuffed. I was really surprised, I was up against some stiff competition including a very tidy 1950- something vauxhall velox, a 1960s 3 ton truck that was almost factory fresh and some others.
But I won, and soon I will receive a proper trophy to show for it as well! And also soon hopefully I'll have some other pics to put up
Anyway, the Rascal is now an award winner, in a real, legitimate competition where people had to vote on their choice of car.
I was at the big VBOA show this weekend along with my club, it's probably the biggest vauxhall/bedford/Opel show in the country after PVS but brings together many many owners of all sorts of different Vauxhalls from the oldest to the newest.
Every club enters one vehicle into the Chairman's Cup, and then everyone visiting the show has the opportunity to vote on their favourite. There are 3 categories - Best Pre-1990 vehicle, best post-1990 vehicle and best Standard vehicle (as the other categories winners can be modified as many vauxhall owners choose to do)
The van won Best Standard Vehicle! I am chuffed. I was really surprised, I was up against some stiff competition including a very tidy 1950- something vauxhall velox, a 1960s 3 ton truck that was almost factory fresh and some others.
But I won, and soon I will receive a proper trophy to show for it as well! And also soon hopefully I'll have some other pics to put up
I've had a couple. The pickup was a good one, here it is being put to use. I'm the man in black...
Also had a van, also been put to use...
And now I'm going to really blow your mind. This site was going back in 2007, just had a look it's still up. Un-updated, but I love this kind of website:
http://mylittlevan.me.uk/index.htm
Also had a van, also been put to use...
And now I'm going to really blow your mind. This site was going back in 2007, just had a look it's still up. Un-updated, but I love this kind of website:
http://mylittlevan.me.uk/index.htm
CoolHands said:
I've had a couple. The pickup was a good one, here it is being put to use. I'm the man in black...
Also had a van, also been put to use...
And now I'm going to really blow your mind. This site was going back in 2007, just had a look it's still up. Un-updated, but I love this kind of website:
http://mylittlevan.me.uk/index.htm
Love seeing them out to use like that, perfect!Also had a van, also been put to use...
And now I'm going to really blow your mind. This site was going back in 2007, just had a look it's still up. Un-updated, but I love this kind of website:
http://mylittlevan.me.uk/index.htm
And yes, I saw that site a while ago whilst I was researching the rascal to check what to look for
Trabi601 said:
I've driven a Daihatsu Hi-Jet with fridge box on the back. It was the single most frightening motoring experience I've ever had. The trial on them was abandoned after one was rolled at low speed on a roundabout.
presumably becasue the 'convertor' hadn't done their sums with the centre of gravity and the road vehicle equivalent to metacentres ... mph1977 said:
Trabi601 said:
I've driven a Daihatsu Hi-Jet with fridge box on the back. It was the single most frightening motoring experience I've ever had. The trial on them was abandoned after one was rolled at low speed on a roundabout.
presumably becasue the 'convertor' hadn't done their sums with the centre of gravity and the road vehicle equivalent to metacentres ... Nothing really changed with this.
Last week I had two of the tyres replaced, at the enormous cost of £22 each + fitting!! 12" commercial tyres but not needed to be rated for high speed clearly a bonus.
And then on Saturday, I was mighty surprised when the little van passed its MOT without even an advisory to worry about. The tester, who had had a chuckle as I pulled up in it and stepped out, remarked how surprised he was at that as well.
So, pretty happy with that. I then used it to transport some wood from Homebase back home. But that wasn't worthy of a photo. Sorry.
Next up - I'll get a service kit and then give it a bit of an "italian tune up" to try and cure the rough running it has at low revs.
Last week I had two of the tyres replaced, at the enormous cost of £22 each + fitting!! 12" commercial tyres but not needed to be rated for high speed clearly a bonus.
And then on Saturday, I was mighty surprised when the little van passed its MOT without even an advisory to worry about. The tester, who had had a chuckle as I pulled up in it and stepped out, remarked how surprised he was at that as well.
So, pretty happy with that. I then used it to transport some wood from Homebase back home. But that wasn't worthy of a photo. Sorry.
Next up - I'll get a service kit and then give it a bit of an "italian tune up" to try and cure the rough running it has at low revs.
Annoying update - head gasket failure. Overheated but thanks to a dicky gauge, I didn't notice this until the smoke filled the cabin.
That was in November, just at the beginning of winter, and so for the last three and a half months it has sat outside my house waiting to have the repair work done.
Winter and work rather prevented me having the time for this, and then I was mucked around for three weeks by a mechanic who came well recommended to me but in the end just cut off contact - why not just be up front about it and say "It's not really a job I'm looking to take on" which was exactly what my regular garage said to me, they don't focus much on older cars.
A friend then chirped up offering to get the work done for me, and he came up at the weekend with his trailer to pick the van up. Not sure his trailer was needed to carry something this small
Didn't even push the nose of the trailer down onto the tow hitch very much!
once that is back I hope to start using it again for fun. However, the next annoyance was that the headlining has fallen down in the back, will have to decide whether or not to repair or remove it.
That was in November, just at the beginning of winter, and so for the last three and a half months it has sat outside my house waiting to have the repair work done.
Winter and work rather prevented me having the time for this, and then I was mucked around for three weeks by a mechanic who came well recommended to me but in the end just cut off contact - why not just be up front about it and say "It's not really a job I'm looking to take on" which was exactly what my regular garage said to me, they don't focus much on older cars.
A friend then chirped up offering to get the work done for me, and he came up at the weekend with his trailer to pick the van up. Not sure his trailer was needed to carry something this small
Didn't even push the nose of the trailer down onto the tow hitch very much!
once that is back I hope to start using it again for fun. However, the next annoyance was that the headlining has fallen down in the back, will have to decide whether or not to repair or remove it.
This is lovely. A plumber mate had one of these in about 1989/1990 and he used to rag it everywhere until it disintegrated.
On one memorable occasion he'd parked it on a kerb and we were all knocking about, having a laugh on a summer's eve. When he buggered off I'm sure he managed to get all four wheels off the ground at the same time as he launched off the kerb.
Simpler times
On one memorable occasion he'd parked it on a kerb and we were all knocking about, having a laugh on a summer's eve. When he buggered off I'm sure he managed to get all four wheels off the ground at the same time as he launched off the kerb.
Simpler times
CoolHands said:
I've had a couple. The pickup was a good one, here it is being put to use. I'm the man in black...
Also had a van, also been put to use...
And now I'm going to really blow your mind. This site was going back in 2007, just had a look it's still up. Un-updated, but I love this kind of website:
http://mylittlevan.me.uk/index.htm
Dani Pedrosa (left) Randy Mamola (right)Also had a van, also been put to use...
And now I'm going to really blow your mind. This site was going back in 2007, just had a look it's still up. Un-updated, but I love this kind of website:
http://mylittlevan.me.uk/index.htm
Place where I used to work had 2 rascal vans for the young hooligans i.e. me and various others of a similar age - <21.
It was a long time ago but I do have memories of winding the speed all the way past it's markings racing them up the dual carriageway hill (one was ever so slightly quicker than the other), they'd max out at about 45mph till we started drafting them. That stopped after we were spotted (and reported) physically pushing one up the hill with the other. At 60mph.
I nearly crashed one after I didn't put the fuel cap on properly. Things got very interesting going round a roundabout with fuel sloshing out into the path of the rear wheel...
As they got older and with the prospect looming of using our own cars and claiming mileage, we ended up trying to break them. Which was not easy, not even putting it into 1st gear at 50mph broke it. Those suzuki engines just rev and rev...
All very stupid, I know and with insight they were brilliant bits of kit. Even if your feet and legs are the crumple zone, you can get them on 2 wheels pretty easily as well; either as a stoppie or whilst going round a corner...
It was a long time ago but I do have memories of winding the speed all the way past it's markings racing them up the dual carriageway hill (one was ever so slightly quicker than the other), they'd max out at about 45mph till we started drafting them. That stopped after we were spotted (and reported) physically pushing one up the hill with the other. At 60mph.
I nearly crashed one after I didn't put the fuel cap on properly. Things got very interesting going round a roundabout with fuel sloshing out into the path of the rear wheel...
As they got older and with the prospect looming of using our own cars and claiming mileage, we ended up trying to break them. Which was not easy, not even putting it into 1st gear at 50mph broke it. Those suzuki engines just rev and rev...
All very stupid, I know and with insight they were brilliant bits of kit. Even if your feet and legs are the crumple zone, you can get them on 2 wheels pretty easily as well; either as a stoppie or whilst going round a corner...
Edited by Zombie on Thursday 23 February 20:12
First of all, that is a magnificent beard you have.
I saw one of these vans on UK eBay, except it was a Subaru sambar that was a full camper inside and had 4wd.
These are very rare in the USA, I saw one abandoned in a motor pool and a few weeks ago one the side of the road. I believe they were sold as daihatsu.
They would be good for hunting as they are narrow enough to fit on trails and beats dragging a buck through the woods to a regular sized truck.
Check this
http://www.ulmerfarmservice.com/
I saw one of these vans on UK eBay, except it was a Subaru sambar that was a full camper inside and had 4wd.
These are very rare in the USA, I saw one abandoned in a motor pool and a few weeks ago one the side of the road. I believe they were sold as daihatsu.
They would be good for hunting as they are narrow enough to fit on trails and beats dragging a buck through the woods to a regular sized truck.
Check this
http://www.ulmerfarmservice.com/
I worked for a courier firm in the 80s who had a large fleet of the Honda equivalent of the Rascal. Honda Acty Van powered by a 550cc flat twin engine, basically half a Gold Wing.
Most of the work was in London but we did long distance too. Had to slip stream lorries just to get some speed up.
I even managed to get a brand new Kawasaki GPz900R in mine. A pick up from a local dealer. Ok, it stuck halfway out the back.
Good for camping trips too.
A mate turned a corner sharpish in Camden and it fell over and impaled itself on a metal bollard. Just missed his head.
I'd love one again but those micro vans are commanding good prices the rare times they turn up.
Most of the work was in London but we did long distance too. Had to slip stream lorries just to get some speed up.
I even managed to get a brand new Kawasaki GPz900R in mine. A pick up from a local dealer. Ok, it stuck halfway out the back.
Good for camping trips too.
A mate turned a corner sharpish in Camden and it fell over and impaled itself on a metal bollard. Just missed his head.
I'd love one again but those micro vans are commanding good prices the rare times they turn up.
5ohmustang said:
First of all, that is a magnificent beard you have.
I saw one of these vans on UK eBay, except it was a Subaru sambar that was a full camper inside and had 4wd.
These are very rare in the USA, I saw one abandoned in a motor pool and a few weeks ago one the side of the road. I believe they were sold as daihatsu.
They would be good for hunting as they are narrow enough to fit on trails and beats dragging a buck through the woods to a regular sized truck.
Check this
http://www.ulmerfarmservice.com/
Why thank you. I am blessed with the ability to grow this beard. I saw one of these vans on UK eBay, except it was a Subaru sambar that was a full camper inside and had 4wd.
These are very rare in the USA, I saw one abandoned in a motor pool and a few weeks ago one the side of the road. I believe they were sold as daihatsu.
They would be good for hunting as they are narrow enough to fit on trails and beats dragging a buck through the woods to a regular sized truck.
Check this
http://www.ulmerfarmservice.com/
This is the Suzuki based variant, but I'm pretty sure that the Subaru/Honda/Daihatsu/Toyota variants are pretty much all the same. Built on the "kei car" principle of the Japanese, fitting within a small footprint attracted lower taxation. But here in the UK they were fitted with a 970cc engine so it keeps up with UK traffic rather better than the 550/660s that Japan had.
It would, I expect, fit in the back of your Starcraft pretty much
I am considering building a frame to fit a removable bad into the back of it, could cosy up in there with the wife but I'd never get myself laid out completely flat. but for one night, it could work maybe! Got to be worth a go I reckon, raise it high enough above the rear wheel arches which would also be a storage space, fit a mattress and all is good.
with a whopping 44bhp its pretty good.. and as it only weighs about 750kgs its also quite spritely away from the lights.
Edited by Shakermaker on Friday 24th February 15:34
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