1990 Bedford Rascal Van2

[Shakermaker]

Not quite sure why the title indicates this is Van2, slight error on the part of the mods but I'll let it slide. Also this first post has been edited to remove the guessing game I originally set up.

Bought this,

Untitled by Alex Lear, on Flickr

Untitled by Alex Lear, on Flickr

Untitled by Alex Lear, on Flickr

Untitled by Alex Lear, on Flickr

Edited by Shakermaker on Monday 18th September 15:38

[Shakermaker]

Munter said:

"What'chu talkin' 'bout, Willis?"

Does my edited post make things any clearer?

[Shakermaker]

Munter said:

Umm. I assume it's a Willys Jeep. Hence "What'chu talkin' 'bout, Willis?" What with Willis and Willys sounding the same and all.

Ah right. No, its not that. Which already makes me question my belief of the "facts" surrounding my vehicle, and I'm still being unclear perhaps.

This was sold in various versions with its original badges, with GM badges and with Ford badges on depending on the market, rather than the Jeep or similar which I guess always had the same badge regardless of where it was constructed.

I'm overcomplicating it in my quest to be clever. Damn.

[Shakermaker]

Vitorio said:

Shakermaker said:

Ah right. No, its not that. Which already makes me question my belief of the "facts" surrounding my vehicle, and I'm still being unclear perhaps.

This was sold in various versions with its original badges, with GM badges and with Ford badges on depending on the market, rather than the Jeep or similar which I guess always had the same badge regardless of where it was constructed.

I'm overcomplicating it in my quest to be clever. Damn.

So something of an alfa arna / nissan cherry kind of deal then?

Nothing in the ford list springs out as GM to me: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_badge-engine...

EDIT: cant find anything rebadged as a ford either, its all mazda/nissan stuff mostly.

.

Yes.

Clue - it isn't originally a GM or Ford vehicle (hence not appearing in your wiki link list)

[Shakermaker]

Vitorio said:

Hmm, probably something either for the asian market or something military then, my beard isnt able to repel riddles of this magnitude

Orignally Asian.

But readily available in the UK.

[Shakermaker]

Vitorio said:

320touring said:

Mazda 121?

No GM link AFAIK, and my lord, would that be a disappointing conclusion to a thread like this.

No, it isn't. But don't get your hopes up.

[Shakermaker]

Munter said:

Something Daewoo? GM had their fingers in that pie. And there seems to be suggestions that "Daewoo Automobile Romania became Ford Romania" on various sites.

No.

Next clue

Its considered a Commercial Vehicle for insurance purposes.

[Shakermaker]

marshalla said:

Suzuki Carry/Ford Pronto/Bedford Rascal/Daewoo Damas ?

Bingo.

From eBay -



What's not to love?
It's red.
It's rear wheel drive
Lightweight for optimum power to weight ratio.
It has the potential for a Suzuki motorbike engine. (Which it won't get from me to be fair)

Edited by Shakermaker on Monday 6th June 15:04

[Shakermaker]

Vitorio said:

Looks to be an 8th gen suzuki Carry, which wasnt produced as a ford (7th gen was, and that wasnt sold in the UK as a ford)

The little thing is possibly quite fun, but this thread.... meh, couldve been better without the convoluted guesswork

I'll keep it real from now on, don't worry. I appreciate the same generation wasn't Ford and GM at the same time.


Bought this for a surprisingly high price compared to what people might expect a 26+ year old van to sell for on eBay, but from recent price-watching I paid about the right amount.

MOT until September at the moment.
Only done just over 58k miles. Initially it did Meals on Wheels somewhere around London, then a couple of others had it, and then the last owner was a lady who with her husband ran a gardening business for 10 years but he sadly died and she is now retiring. The last 5 years of MOT certificates show its only done around 1500 miles a year.

I took a look at it last week one evening to check it was all good. Someone has gone to the trouble of fully replacing the front arches and strut tops with new metal, a regular rust spot on these. All doors open easily - twin sliding doors are definitely cool in my book. It has a rear tinted window as clearly the old lady was a gangster (or wanted to hide her lawnmowers etc)

Enough receipts of the last few years to show relatively trouble free ownership, with everything that did need doing backed up by a garage receipt for it (even spending £6 on labour having a bulb fitted!) so clearly shouldn't be too much owner-monkeying to worry about.

Why did I buy it, I hear you ask?

Well, for various reasons I have fallen into the role of being co-chairman of a Vauxhall owner club and forum, and we spend time at events in the summer and have acquired quite a lot of "stuff" that we take with us, banners, marquees, a barbecue, that kind of stuff. Nearly all of which lives in my shed/my parent's garage. So we needed a vehicle to take it all around in, and my co-chair and I decided we needed to have something that would be a bit eye catching, and these fit the bill given they are now a relatviely rare sight on our roads. Damn sight more entertaining than the Zafira we had for the last few years, probably not as good as my old Carlton banger car was though.

The plan is that once I have picked it up, I will give it a damn good clean. All of it works as it should but is just a bit tired looking. The paint is faded quite a lot from red to a more orange colour, but nothing a decent bit of G3 won't help bring up I hope. Spritz up the interior and get rid of all the dust it has.

I'll get some more pictures once I have collected it. I have a weird soft spot for these.

[Shakermaker]

Mmm slidey slidey

[Shakermaker]

[Shakermaker]

Vitorio said:

Shakermaker said:

Story...

Cool, looks like a properly different vehicle for this job, if i were to be co-chair of a vauxhall club i probably wouldve gone with a combo and tricked it out a bit (ridiculous rims, lowered and a stupid paintjob/stickers?)

It's been done.

Also, the club who occupy the pitch opposite us at one of the larger shows each year have decided on a ruddy great Chevy Astro as their 'support vehicle' so we thought we could do better and show them how it's done when you have a smaller budget and excellent packing skills.

[Shakermaker]

Lugy said:

I hope you're going to anchor it down overnight! Might wake up to find it on it's side!

I've really wanted to get a 'Bambi' for Billing but they've fairly shot up in price .

They really have indeed, I had Rascal on my watch list and they always seem to start at £1500! There's a red pop-top at the mo for £800 ish but it's rusty.

This will be at Billing if you're there.

[Shakermaker]

austinsmirk said:

Surely you'd get all the camping stuff of any Vauxhall anyway. Or making a sweeping and possibly unfair statement, are the boots filled with subs and other associated chavery ?!

Que?

[Shakermaker]

Jimmy Recard said:

What's the Vauxhall club?

Might turn up in my Astra one of the days.

Vauxhall owners network.

Welcome to come along and find us at Billing next month

[Shakermaker]

DSLiverpool said:

Can we have a side on picture of it with all doors open please - used to love the skeleton of these things

Just as soon as I have collected it, of course! Only got standard eBay shots so far

[Shakermaker]

Yesterday I went along to pick this up. For those of you who are still reading this, apologies for all the earlier "guess what it is" posts.

First up, for a sense of scale, here's me next to the van:



I can fit, mostly:



I'm guessing these were a giveaway item back in the 90s sometime? I have never seen one before.




After a bit of time yesterday with the red T-Cut (I still have pink fingernails!) I got to this stage, its far from perfect, but it shines a bit more now and the old faded paintwork where the "Meals on Wheels" sticker was has nearly gone away. Might see if I can borrow a machine polisher to give it a proper go over, as there are a lot of blemishes on this paintwork that could be improved and ultimately will give us maximum opportunity to get a decent return on investment.



Final bit, got some roof bars fitted so I can carry my large gazebo poles on top.





Next steps to be taken from here:

- Respray the wheels to tidy them up, they've corroded a bit in some bits. So I have some hammerite silver spray to go on to tidy them up.
- Needs a service and an "italian tune up" I reckon as its a bit grumbly on accelaration. Will still hit 60 (eventually) but would benefit from fresh oil and filters and a bit of carb cleaner.
- Needs a new tyre, only 12" so won't be too pricey on that front.
- Tidy up the interior, just needs a spruce up mainly and I'll hunt down some generic seat covers to cover where they have split away.


Overall though, its hilarious to be in, and people do stop and smile when they see it, even if it is all clunky and slow.

[Shakermaker]

TooMany2cvs said:

Vitorio said:

TooMany2cvs said:

Bugger that. Get it re-stickered...!

This, do a proper TG style comedy faux-builders van livery!

Nah, just back to Meals on Wheels.

Neither of those have any interest for me.

Brought the Rascal to work this morning to show to our fleet manager, after last week where he was talking about all the new lorries he's been looking at I thought I'd give him something to be jealous of.

Next little foible to sort out - needs new front wipers, whilst they do a job, they're juddery and squeaky. The spring on the rear wiper needs re-tensioning as it doesn't exactly hold the blade against the screen.

[Shakermaker]

sinbaddio said:

Excellent. Aren't these also classed as being mid-engined? A teacher had one at school and he used to proclaim it had the same layout as a Countach or Testarossa (the poster cars at the time), mid-engined and rear wheel drive.

Well, the engine is under the seats, in between the front wheels as opposed to directly in front of them or too far behind them

But yes it is RWD, which is nice.

[Shakermaker]

Have you ever wondered how many bricks you can fit in the back of a Rascal?

Me neither, but this many pretty much seemed to put the suspension to its lowest level.