What have we done? For camper lovers

[matt21]

Today my friend and I collected the car we bought for absolutely no reason whatsoever. We saw it at bonhams auctions and decided it would be a sensible purchase.

All was well until we begun to discuss logistics to collect. We settled on my friends Sprinter day van and trailer as it has highest gross tow weight of any vehicles even if it lacks power.

The transit failed mot on an easy fix, but had a 6am call from the jolly old farmer who owned it 25 years to say he couldn't start it and has been up all night making a starter motor! Being foolish we elected to collect anyway, with a little money knocked off.

The farm was in the middle of nowhere, and the place was full of old land rovers, volvos and ancient tractors in various states of decay.

As I speak we are crawling through Leeds still over 150 miles away from our base, Milton Keynes

The sprinter barely gets up hills but is soldiering on. Not looking forward to motorway crosswinds. Wish us luck!

Some pictures of the camper and the convoy.

Edited by matt21 on Sunday 7th December 18:44

Edited by matt21 on Sunday 7th December 18:46

Edited by matt21 on Sunday 7th December 19:02

[radiodanno]

Massive thumbs up from me.

Safe journey. Looking forward to the tales of woe and wallet rape already.

[Noesph]

Ohh, a massey 35, my granny has one of those....the transit looks tidy mind.

[matt21]

Still trucking. At Nottingham. 45 mph all the way!

[Impasse]

45mph? Get used to it. I expect that's the top speed for the camper when fully working.

[TooMany2cvs]

If you get stuck with it, have a chat with Tev from http://thestagebus.com/ - he loves his Mk1 Trannies.

[poing]

radiodanno said:

Massive thumbs up from me.

Safe journey. Looking forward to the tales of woe and wallet rape already.

What he said! Do I remember a thread not so long ago about you asking what to use to tow this? Glad to see you just went for it in the end. You've got 6 months to get it ready for LM 2015!

[carmadgaz]

Impasse said:

45mph? Get used to it. I expect that's the top speed for the camper when fully working.

Nope they will get up to a (GPS verified) 50 between breakdowns. Had mine 18 months and it has worked for about 2 hours of that, 95% of journeys involved a tow home.

Hope you have better luck with yours fella

[matt21]

Thanks for the kinds words. I thought of many ideas to get it back and just went for it in the end

Set off at 7am and just got home. One small incident where we reversed the trailer into a high kerb and smashed the rear light, but no other issue. Sprinter earnt it's money today and camper safely home

Little worried about the stories of unreliability. Le Mans could be a brave pill too far!

[skyrover]

First thing I would do is throw away the V4 if it has one fitted and put the V6 in.

[gazza285]

Looking at the pig nose on it it's a diesel. Having driven one I'd be glad if it doesn't go any quicker than 45mph, the handling is interesting, make sure the tyres are properly inflated as well.

[Impasse]

Good to hear you got back ok. Looking forward to updates on this project.

[carmadgaz]

gazza285 said:

Looking at the pig nose on it it's a diesel. Having driven one I'd be glad if it doesn't go any quicker than 45mph, the handling is interesting, make sure the tyres are properly inflated as well.

I thought the bullnose was V6 or the diesel? Mine's had a MK3 diesel engine and 'box but it appears to of originally been a petrol.

[magooagain]

Looks tidy. Well done op. Give the rad a good checking over though.

[MrAndyW]

I had a LWB, twin wheel tranny in the early 80's, Try and find a twin choke weber of a 2 litre V4 corsair if there's any still about, I fitted one and it went a lot better and still did reasonable fuel consumption,
Mine had sliding doors as well. Happy days in the summer, big domestic stereo speakers in the back and a Harry Moss cassette amp. Have fun, at least ford parts are pretty cheap and plentiful.

Edit to say Tranny in the 80's meant Transit van

Edited by MrAndyW on Monday 8th December 07:52

[SimesJH]

Very nice!

On the subject of tyres, look at the date code on them. Change the tyres if they're anything over 5 years old, which I suspect yours will be.

Campers spend a lot of time either sitting around or fully loaded or both, so tyre condition is critical.

Looking forward to the updates.

[gazza285]

carmadgaz said:

I thought the bullnose was V6 or the diesel? Mine's had a MK3 diesel engine and 'box but it appears to of originally been a petrol.

V6 engined Transits were supplied to the Police and for ambulance use, I'm not sure they supplied them for general sale as a chassis cab. I'd be tempted to put a later diesel engine and box in it as well.

[mybrainhurts]

WTjollyF is going on here...is this a bad dream??

[mybrainhurts]

TooMany2cvs said:

If you get stuck with it, have a chat with Tev from http://thestagebus.com/ - he loves his Mk1 Trannies.

Doesn't know his jock strap from his bra, then...?

[Matt UK]

matt21 said:

Still trucking. At Nottingham. 45 mph all the way!

I'm imagining the camper sticking its head out into the slipstream like a dog, amazed at the speed it has never experienced before and likely never will again!

Love it, great purchase!