Harry arrives!
Wednesday 27 July 2011 - Posted by Wendy at 22:47
Pauly and I go to a fair few festivals, as I have done for many years. Tents have been fine, caravans just aren't the same I've always said. Then we went to Larmer Tree - our first experience of Carrying Camping Stuff. Not Fun. Suddenly camper/caravans looked appealling. The seed was sown. A year later, a couple of weeks after another Carrying Larmer, following a much further carrying Bearded Theory (not really a festival for me) we finally have a van!
We started looking casually. We knew we wanted something a bit quirky, either that or it would be a transit/minibus that we would convert ourselves (though the reality is that wouldn't really have happened of course!). A few weeks of ebay searching and a Bedford CF campervan listing appeared, in Cheltenham, no pictures or much of a description - to be added later it said. I emailed to ask for a look, and off I went. I had no idea when I drove across to Cheltenham if it was a big caravan style type of van or a van type van and didn't think I'd be keen on a caravan style one. Luckily it was the van type. It was rusty, and full of car boot stuff of his wife's so I couldn't see inside properly, but it was a 1972 model (I'd alway quite fancied a car born in the same year as me) which meant it was tax exempt that would help reduce the cost. With tax it was hard to justify a campervan really, on top of a car each! A couple of weeks ago we went to look at a transit being sold by some gypsies. Priced up insurance and it was looking too costly to be worthwhile.
Anyway, I was Very Excited! Got in my car after just about resisting buying the van without Pauly looking at it and found my phone had broken, so drove home over excited impatiently waiting to call Pauly and DaddyDave. Two excited calls later and DaddyDave was on his way and the second viewing was lined up!
DaddyDave said when he arrived that he was concerned the bed would be too small for Pauly, to which Pauly said he'd been thinking the same. So we went, and looked, and lay on the bed, and Pauly didn't like the rust, and DaddyDave said how small the bed was, and we came home, vanless. Looked at the auction and pictures had been put on, though the pictures made it look worse than no pictures! We talked about it and it turned out that DaddyDave thought the rust wasn't a problem, and Pauly thought the bed would be OK. Men! So, we thought we'd wait and see what the auction did, thinking that if someone bid then it wasn't meant to be for us, and if they didn't we'd have a think and then maybe offer less.
Got up in the morning and the auction was gone! Texted the seller saying we were going to think about it and asking if it had been sold (though we were there with him til about 10.30pm so seemed unlikely!). He replied saying the auction had been cancelled due to him putting "not VW" in the title. The seller was away for a couple of days, so we went back when he returned, had a good poke around and found some rotten wood, went for a drive (experiencing some popping as the engine was cold) and managed to negotiate a price that allowed for some work to be done or to be fairly easily sold for the same if we changed our minds. Happy Harrises!
Preparation Day
I spent yesterday sorting the Insurance and Breakdown cover. It was like going back in time ringing around companies (standard comparison sites are no good for old classics) but was worthwhile as I went from £220 to £106 so answering the same questions a few times was worth it. Got RAC cover too so all ready for driving..
Arrival Day
The Seller kindly drove it over to me this morning. He said when he got here that he'd had some trouble on the way. He thought there was a problem with a tyre and said he'd bring over a spare he had tomorrow. I decided to take it to the tyre shop today to see if they agreed and to get a quote rather than waiting until Friday. They did, but didn't have any in stock. Came home (managing to get Harry on the narrow drive) and rang around. Got cheaper and in stock, so (managing to reverse Harry off the narrow drive) I went off and got two new tyres and some tyre swapping to move the rustiest rim to the spare. So far so good....
Then, our friend Jamie the Carpenter came to look at the rotten wood. He wasn't impressed I could tell. He didn't like the rust, but did say he could replace the rotten wood though it would take some time. He had a friend with him, who straight away spotted an oil leak. I thought I'd seen a spot earlier, but as it had only been on the drive for about half an hour it's not looking too good that another couple of spots had appeared already.
Pauly came home and we went for a drive. All was OK, then it started wobbling again. And popping (engine nice and warm this time). And knocking (exhaust we think). Not good. So disappointing.
Texted the seller as I'd already said not to worry about the spare tyre and he'd asked if it was OK now the tyres were changed. Thankfully and very kindly he's arranged for the guy who did the MOT and other work to come and take a look tomorrow.
So, we await to hear if Harry is going to make his first festival this weekend or not....
