RUMCars Forum

General Category => Unusual Microcar Discussion => Topic started by: Stuart Cyphus on October 05, 2010, 12:01:21 AM

Title: One good reason to buy a camper van
Post by: Stuart Cyphus on October 05, 2010, 12:01:21 AM
 The legend that is Gordon Fitzgerald shows us one very good reason for decamping into camper vans....   :)

(http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z211/stuartcyphus/0807150035.jpg)
Title: Re: One good reason to buy a camper van
Post by: Big Al on October 05, 2010, 08:14:03 AM
An auto version of Kinda Suprise. Both a handy campy but also a toy. Can I have the Scootacar version so I can invite Lord Jim Jam round for tea?

I like the idea of Campervans being graded on all the normal criteria plus what car you can get in them. That is useful information!
 
The alternative is to graft a camper onto the front of a Microcar. The Heinkel Hymer, Messerschmitt Manger, The Coronet Coronet, The Powerdrive Static Caravan, Berkeley, The Peel Poe and larger Puck, The Scootacar Sprite, The Bamby O'deer from Ireland and of course The Isetta Totalfalia, sorry Westfalia.
Title: Re: One good reason to buy a camper van
Post by: Bob Purton on October 05, 2010, 08:17:05 AM
Thats a great picture Stuart. Love it! Bound to upset Al though as it features one of the old legands that he is yaking on about sporting not only a camper van but also an undrivable microcar! My guess is that Gorden also had a proper microcar in tow that he did the run with.
Title: Re: One good reason to buy a camper van
Post by: marcus on October 05, 2010, 08:36:09 AM
Well Berkeley even made caravans too. Somewhere I have a nice photo of my Trojan in the back of my Transit (Patsy), about to head off for its first post-resto MOT. When Squeak and I went to the NMCR 3 years ago we drove up with DUF in Transit (groans). We got there, got DUF out on the ramps then kipped and dined in Patsy. Yup Patsy. Patsy Transit (Patsy Kensit, Geddit? More groans, I'll get me coat).
Now this might class as Camper Van cheating, and perhaps we should have driven up in DUF, but Squeak is a female woman of the opposite sex and distaff side and not keen on camping except in warm hot July weather. her joint problems excuse her. Even if she HAD wanted to camp, for me the idea of driving around a significant stretch of the M25 to the M11 on a Friday afternoon, then repeating it on Sunday evening evening scramble home was not on.  Even driving a big van through the densely packed friday afternoon crowds of juggernauts and rep tins is not nice at all. In a micro it would be suicidal.
Title: Re: One good reason to buy a camper van
Post by: Peelpower on October 05, 2010, 08:43:13 AM
I can remember a picture of two Tridents in Gordons campervan in the seventies ot eighties .One of these cars was my Trident.
Somewhere i have had a photo, but unfortunately i cant find it not anymore.
Title: Re: One good reason to buy a camper van
Post by: Big Al on October 05, 2010, 10:42:58 AM
Living out of the back of a normal van is minimalist and perfectly acceptable. Are you going to hide in the van bored crapless or join the happy throng round the camp fire or in a communal bar area? I did this for years jumbling (setting light to unsold stock). Of course the van should be tatty as only poufs have a new van....bla bla hype.
Having an excessive joint problem at a Microcar Rally sounds really mellow, man. Perhaps not.
Title: Re: One good reason to buy a camper van
Post by: Grant Kearney on October 05, 2010, 11:09:55 AM
Thats a great picture Stuart. Love it! Bound to upset Al though as it features one of the old legands that he is yaking on about sporting not only a camper van but also an undrivable microcar! My guess is that Gorden also had a proper microcar in tow that he did the run with.

Well done Lord Cyphus, a legendary picture which totally sums up our hobby then and now.  Same car, same owner but a slightly newer motorhome at this years NMCR.  Back in the depths of time when some of us where too young to remember and others still had hair there were camper vans at rallies.  Cine film and pictures clearly show the odd Bedford CA, Commer PB and Ford Roadranger at Burford along with the obligatory cut down caravan to look like a trailer.
Yes, Bob, Gordon had his Gordon on his trailer, er well chopped down caravan thing.
Perhaps an archive of Campervans/motorhomes and trailer through the ages is required   :D
Title: Re: One good reason to buy a camper van
Post by: Peelpower on October 05, 2010, 11:24:11 AM
...and  here is the Trident shortly after i purchased it in 1988

Yep those old times. My first trailer also was a cut down camper.

Mailing adress, and as well chassis number were written on the Trident bodyshell

(http://www.kabinenroller.de/Pictures/Gallery/PEELRES_Bild_02.jpg)
Title: Re: One good reason to buy a camper van
Post by: Jean on October 05, 2010, 11:31:17 AM
iN 1979
Title: Re: One good reason to buy a camper van
Post by: Stuart Cyphus on October 05, 2010, 11:36:16 AM
I can remember a picture of two Tridents in Gordons campervan in the seventies ot eighties .One of these cars was my Trident.
Somewhere i have had a photo, but unfortunately i cant find it not anymore.

 There's a photo drifting around somewhere of when Gordon rolled into the 1979 National at Burford with the same VW camper & same P50 in the same position, but with the addition of Trident EDD 39C plonked on top of the P50!  EDD 39C was of course the Trident which had lain for years in the corner of Wasteys breakers yard up the A40 towards Oxford & which several folk had tried to get until Gordon just happened to pop in on the way to the National & caught the yard in the right mood.  Your Trident isn't EDD 39C is it Ferdi? I often wondered where that car went, seeing as it was the Peel which came closest to being an Oxford car, having been registered new in Gloucestershire, which of course is the next county over from Oxfordshire.

 Faboulus picture Jean! More! More! Much More!!!!!!!
Title: Re: One good reason to buy a camper van
Post by: Peelpower on October 05, 2010, 12:53:10 PM
Yes Stuart this is the photo im talking about. EDD 39C is a pale blue Trident, that belongs to another collector in Germany.
It is still unrestored. EDD 39C and my car, both came to Germany via Mrs. Schwarz

E 131 & E140, both are not for sale ! :(
Title: Re: One good reason to buy a camper van
Post by: Grant Kearney on October 05, 2010, 01:00:16 PM
(http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z184/rumcars/TridentEDD39Casfound.jpg)

Is this the one ?.  Recognise the scrap yard Lord C ?
Title: Re: One good reason to buy a camper van
Post by: Grant Kearney on October 05, 2010, 01:19:21 PM


 Faboulus picture Jean! More! More! Much More!!!!!!!

(http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z184/rumcars/Pic32.jpg)

The best thing that could have happened to a Sprite Muskateer  ;D, just behind the Gordon you just see the the corner of Al's old orange ridge tent !
Title: Re: One good reason to buy a camper van
Post by: Stuart Cyphus on October 05, 2010, 03:14:27 PM

Is this the one ?.  Recognise the scrap yard Lord C ?


 oooh I love ya!  :-* I've been hunting for this scene for ages! There it be, sitting in a typical Oxfordshire field.  Be still my pounding heart.  :)  There's also a rear view of this floating around somewhere as well I belive?  

 Somebody really ought to get Gordon onto this Forum. He must have some tales & half to tell & opnions to voice, if only to critise our split ends!  ;)   Then I can run the embarrsing photo I've got of him from Rushden 1980......     :)


 Just noticed, this is my 1,000th posting! Do I get a prize?  ;D
Title: Re: One good reason to buy a camper van
Post by: Grant Kearney on October 05, 2010, 05:48:08 PM

 Just noticed, this is my 1,000th posting! Do I get a prize?  ;D

Yes, a years free subscription to 'Convanceyer'  :o
and after 2000 post you will get 2 years free subscription.  Look out Bob only 99 more to go  :D
Title: Re: One good reason to buy a camper van
Post by: Stuart Cyphus on October 05, 2010, 05:55:39 PM
 I now anticipate a rush of postings all over the place from the entire forum as everyone attempts to reach 1,000 posts & bag themselves a year's free subscription to Conveyancer.....    ;)


 Just spotted this below. Awwwww   :)  ;D Thank you!  :-*
Title: Re: One good reason to buy a camper van
Post by: Grant Kearney on October 05, 2010, 06:02:25 PM
Happy 1000th posting Lord Cyphus, heres to the next 1000.  The picture you want so much
(http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z184/rumcars/Pic81.jpg)
Title: Re: One good reason to buy a camper van
Post by: Stuart Cyphus on October 05, 2010, 06:12:07 PM
 Oooohhhh dear oh dear, it just gets better & better!  :-*  I still think this is one of the more enigmatic bubble photos I've came across. A small car half-hidden in the weed. Slightly battered. Face turned away from the camera, gazing out to somewhere we can't see. Slightly washed out colour grain of the photo. For some reason I always feel it sums up the whole finding & rescuing phase of the 1970s to me. Yes i know I'm weird. The other photo which does it for me in the same way is the famous one of the KR175 on the roof of Tony Marshall's Austin 1300. I'm intending to have both pics framed.....
Title: Re: One good reason to buy a camper van
Post by: marcus on October 05, 2010, 06:16:27 PM
Correct Stuart, nothing beats fading treasure. Anyone know the name of the English film which had a KR 200 in it, I think it crashes into a quarry. Another one I want to add to my collection!
Title: Re: One good reason to buy a camper van
Post by: Grant Kearney on October 05, 2010, 06:27:21 PM
And another one to keep the thread going !.  All these nostalgic pics will be available soon to view on the NMCR website once they have been collated and dated in year/venue order.  More are required from the 70s-80s if you happen to have any ?



(http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z184/rumcars/100_2082.jpg)
This is the way Peels should be treated, as crap fibreglass useless cars and not mega valuable art drivel that in now sadly the norm
Title: Re: One good reason to buy a camper van
Post by: P50 on October 05, 2010, 07:42:05 PM
This is the way Peels should be treated, as crap fibreglass useless cars and not mega valuable art drivel that in now sadly the norm

Steady on dear boy!  But it's great to see them sitting around decaying in days of yore...

Here's my P50 as exhumed after 40 years in a tyre shed.  Note the og Avons.  Also note the yellow has faded to white on the windscreen post.  However take a look at the floor near the handbrake and the door. I see yellow where the fleck has worn off. Or do I? So maybe it was a yellow car from the works?   

Don't matter anyway I want it white!    

Any more pics of old machines as discovered?  
Title: Re: One good reason to buy a camper van
Post by: Grant Kearney on October 05, 2010, 07:52:23 PM
I knew that would get a responce from Perry.....
Great shot of your P50.  The inside under the stone fleck would normally be bare fibreglass mat as it was the underside of the car that was gel coloured or painted.  That said it could easily have been paint yellow from new to make it more noticed on the busy London roads.  My battleship grey Scootacar Mk111 was paint red by the supplying dealer as the buyer wanted to be noticed by other road users.
Another pic from the archives.  A Tina engined Trident but where and when and who are the dodgy looking blokes lifting it up  ???
(http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z184/rumcars/TinaTrident.jpg)
Title: Re: One good reason to buy a camper van
Post by: marcus on October 05, 2010, 07:53:51 PM
Peter Sellers and Kenny Everett?!
Title: Re: One good reason to buy a camper van
Post by: P50 on October 05, 2010, 08:00:43 PM
I knew that would get a responce from Perry.....
Great shot of your P50.  The inside under the stone fleck would normally be bare fibreglass mat as it was the underside of the car that was gel coloured or painted.  That said it could easily have been paint yellow from new to make it more noticed on the busy London roads.  My battleship grey Scootacar Mk111 was paint red by the supplying dealer as the buyer wanted to be noticed by other road users.
Another pic from the archives.  A Tina engined Trident but where and when and who are the dodgy looking blokes lifting it up  ???
(http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z184/rumcars/TinaTrident.jpg)

Is it trying to take off?!  I spy Carter witha big smile on his face!
Title: Re: One good reason to buy a camper van
Post by: Grant Kearney on October 05, 2010, 08:06:23 PM



 I spy Carter witha big smile on his face!

Having just bought it for £5 in 1977, no wonder he is smiling
Title: Re: One good reason to buy a camper van
Post by: P50 on October 05, 2010, 08:08:21 PM



 I spy Carter witha big smile on his face!

Having just bought it for £5 in 1977, no wonder he is smiling

That much?  Must have been feeling generous that day..   
Title: Re: One good reason to buy a camper van
Post by: Bob Purton on October 05, 2010, 08:18:09 PM
Whats the truth about the Tina powered thing? Did they really make some at the factory or is this a myth?
Title: Re: One good reason to buy a camper van
Post by: Grant Kearney on October 05, 2010, 08:39:43 PM
Anyone know the name of the English film which had a KR 200 in it, I think it crashes into a quarry. Another one I want to add to my collection!
Probably 'side by side', an awful 70s glam rock film that starred KR200 WOU176.  Write in to Rumcars News for further details as Tony Marshall was involved in the film and will be able to tell you much much more. 
Title: Re: One good reason to buy a camper van
Post by: Stuart Cyphus on October 05, 2010, 09:13:03 PM

Another pic from the archives.  A Tina engined Trident but where and when


 Burford 1979.  ;D  Quite an important year at Burford '79 was. Not only did six Peel's line up, a recold which would not be beaten until the Peel Rally of 2005, but also seven Scootacar's, a turnout which would not be bettered until Cambridge 2008. I've got an idea this was also the year in which the soon-to-be SMCC Astra first put in an apearance too.

 For extra bonus points, & three years free subs to Conveyancer, name the six Peel's in attendance.   8)

 I really must get on & write my next intended work: The Histrory of the National Microcar Rally.....
Title: Re: One good reason to buy a camper van
Post by: Trident on October 05, 2010, 09:26:47 PM
It cannot be 1979 Stuart.
It's either 1980 or 1981
Title: Re: One good reason to buy a camper van
Post by: Stuart Cyphus on October 05, 2010, 10:57:31 PM
It cannot be 1979 Stuart.
It's either 1980 or 1981

 Ah, true, now I look closer. Compare the condition of 7038 VU with earlier proved-1979 photos in this thread. I'll now declare as 1980...