So, after years of wanting one, we’ve gone and got ourselves an old VW Campervan. Miss Clara Holdsworth Villa was collected from Ashbourne last week and a few missed gears later, she arrived home safe & sound 😎 For those in the know, Clara is a VW T25 (1984). As nice as they are, we simply couldn’t afford an earlier ‘split-screen’ or ‘bay window’ version. They are insane money now!!! We’re still finding out exactly how to use Clara and may be doing so for a considerable time. Most of her paperwork & instructions have been mislaid, which is a tad annoying, but thankfully there’s always the internet.
We do plan on ‘tarting’ Clara up a wee bit. A few sunflowers here and there, a few new seat covers, change of carpet maybe, a few mod-cons (she is nearly 30 years old bless her), but nothing really too drastic. She’s in really beautiful condition and everything ‘seems’ to be working & driving just fine. Obviously with a vehicle of this age, some mechanical DIY will be needed at some point. So a little grasp of car-mechanics is fairly useful… I have none 😯 And I do mean none. I was once asked at a job interview how the petrol got from the tank to the engine.
‘Down a pipe,’ I confidently replied.
‘Does it just fall down this pipe then?’ All hope of the job had just vanished!!!
‘Well kind of. The petrol tank is higher than the engine. So the pipe slopes down.’Â I actually thought I’d got out of jail with this inspired guess.
‘Excellent… What happens when you drive up hill?’ I think I just grabbed my coat at this point 🙄
We’re planning a few little trial outings in Clara some time soon. Just to see how she (and us) perform. Then in the summer we aim to take Clara on a proper road trip; to Spain. So while attempting to learn Spanish, I’m thinking a crash-course in car-mechanics might be essential. I wouldn’t know a big-end if I tripped over one. Is there a little-end? Crank-shaft??? I really ought to know this shouldn’t I? I’ve changed a few wheels and bulbs. Hey, I’ve even replaced a car battery, but that is about my limit. Well, for Clara’s sake this has got to change. I hereby promise, that before we leave for Spain I will be able to confidently identify a big-end. That’s cabeza de biela in Spanish by the way 😎
Oh and… Apparently most modern vehicles are fitted with a fuel pump. I still think that with a good enough run-up my sloping pipe method would work a treat 🙂
