Campershite (large)

[wuvvum]

Picked this leviathan up from London today.

 

 

 

It's an ex-welfare bus which was converted to a camper, and then de-converted as it won't comply with London emissions regulations so the owner stripped out all the camper bits to put in a 54-plate Transit luton. All the woodwork is still there though apart from the bed/bench/table setup, so all I need to do is find a cheap caravan that I can strip all the relevant bits out of. It's an ex-welfare bus and has been pretty well maintained. It's a 2.5 SOFIM turbo diesel with a three-speed autobox and PAS, so it's very easy to drive but not exactly quick - redline speed is 65mph, comfortable cruising is 50-52. It's a comfortable old thing too - suspension is nice and soft and the seats are electric leather jobbies from a Granada Scorpio. It's taxed till the end of October and tested till June, so hopefully I'll get some use out of it over the summer. If I can avoid hitting anything between now and then that is - it's quite wide, and there's a heckuva n'overhang on the back so I need to watch that I don't clout anything while swinging round tight corners.

 

Also picked up this on Thursday night:

 

 

It's a 1.8 V6, and it has a water leak. Which neither myself nor an AA mechanic were able to trace. But it's there, 'cos the bastard thing ran out of water and overheated twice between Maidstone and Stansted, and had to be recoered twice - the first time the AA mechanic bled the cooling system and reckoned it was fixed, so he sent me on my way, but it overheated again 50 miles later. It had to be towed home, and I eventually got in at 4.40am on Friday morning (having been away fromthe house since I left for work at 8.30 the morning before). So I'm not exactly over the moon with it at the moment, although to be fair, water leak aside it's a nice thing to drive, and makes a great noise for an 1800cc engine. I've bunged a Radweld in it - time will tell if it's cured the problem...

[Mr_Bo11ox]

What a pair of unspeakable horrors! Nice one Wuvz.

[pogweasel]

Interesting selection!I'm keen to see that old bus done up FO SHO. Is it big enough to live in properly? Maybe you could go and squat on SpottedLaurels new farmstead. As for that Mazda, I remember driving one of them 1.8 V6 jobbies when they were new, very vividly as I nearly stuck it through a hedge at the first corner I encountered.

[Guest]

What do those 1.8 V6 engines go like? They're a curious engine. Perhaps I should bosh one in the new wagon (update to follow).

[pogweasel]

Pretty well. Though it was the snap lift-off oversteer that nearly had me.

[wuvvum]

Aye, they are a little twitchy on the limit. Very agile though, and quite good fun in the dry. The 1.8 V6 isn't exactly slow, but it's not as quick as I was hoping - you need to cane the nads off it to get it going, and even then it's a gradual increase in power rather than a VTEC-like surge. Like I say though, it does make a very nice howl.

[Spottedlaurel]

The camper's a monster! It's future life will surely involve either being used as a Motocross team van or parked up in a wood/layby for travellers? I fear it may be tad large even for my new place, so don't take Pog's squatting suggestion too seriously...BTW, I need to get in touch with you about moving the 323 - I think you have the keys as they were with those for the R5 Ought to get it and the dead Laurel over to someone else's place before the permanent move, perhaps next weekend?

[bones96]

like the camper thingy just the job for summer good luck

[r.welfare]

That IVECO just boggles the mind. Superb.

[Guest greenvanman]

it's very easy to drive but not exactly quick - redline speed is 65mph, comfortable cruising is 50-52. It's a comfortable old thing too - suspension is nice and soft and the seats are electric leather jobbies from a Granada Scorpio.

Camper heaven Any pics of the inside yet?

[retrogeezer]

and it has a water leak

Can't see that mentioned in the Ad wuvvum...

[wuvvum]

and it has a water leak

Can't see that mentioned in the Ad wuvvum...

It wasn't. To be fair though the bloke hadn't driven it very far - he'd bought it from auction and then found he couldn't insure it as he'd only just passed his test, so I think he did a total of about 30 miles in it. If it was full of water when he bought it it wouldn't have had a chance to empty itself out by the time he sold it.

[Mr Lobster]

I drove a few of them Mazdas when they were new and was always quite impressed how entertaining they could be! With the water leak sorted it should be a decent thing.

[pompei]

I always thought those Mazdas had the look of the 924/944 on the rear, particularly the screen - not sure if that's a good or bad thing I was thinking about replacing the (now long gone) CRX with one, but Mrs and infant put paid to that

[wuvvum]

I was thinking about replacing the (now long gone) CRX with one, but Mrs and infant put paid to that

They're a helluva lot more practical than a CRX. The rear seats are actually big enough for people to fit in them, and the boot is a pretty good size too, although the loading lip is high. I'd say it's probably just as practical as most three-door hatchbacks.

[retrogeezer]

I like them too, did a lot of bodywork for a Mazda dealer back in the early 90's when they were new....still look good now IMHO.

[wuvvum]

Camper heaven Any pics of the inside yet?

There are some on the listing, which is here.

[MrRegieRitmo]

1.8 V6!!!??? I thought to be a V6 a car had to be at least 2.5? Next you'll be telling me there's a 2 litre V8!

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Yeah there is, in the Ferrari 208 GT4.

[retrogeezer]

100cc V12 in this:

[Richard]

Triumph used to do a 1.6 with 6 cylinders and the Honda CBX1000 was a 6.I've a feeling F1 cars had 1.5 litre V12 engines at one time but I could be wrong.

[MrRegieRitmo]

So would a 1.8 V6 be faster than a standard 1.8? What about versus a 2.0 like mine that was sporty / tuned but non V6?

[r.welfare]

Probably smoother but I'm not sure about faster...different engines respond to tuning approaches in entirely different ways, Young Reg, but with all else being equal I would expect the greater number of rotational parts of a 6cyl to create more drag than a 4cyl, and hence less power due to greater frictional losses.Mind you, my Physics A-level was 12-odd years ago, so what do I know?

[wuvvum]

It's s'posed to be 130bhp, but it doesn't feel nearly as quick as, say, a 205GTi with the same power output. Mind you, the Caddy is 304bhp and that feels slower than the Saab 900 which has three fifths of the power. The thing with the MX3 is that you really have to rev the nads off it to get it going. Which is not necessarily a bad thing - that little V6 sounds sweet at 7000 rpm.

[ChinaTom]

I think the original Columbo engine was a 1.5 V12 in the 166 Ferrari. The Auto-Union V16 wasn't that large a displacement either I don't think. But Lorraine Dietrich managed 12 litres from 4 cylinders and IIRC, Fiat nearly doubled it with same cylinder count. Long while ago though.