Road legal and ready for 90 days of fun in the sun.

Road legal and ready for 90 days of fun in the sun.
Mr & Mrs JB looking very pleased and rightly so..

Friday 27 July 2012

Another toy joins the fleet.


We thought our J Van could do with some more company, so as Annette has been eying up Messerschmitt cars for some time (They remind her of her home town in her youth) we have been looking for one to buy.
They are scarce, and even more scarce restored to concourse condition.
We found one in Brisbane Australia (1700 KM from here) so a quick plane trip and a deal was done.
Transporting it home was now a problem as car transport companies want 4 wheels on the transporter, and 3 wheels  don’t fit on their two wheel tracks.
The quick answer was to drive the 1700 KM to Brisbane, we loaded the Messerschmitt on to a flatbed trailer and then we set off, heading for home.
All went well but 300 KM's into our journey we had a disaster.
The Dome top opens to get in and out of the car, and the catch somehow unclipped while we were travelling. The top flew open, breaking the restraining strap and smashed the dome top onto the trailer mudguard – it is not as strong as a J roof so it destroyed the dome.
You can get replacement domes from the Messerschmitt Club in UK so after a payment of over A$2000.00  for the Dome and freight, we have a replacement dome on the water
Our J Van will have the company of a complete Messerschmitt soon, as well as the 2 Mokes it already shares the garage with.




Wednesday 18 July 2012

A Holiday to the USA.


We have recently been on holiday in America, but no holiday passing Vancouver (Canada) would be complete without looking in on the J Vans there.
We were passing where VICTORIA (http://www.victoriajvan.blogspot.com.) is housed in a big shed belonging to Arron (Charlie’s panel beater/ painter) Charlie made the journey out especially to meet us.
Charlie & Victoria.
The shed is big, and Victoria had its corner. It was a rolling chassis at the time we saw it, with lots of refabricated parts around to be installed. Seeing it in reality, it is amazing how much has been done. So much has been refabricated it looks ex factory. Arron showed  us his other “work in progress” for other customers – he sure is a good tradesman.
John admiring the workmanship.
We had to move on and Charlie promised us a BBQ when we returned in a few days
We visited Charlie at his home when we returned, and Charlie is a dab hand with the BBQ. We met his wife children and his Dad. Charlie showed us pictures of the van (more than is on the blog) I would have called the van a “donor” but not a “restorer” if I had seen it in that condition.
Charlie let it slip his other achievements. He is an accomplished author, and in his spare time is finishing off a law degree. Maybe he should lecture in “Time management” as he seems to have that sorted
During the evening Charlie took us to see Steve D and DUNCAN. 
Annette, John and Duncan the van.
Duncan's owner Steve with John.
Well DUNCAN looks very complete apart from having virtually no inside floor – all the parts are there apart from one back door. There will be a lot of work taking it apart to clean and fix everything, and who knows, with a good clean a lot of flaws tend to be discovered as Charlie found out
I am not sure Steve has the time for DUNCAN He has restored two Austin cars, and had a Morris tourer. He is working on full rebuild of another Morris, and had a 2 ton Austin truck and a couple of other projects (not much more than chassis at the present time) to do as well. He might need another life to get time – unless he speaks to Charlie about Time management
In all it was great to touch and see Charlie’s project in reality. It will be concourse  when it is finished, I hope Charlie likes driving it when it is complete – He hasn’t driven a J Van yet – Charlie let’s say it is different to drive. Well done – anyone will have a hard job to make a better van than yours.