I'm sorry for the lack of updates since the windows were finished and I fitted the fan in the roof.
Things got quite hectic around here, and although I have lots of bits ready to fit, I just haven't found the time to do it. I am hoping once the summer is over things will calm down a bit and I can spend some quality time, converting.
Well, that was the plan, as ever in life things probably wont work out that way.
Nina's MOT ran out on 18th August. The day before, I had picked up a three piece suite in her, and until today, that's where it stayed, as I hadn't gotten around to doing anything about the MOT.
Well this Sunday, I have the HCBW (Home Counties Boxer Welfare) dog show in Milton Keynes, and we need Nina to fit all the stuff in, mine and HCBW stuff. So needed to get it sorted asap.
Jen rang up Halfords, who did her first MOT a couple of years ago, and booked her in for today at 11.30.
Nervous ? Very ! I cleared a load of rubbish out but had to leave the suite in there as I had nowhere else to put it.
Put the key in the ignition after 3 weeks spent on the drive, and as ever, she started on the first spin ! Have been so lucky with Nina, she has never once not started for me, well ok once, near the beginning, when I hadn't realised that the kill switch had been activated in the cab !
I had about 20 minutes before the MOT was due, so took her for a quick run down the dual carriageway to clear the engine a bit and get the brakes working properly after not being used for so long. All seemed ok, so got to the MOT station 10 minutes early !
They took her straight in, I was told it would be around an hour. So went and sat on the edge of the canal for a while....
This was my view, it was very nice, and a swan swam by and said hi, but eventually the sun got too hot for me so I wandered back to the garage. As I was walking past the entrance this is what I saw ! Eek :S
I was sat in reception a good while, and fearing the worse, stomach knotting up. Really didn't have any spare cash to do any major repairs, will come to that in a bit, so was really hoping Nina wouldn't let me down now !
Eventually the tester came in, a man of few words, and sat in the little office for a bit, no doubt printing off the huge failure list. He came out and passed paperwork to the reception guy, and I could see it was a failure :(.
Reception guy said she had failed.......my response was as expected, sheer misery, until he carried on and said "on one thing !", "whats that ? huh ? not sure I heard properly..... how BAD A THING ?", - "oh just a clip on the CV Boot has come adrift, do you want us to put one on so he can pass it now ?" -------- YES YES YES YES, of course I do :). That was all she failed on, a cv boot clip. WOW, well done Nina ! You didn't let me down :) So lucky.
Well it was done, and the bill came, £58 for the mot, plus the clip, £95 !!!! I said bloody hell how much was the clip, was it made of Gold ??? They charge £65 an hour, and had charged me £35 plus vat to put a clip on, I am assuming the clip is just a cable tie, 5 minute job including putting the ramp up in the air. Before I went in to a Victor Meldrew Rant, I took a step back, looked at the situation, and thought, 12 months MOT for under £100, that's actually not bad, so bit my tongue, said thank you and paid, then drove Nina away with her brand new MOT :). Next time though, I shall not assume that the tester is a competent mechanic who can fit a cable tie in under half an hour !
Well, regards Nina, that is about it, not much of an update I know, but pretty major anyway.
In the title, I alluded to some unexpected news, well Nina's MOT wasn't it.
Last week, I had a phone call from Graham. Some of you may remember his comments on this blog, especially when I was tearing my hair out over the windows ! About a year ago, Graham bought himself an Ambulance too, slightly newer than Nina, an 02 reg, 2.5DCi version, otherwise, pretty much exactly the same, with the intention to do a similar thing to what I was doing with Nina, ie converting to a camper.
Over the past year, Emma, as Graham had called her, Emma/Emergency-Emmaergency....had travelled to Sweden where he was living and brought all his stuff back home to Gloucestershire. Anyway, Graham had made the difficult decision to give up on his dream for now, as funds were stretched, and let her go.
Thats when he called me ! Over the course of the following week, he supplied me with photos, and we kept in touch almost daily. Graham didn't want Emma to end up scrapped or broken for bits, and stupidly maybe, I fancied the challenge ! The fact that Emma had an overhead locker similar to Ninas that I can use on the opposite side, and an eberspacher heater that I could also incorporate in to Nina's final design helped. But what to do with Emma, and could we come to a deal, as cash isn't in good supply at the moment.
We did come to a deal, yesterday, and Emma is now officially Nina's new sister, at least for a while !
The plan is to do a basic conversion, leaving the new owner some room to put their own stamp on her, when I come to sell her. She came to me with MOT until March 2014, Tax just run out end of August. Lots of Service History from the NHS, a new battery and DECENT WINDOW SEALS ! The window seals are the normal H type ones with the securing bead all round. Windows are currently watertight, but if they did become a problem, its an easy fix, unlike Nina's were, eventually costing around £900 for a completenset of new bonded windows.
I am already growing attached, especially when I see them both together in the photos above at The Field, almost a shame to split them up ! :).
Am I tempted to stop working on Nina, and put my efforts in to Emma instead with a view to keeping ? I have to say, newer van, slightly lower mileage, it did cross my mind, but any doubts I had were soon blown away by Nina's continued good behaviour at the MOT test station ;).
So, if anyone is interested, Emma will be up for sale maybe early next Spring, with a full mot and probably a little bit of tax, and will most likely have a bed/seat, curtains or blinds, and a kitchen. All you will need to start using straight away until you decide what you want to do to put your own mark on her.
Well, thats all for now, I will probably use this blog for both Nina and Emma whilst we have her, but if it gets a little bit too confusing, Emma may end up with her own blog for a while.
Big thanks to Graham for giving me the chance to make good on Emma, I hope we don't disappoint you.
As for Nina, well done old girl, you ROCK !
Oh, and finally, not sure if any of you are following Janis The Camping Car blog, but things have been a bit quiet there too for a while, until recently when Codfangler posted saying he had been having a terrible time through illness for a while, but things were now looking up, and Janis is now on the move again, so, looking forward to new posts on her blog.
Things probably wont happen here again for a week or two, but hope to restart work on Nina soon after, so many parts taking up room in the house that need fitting. Dont forget to come back soon ! :)
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Location:Gloucester
