and then we were off - Elmer heads South

Sat at South Queensferry with a load of old friends, and new, Elmer attracted a lot of attention from the other 'Romers not just becuase of the colour scheme but because of the 'camper' concept. Normally we make camp each evening and break it in the morning before heading off and I would be avoiding that.

What had I done to the inside apart from cleaning? Not much, just removed the passenger side middle (swivel) seat and load my stuff. My suitcase was on one half of the back seat with the other half folded up to give me a full length space for my camp mat and sleeping bag. The very back had my camping larder/kitchen with my essential tool kit and spares box under/behind the driver's seat.

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How did Elmer do?
With dead rear springs and slack torsion bars I leaned and wobbled in an exciting way but the only problem was the starter motor solenoid jamming open when very hot. I got very good at removing the intercooler to give it a little tap but at Tesco in Dover it needed more. A distress purchase of a breaker bar and a size 1.25 hitting stick (hammer to thee and me) made the job much easier and I got into the habit of stopping at the side of each fuel station to switch off the engine so if it didn't start I wasn't jamming the place up while I gave the starter a love tap. This worked well all the way to Rome and all the way back until the starter failed for the last time 2 days after getting home.

How did I get on in 38deg heat without aircon? It was warm, sticky at night, but with the windows open and the sunroof as a vent it was pretty good. Fantastic viewing platform and a steady foot at the throttle meant I made decent progress and unsurprisingly I fell for the Delica's charm. I got lots of waves and smiles and, frankly, that's what the decor is all about.

Millau Bridge

proof I was there as well

Delica reserved parking area

breakfast delivered to the door at Monaco

At the top of the Col di Torini

and on the way down

At the top of the Col di Lombardi with the cyclist I rescued

At Rome. 9 days, 2200 miles, no actual breakdowns

On the way home, rather than taking the planned week or so, I drove 600 miles the first day from Rome to almost Dijon where I stopped at a motorway rest stop for a few hours. Up sharp and on to Dunkirk for the 2pm ferry to Dover.

At Dover I decided to spend the night at the same campsite I'd stayed at the week before (£11 well spent) where Elmer got his name from the hundreds of kids camping there. Next day I left at 4am to get past London before rush hour (the M25 is really busy at 5.30am) and home in Glasgow for late afternoon.

Now I'd proved it worked, I had to improve and repair. But did I clean it?

This is my Mitsubishi L400 Delica Spacegear, it's a Super Exceed model, Long Wheel Base (LWB), high roof with crystal lite roof windows, 8 seats and whole lot of character. Originally dubbed Duploca (as in Duplo/lego bricks) it is now better know as Elmer the L400 after being renamed while on the return leg of a major road trip. More of that later.

Firstly, why? Secondly, no really, why? It's 25 years old, beaten to hell, rare, unusual and prone to rust and being hard to repair. It's a Japanese import, not ever sold in the UK. I must be mad (for reference click here: https://bubthebeetle.blogspot.com/

As you will have seen from Bub's Blog, I was devastated by the loss of my car; a year's work and my dream of taking it to the Sahara Desert with Rust2Sahara. My eldest daughter Kezia (a fellow Rust2Rome veteran) suggested I call up Marko at R2R and see if there was space on the next trip, French Alps, despite it being only 2 weeks to the leaving day. Marko said yes, I said 'oh shit, now I need to find a prepare a car!'. And so it began.

I cruised eBay, FB Marketplace & Gumtree looking for inspiration. I needed a car I could use on the French Alps trip (Edinburgh to Rome, via France and the Alps: 3750 miles in around 14 days) and on the Sahara trip. I wanted a 4x4 but I wanted it to be stupid and inappropriate, to have character and cost no more than £1,000 to buy and prepare for the Sahara (the limit for Rome is £500).

Here's the timeline:

Friday June 21st 2019:

• Deadline to leave is Sunday July 7th and I have no car.
• On Ebay I find a 1995 Delica in an auction starting at £99. The description is honest: battered, rusty, dirty, faulty but much loved with an actual genuine reason for sale but it was on the Island of Seil about 15 miles SW of Oban - ie the Hebrides!
• I called them, told them my situation, said I couldn't wait 9 days for the auction to end and offered them £1,000 cash. They accepted and I made plans to get a lift to the back of beyond (I live in Glasgow so it was a 2.5 hour drive, no biggie) from my daughter who had only passed her driving test the week before!
• Then I started to plan and panic

Saturday June 22nd

•  We leave early, drive to Oban, turn left (and south so we didn't have to swim) and met the seller at the ferry terminal and had a good look around the Delica.
• OMG it was filthy but not nearly as battered or rusty as I'd feared for a car that had been in teh Hebrides for 10 years
• Did I say it was dirty? Not cleaned outside or in for 5 years despite the attentions of 4 small children? Yup, rank - and I was planning a 2 week campervan trip a fortnight later!

List of problems spotted immediately

• 4x4 system not working: jamming in 4wd with locked centre diff (bad news for a 150 mile drive) 
• dashboard lights not all working
• charging lamp, (plus 2 others - the 3 amigos) all on meaning a dead alternator
• central locking didn't
• sunroof opened but wouldn't close without help
• no stereo
• windscreen washer didn't 
• filthy dirty
• warned rear brakes needed attention
• Otherwise, great!
• apart from the starter which would jam when hot, the work when cooler

Got home, ordered an alternator, got it into my field and figured out that the mismatched tyres and pressures were causing the 4x4 system to lock up so got it into 2wd and left it alone. I joined the 2 main Delica Owners Forums/FB groups (Hello Mark Redfern ....) and got an immdeiate warm welcome and assistance

Sunday June 23rd: 2 weeks to Leaving Day

• started cleaning
• Outside required de-mossed and windows scrubbed and scraped
• inside: carpets and mats out and shampooed, seats shampooed - twice
• It's warn and dry but still took 24 hours to be merely damp and dirty looking

Monday June 24th: MOT time

• Dropped it at EK MOT and went to work expecting a call to say that I had a pile of work, big bills and lots of welding to get done.
• Looked out the Office window at 11am to see it parked. Much confusion and a call to Alan the MOT man. "yeah, nice a clean underneath, very little rust and that's just surface. The handbrake is just okay but it's an auto so no drama. Passed, no problems"
• Woohoo ..... hang on, it passed without a working alternator? Yesssss, +1 point for old crap cars without electronics.

 The next 4 days were a blur of alternator fitting (30 mins), more cleaning, fitting a £30 stereo, glueing the speaker cones back together, replacing the instrument cluster for one that worked and loads of daft fettling.

Monday July 1st: 6 days to go

It was ready bar decoration and testing, so I drove it while puzzling over a colour scheme. Here are some examples of previous cars .....

Long story short, I came up with this - made of lorry vinyl stripes cut into 12" lengths and stuck on. Took me 8 hours to do!

I removed one mid row seat, loaded my camping gear and I was ready for the off.