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.