Buttercup's Story Telling Début

The sun has been shining and it's definitely getting warmer as the camper season gets ready to begin. We've not blogged over the winter period as it would have made dull reading. We have taken her out for the odd day trip but nothing quite literally to write home about. Now, however, Buttercup has come out of hibernation and what has she been up to?

As ever with these lovely old vans there is always a bit of work that needs doing before the season can begin. Our to do list is always being added to but the last look included -

• the heating (we have none which is one of the reasons we've not pootled very far during winter)
• the carbs
• the side door to be re-hung
• shocks
• general prep for MOT

We took her back to MSC Prestige Motors in Burscough who gave us some good news - the shocks were fine and only bushes were required. Fantastic and big tick against that point on the list.

But as we all know, the world operates on yin and yang as we found out when we took her to 81a Volkswagen j81avdubs.co.uk to ask about the heating and a few other things. When we drove up the owner John had his head buried under about another 6 vans and we had to park around the corner a good 70 yards away. Despite this, his first words to us were "The exhaust sounds as if it's blowing". Those of the words of a man who has listened to many a VW camper van engine!

We booked her in for the following Tuesday as I needed her for her storytelling début at the Liverpool Food and Drink festival that weekend. Which brings me on to that very event.

When I first bought Buttercup it was purely for a hobby. A lovely old vehicle to pootle around the British Isles and if we got brave maybe even Europe.  It wasn't long before I saw her potential as a prop/aid to my storytelling facebook.com/littlelambtales. And so last weekend we spent two glorious days at the Food and Drink Festival in Sefton Park.

We arrived on Sunday morning and the park was shrouded in mist and grey cloud. This didn't look promising. Added to this the rain had come down heavily a couple of days before just in time for all the Porta-loos to arrive. Needless to say the site was very muddy and boggy in places. Even some of the up to date 4x4's were struggling with the mud in places. Gulp! Mud and old vehicles do not a happy marriage make.

Luckily, The Children's Zone was located in a relatively dry section of the site and I inched my way on in one piece. Having parked up I eyed up my pitch for the next two days. The ground was definitely not dry and inviting to sit on. Luckily, I had brought some picnic mats for just this dilemma. Sadly these didn't survive the day so on Sunday we had some lovely straw to sit on. The sun came out from behind the clouds and for two days, the festival buzzed with happy faces, delicious food and drink and entertainment galore.

Over the next two days, I told countless stories about food and eating. However, I spoke to just as many people about Buttercup. Children, parents, grandparents, previous owners, new owners, people who were considering being owners. They all came over to look at her, ask questions and peek inside. And I can't say I blame them, she's very pretty!

Buttercup's first festival was a success. But leaving the site did make me laugh. It is quite funny when other people have no understanding of what it's like to drive a vintage vehicle. People ask you to back her up a bit so they can get through without realising that finding reverse may just take a bit longer than their shiny new car. Buttercup's gearbox is great but she can get a bit grumpy if she's put in reverse before she's ready. "It's alright love, don't worry about  moving her now!" was the response of one stall owner. I only took about 30 seconds to find reverse honestly! And again, everyone driving new vans, pick ups, trucks etc has the benefit of power steering. Waiting for me to grapple with the wheel when they are used to full lock in 5 seconds was a new experience for some of them. That said, we soon cleared the site and were on our way home.  She did me proud and our adventures continue. Next stop a wedding in Bedfordshire.

Demolition Day!

Today we are off to visit Buttercup at the Camper Shak where she is undergoing her make over.  Because of this, it seems an appropriate time to describe the couple of days leading up to the day we handed her over to Mike and Diane.  Here goes...

Demolition Day Arrives

Having spent weeks choosing cupboards, cookers, fridges, flooring, upholstery and curtains we had one major job left before we took her in - we had to strip her out!  All the old cupboards, curtains, carpets and other fittings we no longer wanted had to be removed. Although the Camper Shak would have done this for us, we decided we'd like to have a go at it ourselves.

Surprisingly, this summer has actually been pretty good by British standards. There have even been days when it has been deemed 'too hot'!  The week leading up to Demolition Day was full of days like this.  It was scorching!  The pressure and heat had been building and the threat of storms was definitely in the air.
Having woken up that Friday morning I was writing in my office which was bathed in gentle morning sunlight.  Anyone who writes will tell you that it can be pretty absorbing. I don't know how long I'd sat there but I suddenly became aware that the sunlight had been replaced by thick, black clouds and the rain was bouncing off the ground. Not only that, Thor had decided it was play time and for the next hour a storm raged above our house.  At times it sounded as though Thor was indeed, banging his hammer directly on our roof.  Brilliant! This was our one day to clear the van and we were going to be soaked, hit by lightning or both!
By the time we set off to collect Buttercup from the garage, Thor had become bored and Apollo was doing his best to get back on the scene.  This clash of interests meant it was muggy, close, sticky and downright uncomfortable.  Despite this, we got Buttercup back to Southport and onto my dad's drive way.

 

Hammers at the ready...

Funnily enough, neither Dom or I have stripped a VW camper of its fixtures and fittings before so we had no idea what to expect.  Arming ourselves with the work man standard of tea, hammer and screwdrivers we made a start.

First out were the old curtains and carpet. I was surprised just how easy the carpet was to remove. Thankfully no nasty glue was holding it in place and once the seatbelts under the rock and roll bed had been untangled it just came out in one easy piece.  Can't say I'm sorry to say goodbye to either...

                                      

      

The next job was to get the old units out.  Dom was tackling these and again was surprised just how easily they came out!  It was a bit alarming just how flimsy they were.  It seems a miracle that the cupboards hadn't just rattled themselves loose over the years.  The one thing of real quality though is the original cooker, a little Flavel number.  It's in great condition and Mike is going to incorporate it into our new swing out cooker unit.  So despite the heat and mugginess, Dom managed to remove the units pretty quickly.

                  

 

By now we were extremely hot, sticky and more importantly starving.  But one more job beckoned before lunch could be devoured.  The pop top (which is original) was in need of a really, really, really good clean.  Years of muck, dust and who knows what else had clung to every bit of the canvas.  Only one thing would be strong enough to tackle this...Cillit Bang!  Let me give you a piece of advice.  Should you ever find yourself needing to clean the canvas on a pop top, don't do it on the muggiest day of the year.  Spraying and cleaning in those conditions was like having an indoor shower that just didn't get you clean!  Grim was most definitely the word!

Once that was done and lunch had given us a much needed energy boost the last remaining job was to remove the old speakers.  I have had nothing to do with the sound system as this is Dom's area of expertise.  He would rather listen to nothing than listen to music through rubbish speakers.  Having inspected the old speakers they passed the stringent test but still needed to be removed as they will be relocated in the foot well of the driver cab.  The screws had obviously been in place for some time but eventually and with a bit of help from some, shall we say, encouraging words they came out!

So there she was, in all her empty glory.  The inside looked both bare and incredibly large with nothing but the bed left in it.  Which was just as well as we had a LOT of rubbish to take to the tip!

We had expected a nightmare job stripping Buttercup but it was actually far easier than we imagined.  And if you've got your own van that needs a revamp I would definitely recommend you do this bit yourself.

The next stage of the re-vamp we were more than happy to leave to the experts at The Camper Shak.  And on Monday 7th July, I dropped her off with Mike and Diane.  She will be totally unrecognisable when we collect her and I for one can't wait!

Next time - Beautiful Buttercup!

First Night in the Van...

So now we come to the first night we spent in Buttercup.

We had imagined ourselves in an idyllic pastoral setting, with birds tweeting merrily and the sunset glinting off the chrome.   A nice level place, preferably near water where we could enjoy a glass of red and sigh with contentment. Well plans are made to be changed...

The gist of the plan was as follows.  Drive to Formby, collect Buttercup, return to Liverpool, pack the van and set off.
This, however is what really happened.
Drive to Formby - check
Start Buttercup - Houston we have a problem!

Unfortunately one of us had left the radio on and because it hadn't worked, we'd forgotten to turn it off.  Result, two VERY flat batteries and a van that refused to budge an inch. We hooked her up to jump leads but she was having none of it. It soon became very clear that we would have to leave both the batteries on charge overnight and hope against hope that the problem would be fixed.

Camping trip cancelled, we returned to Liverpool a bit on the grumpy side.  The reason we'd decided to try her overnight was due to an appointment we had the following Monday.  This would be the day we would introduce Buttercup to the Camper Shak www.thecampershak.co.uk who are doing her face lift.  We really wanted to try the bed, the layout etc before discussing possible changes with Mike and Diane (more of them later). We decided the next best thing was to stay in her on Sunday night before heading straight to the Camper Shak the next morning.

Luckily, Buttercup started and we took her for a pootle around the local area just to make sure she was running ok. And so the first night of camping in her arrived.  Not the quiet countryside we had imagined but the driveway of a respectable bungalow in Formby.  But hey, at least the toilets were practically ensuite!

The next morning we arrived at the The Camper Shak with Buttercup where we met Mike and Diane Marsland.  What a lovely couple!  As a customer you really feel as if you matter. Cups of tea are the first thing on the agenda before settling down to discuss our requirements.  Nothing is too much trouble.  We are given lots of advice and Diane makes a list of all the things we have to source for the van and even emails the product codes over as well.  We are shown around the workshop, see units of all kinds, meet their apprentice and are generally made to feel very welcome.

The attention to detail is fantastic.  It is obvious that Mike and Diane are passionate about Camper Vans.  But as well as passion they have knowledge, experience and above all empathy with their customers. They realise that to us these vehicles are not just a van, they are, in fact, part of the family.  Two hours easily slip by and we leave there safe in the knowledge that Buttercup will be in safe hands.  

From here, we head straight to www.mscprestigegarage.com .  When we bought Buttercup we knew she had something weird going on with the electrics.  The engine had to be started with a rocker switch in the engine bay and when you switched the ignition off it kept going until you turned off the switch again.  Very odd! So on Mike's recommendation "we take all our vans there, you couldn't do better" we booked her in with Mark.

Again, the customer care was brilliant and the passion for vintage cars was apparent. Mark was keen to have a look at her straight away.  So my partner (who did electrical engineering at Uni) and he had a chat. Dom had already told me that the wiring was really not right and needed to be sorted.  As he was explaining this to Mark, he lifted up the bed to show him the leisure battery. This is the bed where we had slept very comfortably, last night.  We certainly weren't expecting what happened next.

Mark stepped back and said "mmm there's a live wire in there. It's arcing against the metal there. Oh and it's right by your fuel tank.  Do you know what, we'll get that out right now!"

I'll just point out again, that the fuel tank he's talking about full of highly flammable petrol and next to the live wire was right underneath us last night!  
And we thought life in a vintage camper meant life in the slow lane...

Thankfully, Mark sorted the wire within seconds. As we drove off in our modern Polo having left Buttercup there to get the rest of her electrics done we reflected on our first night in the van.  

Ok so it wasn't in a beautiful location,  we didn't see the sunset, we didn't hear the birds cheeping.  But hey, we didn't blow up either and that is more important.  And on that almost literal bombshell I'll leave you to check any loose wires you may have hanging around!

Next time...Did we buy a goodun?

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