Mileage-high club
First this month are a couple of responses to my request for details of motorcaravans which have covered a high mileage.
I have driven motorhomes with over 300,000 miles on the clock, and an American RV which had covered over half a million miles with its Dodge 5.2-litre V8 engine, with only one replacement set of piston rings. And, I have reviewed used motorcaravans with around 150,000 miles on the clock, and they all performed well. Some people in the trade try to tell us that anything with over 50,000 miles on the clock is past its sell-by date
– ridiculous. Reader Barry Pittaway proves it, as far as I'm concerned. He says:
"I have a 1986, 2.0-litre petrol, Talbot Express-based Auto-Sleeper Talisman. It has over 90,000 miles on the clock and is still in wonderful condition.
"It only needed a track rod end to pass its MoT test last week. I know people with much newer, and lower-mileage motorhomes, which cost hundreds when put through the test.
"Last May I went with 30 other 'vans to Croatia, then spent three and a half weeks touring Italy and Switzerland, coming home over the Alps after 4500 miles. The old girl used just under half a pint of oil and blew a fuse on the wipers… reliable, isn't she? Our average fuel consumption was 23.6 mpg. I call her the 'Snail': she is cute, slow, and has her home on her back."
Barry, you chose very well, as your Talbot's petrol motor is a reliable and rugged unit.
Another reader, Ken Banks, sent me details of his 1987 Autohomes Highwayman which, apart from service items, has required only one clutch, a starter motor, a wiper motor, and a gearbox linkage overhaul in just under 200,000 miles. Before he retired, Ken used his Highwayman as his company car.
Delightful Devizes
Recently, I suggested that you might want to pass on details of sites where other activities can be undertaken without having to move your motorhome off-site. (Oh… do stop leering and nudging each other in the cheap seats! By 'activities,'
I mean walking, cycling, bird watching and so on.)
To start the ball rolling, here are some brief details of a site adjacent to the Kennet and Avon canal, near Devizes. It's perfect for boaters, walkers, cyclists, anglers, bird watchers and those of us who just love our green and pleasant land, or who fancy a grand pub meal in the local.
Although it's a Camping and Caravanning Club site, non-members are welcome
– you can join on site and it is open all year.
You may already have heard of the 'Giant's Backbone', otherwise known as Caen Hill Flight. It's a spectacular series of 29 locks which are part of a monumentally impressive shortcut to link the River Avon at Bradford-on-Avon with the River Kennet at Hungerford. The good news is that the flight has been restored and
is just a stroll from the site.
Devizes itself is also within walking distance: it took me around 1hr 20 mins along the tow path. While strolling or cycling along to Devizes, you pass under some small archways adjacent to the main bridge over the canal. These were originally for a horse-drawn tramway.
Lots of interesting historic buildings, including curio and second-hand shops (a must for me), restaurants, bistros, and all the usual services can be found in Devizes. It is also home to the Wadworth brewery.
Even if your better-half doesn't classify beer drinking as an 'activity', you can cite me in your defence of downing the odd pint or three by pointing out that, without doubt, this is a socially responsible and selfless act of charity, because you are supporting a local business and therefore contributing to the local economy, as well as helping the under-financed NHS etc by donating to the Chancellor, in tax.
And to think they thought we just enjoyed the taste!
Ford Transit's 40th birthday (part II)
This month, we look at post
-1985 Transit-based motorhomes.
There have been thousands manufactured, both here and abroad. Despite this, they failed to make much of a dent in the popularity of the almost ubiquitous Sevel (Peugeot Boxer/Fiat Ducato/Citroën C25) offering.
This is changing now, though: although British manufacturers still seem to be wedded to Sevel, the blue oval badge is back in vogue in Europe. Many 'big hitters' have recently announced new ranges of both panel van and coachbuilt motorcaravans on the latest versions of the Tranny.
Auto-Sleeper monocoques have already made a few appearances in previous Travellin' Man columns. The 'Willersey Crew' didn't have the market to themselves, though. Herald, when based in Poole, built loads of Aragons and Valencias.
Later, after being taken over by Compass (now part of the Explorer Group), these ranges were dropped and replaced by the entry-level Squire and luxury Insignia models.
Explorer dropped the Herald name altogether when the current Transit was introduced. Despite building a few coachbuilts on the new Tranny, badged variously as Compass and Buccaneer, it now seems to have dropped Ford (along with Mercedes, VW and Renault), to concentrate entirely on Peugeot-based motorcaravans.
Auto-Sleepers continues to build coachbuilts on Fords, including the monocoque Amethyst and the sandwich-construction Ravenna and Pollensa. The greatest Ford/
Auto-Sleepers partnership isn't a coachbuilt at all, but a panel van conversion – the Duetto.
It has, for over ten years, consistently been the UK's best-selling Ford conversion, deservedly so in my opinion.
In Europe there are more than 70 companies which convert the Tranny, though only about 15 per cent of these currently export to the UK.
Several readers have asked if I could recommend a good book about the history of the Transit. Fortunately, someone realised that its 40th birthday would generate a lot of interest, and wrote an easy-to-read and informative book with lots of nostalgic pictures in it (many in colour). That someone is Graham Robson and his book is called Transit… the 40-year Story of Britain's Best-loved Van. See the info panel, below, for full details.
Over to you
Here is a selection of some of the emails, letters and kind comments you've sent to me
– thank you all very much.
Firstly, Roger Russell sent in some pics of motorcaravans which amused him. Two are shown (pictured, far right), with Roger's comments.
Also, Trevor Gallon thought we may be interested in two motorcaravans he spotted. The first he describes as a VW mini-artic / fifth-wheeler, (inset, below). I wondered if it was a home conversion, and whether the isolated sleeper pod (on top of the cab) was for occupation by those in the matrimonial 'dog house'!
The second 'van, a Nevada (inset, below), was spotted in Northumberland by Trevor, who said: "I can only describe it as a lovely motor which has been well kept and is in great condition.
"I have never seen an example of this type on the road: it is compact and well equipped inside. Built on what
I assume is a
Ford pick-up,
this should have been a regular weekender camper in its day, so why don't we see more of them?"
I think that the Nevada was a fixed body version of the Suntrekker demountable model built by Island Plastics of Romahome fame, originally available on the Ford P100 pick-up, and then later on the Vauxhall equivalent. I can't remember it ever having mated with the (then) new Japanese 'lifestyle' range of 4x4 pick-ups, though I have seen one on an early Mazda truck.
The Nevada had a car-like driving position, a narrow width for easy town driving, and two longitudinal berths. Sadly, they were slow sellers, which is why there are so few around. Compare this to the hundreds of Romahomes based on various micro-trucks and on
the larger Citroën C15.
The appeal of the beautifully moulded Romahome is obvious, but it remains a mystery to me why something as desirable as the Suntrekker/
Nevada failed to sell well, especially as some motorhomes from other makers, which appear to be ill thought-out, badly made, and which look like a garden shed, had crash-landed on the back of a chassis-
cab, sell in vast numbers.
There are few modern day equivalents for the Nevada.
If you want something like this, I suggest that (apart from a Romahome) you look closely at Nu Venture Motorhomes' Rio, Sand and Surf.
Thanks also for all your questions and comments at the clinic in the Practically Everything Theatre at this year's National Boat Caravan and Outdoor Show held at the NEC. I think I managed to answer most of your queries, though this may be my selective memory in operation!
One query I couldn't answer, because I didn't have any of my reference material with me, concerned vehicle payload.
So, for the Talbot Express-based Elddis Autoquest 400 owner who didn't know his payload the answer is 1072kg (petrol models) and 990kg (diesel models), and it would have been built on the long-wheelbase version of the 3100kg chassis.
Happy motorcaravanning!
Gentleman Jack Bancroft |
