BXProject

[Vanny]

yes he did, again, pretty easy when you polish multiple cars to within there life and enter as many as possible. BX1700 should have won, being the best condition daily driver which hadn't been messed with.

[mat_the_cat]

What was in the cocktail?

My memory of the cocktail (and I use the word 'memory' in a fairly loose sense as there are some sections of that evening that I struggle to remember with complete clarity) is that it started with a large bottle of Smirnhoff Ice. Obviously not happy with the original contents I asked Laura to add some rum, which ruined it somewhat. A situation that was not improved by the generous donation (when I went for a piss) from everyone present of whatever they were drinking (and judging by the colour it may have been something they had already drunk).

I guess I am one of the total strangers to which you refer.

No Mick, I assumed that Doc had already filled you in (not in the carnal sense). It was an oldish dude on the way to the toilets in the morning, and another when I was standing at the urinal. Good to meet you anyway mate, also Jay, Mr. Fish Botherer and Vanny who I had previously seen at Godmanchester but not actually spoken too...

in which case Im farked as the wife wouldn't tolerate me buggering off the wedding anniversary w/end....

I had to do a fair amount of brownie point earning when I got back...the ironic thing is that we had a few drinks when we got back from the meal, she ended up getting legless and is still suffering now!

[Fish_Botherer]

The lesson here being "don't mix your red and white wines otherwise you get rather wasted"....

erm.. methinks the lesson might also be to drink wine by the glass rather than by the bottle... but I was mightily relieved to see you up and about relatively unscathed on Sunday morning, Matt. As Grolliffe was directly in front of your camper the previous night there was another reason for relief after your experiments with hand control for the pedals as it remained unscathed thanks to the doc's quick reactions.

I forgot to mention to anyone (except those staying on really late on Sunday) that quite by chance I witnessed a prize being given for "best working vehicle" which was won by a CCC BX-owner. Possibly the white E-reg GTi, but I don't know.

Many thanks again to Vanny for financing my trip down to meet him after years and years of virtual contact dating back to Brij Dogra's BX Q&A forum , and the beers/food, and great to meet all there. Thanks for the donated tent to Jay - though my daughter may make first use of it as she's shortly going to Bestival (on strict condition that it comes back in usable condition).

I had absolutely no idea there were as many GSs and GSAs still around in the UK as I saw over the weekend, which came as a pleasant surpise to me. Later I discovered later that one of our merry band of field campers (Tony?) personally owns even more GSs than attended Stratford, plus more BXs than the 10 or so I've driven myself.

[mat_the_cat]

As Grolliffe was directly in front of your camper the previous night there was another reason for relief after your experiments with hand control for the pedals as it remained unscathed thanks to the doc's quick reactions.

That was actually not as bad as it sounds - although I can see why it might have looked like I was trying to drive the van...
The true (albeit less funny) reason for me starting it up is that I couldn't get the inverter to turn on as the voltage in the leisure battery had dropped below its cut-off threshold. I've got a system whereby the inverter only runs off the leisure battery unless the engine is running and the main battery voltage is over a certain level. So I started the van by leaning over from the back, and gave it a bit of throttle to get the alternator charging faster. Unfortunately with my head in close proximity to the gearlever...so it could have all ended in tears.
Point taken about the wine ( ) although I have been known to drink in moderation! Just that I don't get much chance to let my hair down, so when I do I tend to make the most of it...
I find it strange how some people can get extremely aggressive when drunk, whereas I've never felt that way inclined in the slightest. Is it that booze brings out otherwise hidden aggressive tendencies? I wonder...

[Fish_Botherer]

I think the old demon drink can turn people all sorts of ways depending on circumstances and state of mind before drinking starts in earnest. I too have always found find that drink turns me bouncier rather than aggressive.

Apologies if sounding a little uptight there Mat - no harm was done, which is the most important thing.

Good to know that you're well aware of how the electrics are set up: I saw a recently-converted (and expensive) camper this week where the mains-hook-up connections hadn't been made properly so the trip-out was incapable of being activated, and the cables were so short that the electric control unit couldn't be removed easily to resolve this state of affairs or even change a fuse that should've been easily accessible.

[mat_the_cat]

No problem David, I just wanted to reassure you that you weren't in any danger. Unless of course I had inadvertently knocked it into gear...
I might* get rather pissed from time to time, but never felt the inclination to get behind the wheel!
*OK, there's no 'might' about it!
The reason I know about the electrics is that I converted the whole thing from a panel van myself. Hence the 'aesthetically challenged' appearance...but I've seen some shockingly badly carried out work on so called professionally carried out conversions. I suppose it's the not untypical DIY way, you have more time and inclination to do a job to a standard that probably isn't economically viable if you're doing it as a business. Equally though, I've seen some terrible DIY stuff too!

[docchevron132]

If I haven't cut it up by then I'm going to make every effort to bring KMO next year and enter it in the concours, REALLY, I am.

Agree with David on the dreaded drink.
I usually get silly and fall over a bit, but if I'm in a "red mist" kinda mood then I get violent. Not that I tend to get pissy much these days, too old for that shit.

[Vanny]

I think you do yourself an injustice Mat, i've done a refit on a static caravan and it came out shockingly worse than your camper. Equally having scrapped now 23 caravans i think i'm in a pretty good position to advise on ho shockingly built they really are and how many bodges are typically employed. Your van is rather pucker looking by comparison!

[Philhod]

Your van is rather pucker looking by comparison!

Does that mean it has lips at the front and all the sides are sucked in

[docchevron132]

I'm impressed by the van, if I ever get round to doing the ambulance properly I'll most likely get Mat in to kit it out, the work on the lektriky bits looks fucking top notch in the VW.

[Fish_Botherer]

A well-done van conversion seems distinctly preferable to something towed in a number of ways nowadays, not the least of which is that caravans have stayed pretty much the same material-wise up-top, while getting much bigger and fuller of heavy gadgetry, while underneath the chassis is distinctly likely to be structurally under-engineered and constructed from sections of metallic swiss cheese to boot ...

By the way, the electrical abortion to which I referred earlier was a newly-converted "professional" job on a japanese grey import that appeared to have have had some kind of off-the-shelf conversion kit thrown in the general direction of the interior.

[mickey taker]

funnily enough Julie and I went to look at newer touring caravans while we were on holiday and apart from air con , a more modern cooker and a cassette toilet they were no better than our 23 year old lunar, however the most mportrant reason not to upgrade was that most of the ones we looked at weighed over 600kgs more than ours. and they call it progress

[Father Ted]

Caravans - GR8. I love em - but only really stuff made up to about 1990 - anything after that seems whayyyyyy to heavy. I think the buying an old shagged van and grafting the internals into a nice Merc Sprinter or similar is the way to go as you can fit a proper fridge to them too...

[Philhod]

Did a stage one fit out (ply liner) on a Sprinter about 2 years ago. The guy had already had a double glazed
unit replacing the big centre panel, off side. I was able to get some flame retarded polystyrene panels 2000 x 600which I glued in behind the ply.
Never saw the completed job, but saw his drawings and was really impressed. It was to be 3 berth which left a lot of room for all the gadgets he had planned.

[mickey taker]

are retarded polystyrene panels and slower than normal ones Phil ?

[Philhod]

you...you... you missed out flame..

[Bx Bandit]

You really should have been there dude, infact, I was rather surprised and saddened you weren't TBH.

No fucking excuses next year, or you Bandit, or I'll fucking drag the pair of you to it!

This year was entirely my fuck mate. A mate of mine has a daughter in west wales (he lives in london!) and he has an open invitation to stay when he likes, only the Stratford weekend was one where he did stay. TBH it suited cost wise anyway but there we go. I've reminded Mrs Bandit to remind me that Bank Holiday Weekend August is banned from all activity and to be reserved for Stratford only.

Sounds like I missed some good fun and some good company, but there'll be another time.

As for Leech and his prize............it's all been said before (and yes Timmy it's only been mentioned because we are insanely jealous, the BXP is dead and we have nothing better to do but admire you! You fucking dick head)

[mickey taker]

fookin excuses ,

I drove all the way oop norf to Stratford with only Matt knowing I might attend ( although the piss head probably blurted it out ) bravely drove the trajet through row upon row of citroen owning beardies looking down there noses at me in my reliable, comfortable, leathered up, air conditioned , non french people carrier.

Only to find Bandit wasn't there , why did I bother I asked myself, and then I answered myself , at least Matt, David Antony , Mark and Jay were there . plus of course the usual suspects.

so it was worth it after all , I even brought a shiny butt plug as a present for the non attender

[Bx Bandit]

I'm sorry my Suggsee Bear! At least the decent folk turned up! (I hate to sound ungrateful, but shiney butt plugs tend to fall out due to their low frictional properties. Grit blasted or even studded ones are best to prevent fall out (occaisionally referred to as 'fall out' - hence the term 'Nuclear Butt Plug' referring to the 'percentage fall-out' principle)

[mat_the_cat]

Oi, who are you calling a piss head? Oh, wait a minute, you're probably right...

Don't think I blurted it out, but I do recall saying some things I probably shouldn't have, and that I am not going to repeat on a public forum.

Cheers for the comments on the van by the way, who knows I may even finish it one day!