A Chip Off the Old Block

After gathering some raffle prizes from local businesses and from Vicki from Volunteering in Health we were all ready for 'the off' on our charity horse racing night. Thankfully our brilliant neighbours, Kath and Bill, allowed us to use their flat garden as we live on a slope. We also had a live band to help warm the chilly and windy500 night. We celebrated Steve G's birthday and Kath and Bill's wedding anniversary as well. Milly was proudly showing all her bits and looking good all lit up. We all had a great night with home-made curry, chilli and shepherds pie to feast on. At the end of the night we had managed to raise just over £200!

Horses ready for the 'off''

Milly on night duty

We decided that Milly should have some new seat covers to match the ones in the back that Lucy had made sometime ago. We took them to PLUSS in Exeter along with our material and they told us they would be finished in 3 days. A week later we discovered they didn't have enough material to finish the second seat so we had to rapidly order some more and get it to Exeter ASAP. After nearly 2 weeks we got one back just in time for an MOT but it was the passenger seat they covered first! So on the way to the MOT centre I suddenly realised the seat belt buckle was on the wrong side so I had to hurriedly swap it over in the middle of the road! Later the next day we collected the other one and I had to swap the seat back over to the passenger side along with the seat belt buckle!
While the seats were out we decided to do some cosmetic changes to the inside of Milly's cockpit so we set about taking out all the switches, radio, steering wheel in fact the entire dashboard and door cards! This wasn't on the list of 50 things that we had to do before departure! We washed all the bits and then painted them with Matt Emulsion and clear varnish. Some bling was added and all was reassembled with only a few pieces left over.

Dashboard all out. Eek!

Ready for painting

Not sure what all these wires are for!

Looking pucker with her new carpet and colour matched ashtray

Smart new glove box. Not that we have any gloves inside.

We had been accused by some team members (who shall remain nameless) of not having much 'bling' on the outside of Milly and therefore not much kudos. So we decided to add some decals of European cities that we liked the look of, Volunteering in Health sign-age and some chrome go faster stripes along the sides and radiator grill. We also added a hanging basket to the front towing eye. Another one is on its way! There will be further additions to be disclosed on departure day. 

   

We had arranged with Vicki from Volunteering in Health that we would take Milly down to the seafront in Teignmouth on Saturday to offer support for there fun day. People kept coming up and asking us for tea or coffee. It seemed that we were the only beverage establishment down there. So we were brought various supplies of tea, plastic cups etc and began selling. Now because Milly is quite short on the inside Lucy did most of this but when she went walkabout looking for bargains I had to take over. I had to be on my knees to do this easily and I'm sure people thought I had a growth problem as I could barely see over the worktop. We managed to raise just short of £60 on the day!
So we were all set for the next stage in preparation for the Windy500. We had decided to head to Swanage in Dorset to meet up with Team 38 for a couple of days. That would allow us to check we had everything in the right place and that the illuminated spice was fully operational. After a 3 1/2 hours round trip to Ottery St.Mary from Teignmouth with a total mileage covered of about 15 miles out, zero on the return leg, three stops to fill up with water, calling out emergency services and feeling a bit glum the man said ' Head Gasket has gone'. Bugger! So we had to have her repatriated on the back of a lorry to home. Trial run? Not what we had in mind but better I guess than some far flung place we've never heard of and trying (badly) to communicate with locals.
Lucy found some stuff on the internet called Steel Seal which was 99% guaranteed to fix broken cylinder head gaskets. Guess we must be the 1% ! I fled to Newton Abbot and purchased the yellow liquid for £35 and followed the instructions carefully. When Steve G looked at the water gushing out of the expansion bottle he diagnosed a major meltdown and that the head gasket was definitely gone! Bugger! I was still quite calm surprisingly. So, I drove Milly into our brilliant neighbours again and we started to remove the offending organ. At about 9.55 pm we got to the head gasket and it wasn't too bad. But there were some serious cracks in the cylinder head between the valves where there shouldn't be. We decided therefore that it was a bit more serious than we first thought and there was definitely several chips missing off the old block.

The crack between the two valves is big enough to fit a 10p coin in!

The next day I took the head to an engineer who was going to do a pressure test and then see what we could do. For now Milly is not even on a life support machine. She's in a coma waiting for the machine to be turned on! And probing around the inside of Milly feels like being a mechanical gynaecologist. According to the engineer the cylinder head was too bad to repair and we would need a new one. Don't ask me the cost - its a secret! What I will say is that it will cost significantly more for her new heart than we paid for Milly in the first place! Is she worth it? Ask me on the start line if we are there.
So, Lucy picked up the new cylinder head, sorry, heart, and Steve G and I set about transplanting it in place that evening. On this occasion it wasn't raining and it wasn't dark! It made a pleasant change.

Shiny new valves and no breaks.

Her new 'heart' in place.

Looking good!

Well, when I say 'WE' I mean Steve G. All he'd let me do was wash all the old oil off pulleys, covers, nuts and bolts and other random bits he could think off. By the time I'd done that her new heart was in place - amazing! Torquing up those heart bolts made him sweat though! He did let me attach some hoses and electrical bits and pieces and various water pipes later on. A new bladder was fitted and now we were ready to set up the timing pulleys etc. Hurrah! The cam tensioner broke! So that was the end of that for the night - 9.30 pm. Some more new bits will need to be ordered in the morning before we could continue. At this rate there will be no old bits left to replace! The next 36 hours will be crucial!

Torquing up the heart bolts and sweating!

The man man - Steve G proudly stood next to Team 6.

On the positive side of things the new windsock and magazine rack have arrived and the another hanging basket has been dispatched. They won't make her go any better but at least she'll look good if she breaks down again! 

If anyone reader wants to donate to our causes then on-line we have a link www.justgiving.com/team-milly 
If you wish to contribute to Volunteering in Health then you will need to contact us directly via this blog or Facebook and we will make private arrangements with you.

Sexy Lady.....

After a long time out of the blog scene another one is here all ready!
Last week saw Milly have some mechanical bits fiddled with underneath, her new wheels balanced and rear brakes adjusted. Steve G was made to sweat again as Milly continued to prove to be a stubborn old girl. This week she had new front discs and pads, her bladder problem sorted (again!), fog light connected and two battery level indicators fitted. All in all a good week. Oh ! And she has now been lowered at the front end by about 40 mm, with the help of a huge spanner attached to a 2 metre scaffold pole to create the right leverage to undo the torsion bar nuts. This made Steve sweat again!
We took Milly in to show Steve G at work the results of his labours from last night and he immediately got the steam cleaner out to remove the seagull poo from her body. So now she really looks like a sexy lady with those new shiny alloys, a wash and brush up.
We hooked up with Vicki from Volunteering in Health in Teignmouth, our local charity. We are supporting The Memory Cafe, a part of this charity, as well as Julia's House in Dorset. We showed her round Milly and she was very impressed, as were her two colleagues. They have given us some raffle prizes towards our Race Night on 11th May. We collected some other raffle prizes from our area and got a new chicken feeder for our hens while we are away on the Windy. I did want to take one with us for fresh eggs but I think the smell of chicken farts would be too much for Lucy !
When we have a few more bits of bling finished on Milly there will be some photos.

If any reader wants to donate to our causes then on-line we have a link www.justgiving.com/team-milly If you wish to contribute to The Memory Cafe then you will need to contact us directly via this blog or Facebook and we will make private arrangements with you.

How Milly looked on one of her trial camps in The Cotswolds.
She looks great here but now she look even better!

Milly Looking good but behaving Badly

it's been a long time since we last posted and a lot has happened. We broke down again going to the New Forest and arrived a day late to be greeted by requests for Basil and gas from team 38.The new kitchen was duly admired and the cold beers welcomed. They made fun of poor Milly but on the way back, they needed her help as their brakes were not behaving well.
A week later, we set off to Folkestone for a night below some white cliffs. The speedo stopped working at some stage and we discovered that the part we need is now obsolete. So, being brave but stupid, we boarded the ferry next morning for Dunquirke. Milly enjoyed her first trip on foreign soil and we spent the first night near Brussels. The next day we headed into Germany and stopped in Heidelberg at a municipal campsite next to the river. Milly behaved beautifully and we had an enjoyable evening in the town.The next morning we went south through parts of the Black Forest to Baden Baden where we purchased what seemed like a whole pig for about 2 euros for lunch. By the time we arrived in Freiberg, it was pouring with rain so this was the chance to try out Milly's weatherproofness. We plugged her in to the hook up and spent the rest of the evening cooking, eating and playing cards. All worked extremely well and we were quite self-contained.
The next day was sunny and held some real tests for Milly   mountains!! She has never been a fan of hills but as we ascended up to the railway through the mountain, she showed her displeasure by going slower and slower. The people following us must have been really impressed because by the time we got to the top, many more of them had come to see Milly. We drove her onto the train and went through the top of the mountain. She enjoyed the drive down the other side and took the hairpins in her stride. We had a week cruising up and down mountains and despite complaining a bit she behaved impeccably.
We drove all the way back through France with no mishaps. We thought our troubles with the cooling system were over.
Over the winter, Milly worked as Jim's van but come the spring we were ready to go again. We now had decals on the kitchen wall, an illuminated spice rack, a herb garden ( in case we were asked for basil again) and a hanging basket to make her look pretty. These necessary additions were greeted with scorn by some members of team 38.(I think he is just jealous and dismayed that he could no longer catch us without fresh basil) On the way home she overheated again despite the new alloys that she had been given as a present for being so good.
The next trip was to Oxford and she nearly behaved all the way there. The speedo had still not been fixed, so our mileage is low this year, and now the temperature gauge began to fluctuate. We had a great time at the wedding and after a quick trip around Oxford headed for home. Back on the M5, the red light came on so we pulled of at the next junction. Milly was boiling again and the fans were not kicking in. We let her cool. Filled her up again using our posh tap in the sink. And set off. We had a few more similar stops before we finally made it home. We hope it is and electrical fault again but Milly is in the dog house.
 She is looking very cool with her decals outside as well as inside and her posh alloys. Pity she isn't going too well.

Tops and Bottoms

Lucy removing some of Milly's bits

Having seen hard tops and pop tops and measured Jim on top of Milly we decided to go for a pop top, if we could find a cheap one. Isn't e bay such a help! I found a local advert for pop tops and we contacted the guy and lo and behold he had a second hand top for a T4 by the side of his house. We hurried round and found that not only was the top for a T4 but it was also red (all be it a slightly different red to Milly). We bought our top and Ian, the guy making and selling them, not only agreed to deliver it but gave us lots of help with how to fit it.

This is scary !

......and down came the golf balls !

It was with some trepidation that Jim began, one sunny morning, to cut the roof off with a jigsaw and an angle grinder. He had just made a sizeable hole when it began to hail with stones the size of golf balls. It didn't last long and we swept the ice out, then Jim continued. He had lined the fibre glass top, fitted some powerful roof pistons and attached the side skirt to it. We had lots of help lifting the roof into place and when it went on, it was amazing! She really looked like a camper van.

Many hands.......

Looking out from under Milly's skirt

In my Easter bonnet

So much for the top!

We had a minor/major mechanical blip one morning. Milly refused to go into neutral before starting her up! It felt as if the clutch had stopped working. On closer inspection by Steve G it proved to be the master clutch cylinder that had broken which meant we had three vehicles on the drive with Milly at the bottom blocking them all in! Had this broken while we were going along it would have caused serious damage to the clutch and flywheel. Phew!

We bought some strong plywood (remember we have a weight problem) and Jim fitted it to make our bed. I climbed up. Not an easy task given my little legs but it held and the view from the window was great. The real test came when Jim joined me. This is where the 'bottoms' comes in! There is not a lot of room to get up and he's not exactly small! We found that as long as I lie down flat, he can just get up and swing his legs over my head and get in.Very cozy but I think an active sex life will be a bit too much for the bed!

Lucy testing the strength of the bed

We went into Exeter to South West Laminates and looked at some laminates for our worktop. The price was eye-watering so I asked Steve if they had any off cuts. He didn't blink when I said we needed a piece 2 metres long and gave us a full board that had been returned for just £30. It's in a black sparkly granite effect and just what we had in mind. Our kitchen will be awesome!

I ordered a foam mattress immediately so that we could consider a weekend camp in Weymouth with Milly and Jezebel II getting acquainted (Jezebel II is spooky's windy vehicle). Sadly this was not to be. Jezebel II was still receiving her top coat; the weather was atrocious and Milly continued to boil on every hill. We got her home eventually after several refill stops and she went to be rewired with a temperature gauge and fuel gauge to be fitted. It's good to have a reading telling you when you are about to come to a stop for lack of fuel and to confirm your suspicions that the steam coming out of the engine does mean she is over heating.

The excitement continued as I went out and bought a duvet, a duvet cover, towels and a potato peeler (red of course) for her. Won't we be smart! Another trip to Weymouth and despite many efforts, she continued to boil on hills. Jezebel II had finished her paint job and looked very smart in her new livery. Steven was doing gymnastics trying to rearrange the parts of his rock and roll bed into something with a flat surface. Jezebel II was beginning to show her true colours under the paint job.

Our first real trip in Milly came a couple of weeks later. The weather was fine, could even be said to be hot. We packed excitedly and went all of 10 miles to Topsham near Exeter. It was almost wild camping! There were no showers and the toilets were a bike ride away but we were as happy as pigs at piddle - we were camping in Milly!!!

Just the usual gear - bikes, duvets etc etc

Milly and Lucy - Lucy is the one on the right

We dined well, played Yahtzee and drank some wine. This did not help too much when it came to getting into bed but did make us laugh over it! We need a porta potti was the decision when we had to cycle over the field to the toilets in the dark. The sun was still shining the next morning when we woke up. The view from our bedroom window of the fields was great. It was hot already. We also need a fan and an awning!

Fan, porta potti, sink, hob, fridge and fabric for an awning ordered left the bank balance rather depleted but nothing is too much for our Milly. I began to get a little concerned when Jim woke up in a panic one morning. He had been dreaming that I had said we had to sell Milly as we had spent enough money. I think he would have seen it as grounds for divorce. She is certainly like a third person in our marriage and I'm beginning to wonder which of us he prefers!

I made the awning, Jim finished off welding a 'new' back seat from an old transit van and we set off for 3 days to north devon to camp at Woolacombe over the last of the jubilee weekend. Seemed like a good idea when we booked it. It was sunny when we arrived. We settled in, put up our smart new awning set up the table and chairs and set out the doormat (I forgot to mention that). The others arrived and the weather deteriorated. The wind which until then had been merely strong, became gale force. The awning stood up well considering but we did decide that it was definitely for sun and not rain. We all sheltered in Milly (seven of us) that evening. It was certainly cosy. The next morning was even worse. You could hardly stand up in the wind. There was an exodus from the campsite. We debated joining them but Steven was, as always, optimistic. We walked into the town, had a pub lunch and ventured onto the beach. On a summer's day it would have been fantastic, golden sand, rock pools and surf. This, however, was only June so only the surf was on form. The next day, however, the sun shone and we cycled part of the Tarka trail. Devon cream tea for lunch helped complete a great day. The weather had returned to a norm for February the next morning and we packed up in pouring rain and gale force wind and headed for home. Milly did overheat again when going up Telegraph hill but at least the gauge goes down as well as up now!

Yesterday our hob and sink arrived. They are really smart. We have a dinky fold down tap and a sink. The fridge and fan are due soon. Jim is going to finish the wiring and insulation and lining. I'm looking into hanging baskets and a herb garden to go with the bud vases and flowers on the windows. I suppose curtains will give more privacy. She's going to be great!

The outside is taking shape......

......and everyone can see what we're doing.

Bladder and Wind Problems

When Milly arrived back home the next day we decided that we would take her straight into Kath and Bills garage to get her electrics sorted out a soon as possible. Lucy opened the gates and I heard her shout "Steve's coming out!" I couldn't see him anywhere so I looked at her questioningly! "Steve's coming out" she repeated. "WHERE?" I shouted. as I was becoming agitated. "From the bonnet" she replied - "STEAMS COMING OUT!!" Ah! Steams Coming Out! Oops!
A quick check under the bonnet revealed a distinct lack of water in that bottle shaped like a nuclear reactor. Probably just an air lock through me not topping it up correctly. No problem there so I filled her up and thought no more about her leaking bladder.

Being measured up for a bed

The next day we decided to check out the roof size by me lying on top to see if I could fit. Interesting! Discussing the various problems and difficulties of making our own was proving to be a challenge. Thinking about our visit to Gloucester we were surprised how good the pop tops were but just too expensive! And the high tops were not as spacious as we thought! Back to the drawing board.

Mike came round a few days later and fiddled with the wires but still couldn't get any of the gauges to work so the instrument panel would be something we would have to replace. He did rewire the fuel pump and sort out a few minor electrical issues. While looking underneath the dashboard he was holding onto the steering wheel which suddenly came away in his hand! Shit! When he pulled the horn cover off there was no nut holding it onto the splines of the steering column! That would have been interesting a few days earlier at 88 miles an hour!!

We also discovered when rummaging underneath a hole in the back exhaust box which would account for the strange noise she was making from her rear end. So that would need changing. The next evening when Steve was fitting it he noticed that the centre exhaust box was also lacking in metal! She also needed a middle silencer box as well to control her wind! Milly, give us a break please!!

Sunset over Glocestershire

Having found that Milly was severely restricted in top speed I thought we had a major engine problem. It turned out that it was something to do with banjo bolts. These, as I have since found out, are remarkably things in a diesel fuel pump. So under telephone instructions from Steve G I removed these 'banjo' bolts to find one had a hole and the other didn't. I swapped them over so the fuel going in to the pump had a bolt with hole and was therefore unrestricted. All reconnected and off for a test drive I suddenly felt the power that Lewis Hamilton must have felt when he first stepped into an F1 machine. Awesome! Problem solved. Acceleration noticeable.
We could now turn our attention to the interior and roof. We built a full scale model in cardboard of the kitchen and rear seats and it looked pretty good. We couldn't find a roof that was cheap enough so discussed the possibility of making our own. A visit to Chris Humphrey's boat yard proved useful but daunting. The amount of work involved could be considerable. After much more research Lucy found a place in Worcester were they sold high tops and pop tops. We were convinced we wanted a high top and they had one one we could see fitted to a van so we decided a visit was essential. The place in question was some two hours drive away and it would give Milly a good run. Steve G thought it would be good for her to have a run as well so off we went. She certainly likes motorways. I managed to get her up to 88 mph, er, sorry 70 mph max UK speed limit! We were very happy.
We had a good chat with Jonny at Dirty Weekender's and saw first hand both types of roof. We began to change our minds and think a pop-top would be better but at £4k to have one fitted we needed a re-think.
So as we went to leave, Milly would not start. Bugger! We called Green Flag who sent a chap out who was very interested in what we were doing, diagnosed a broken fuse and we were soon on our way. On the M5 south we were chatting about our roof changes and what we were going to do next when suddenly Milly started to splutter and slow down. Oh dear! As I pulled onto the hard shoulder I put hazard warning lights on and she started going again. So I manoeuvred back onto the motorway and turned the hazards off. She spluttered again so off  to the hard shoulder we went again. We repeated this procedure a few times but thought we should turn off at the next junction as things were obviously not quite right. As we did so she started working normally so we turned back onto the M5 and on the slip road spluttered again and started to slow down. Hazards lights on again but this time she came to a complete halt.
We phoned the rescue services, again, and were told "on no account get out of the vehicle and wait in the vehicle, with your seatbelt on, to be relieved". As we waited the sun started to set over the countryside. It was very picturesque, apart from the traffic hurtling past and Milly wobbling in the lorry vortexes.

The rescue vehicle turned up fairly promptly and took us off the motorway to the next slip road and onto a garage. The mechanic had a look and tutted a bit and said she needed more attention than he could give. We enquired about a tow home and discovered we only had a 10 mile mile recovery distance. It would cost over £500 to get home! A few calls to Kath and Steve G, a trailer and a neighbours 4x4 was procured and would be with us in the morning. So we had to find a hotel for the night. Normally this wouldn't be problem but it was Cheltenham races this weekend so there were very few beds. So £90 later we were booked into an Ibis Hotel for the night and Milly was tucked up in a garage overnight.
The next day we were on the bus heading to the garage when we had a call from Dave from Overbrook Recovery Services, Gloucester. He had got her going! Brilliant. He had decided as there was not much to do he would have a fiddle with her wires. He had found a lot of connections had come loose. It must have been down to excessive vibration at 88mph!  A quick call to Kath had found them just filling up and about to leave - cancel that and sit tight. Phew - just in time!
So, we set off for the third time and she started bleeping! I had heard this before and knew what to do. Just disconnect a plug or two that didn't appear to do anything! No problems all the way home. She's a one that Milly but in-spite of the events to date we were starting, in a starnge sort of way, to enjoy the uncertainty of it all! She was starting to develop a character.

Piddling Pete

After much discussion on names Millie was settled upon as a name for My Windy Limo as previously discussed.  I was, however, soon corrected by her indoors as to the appropriate spelling. IT'S 'MILLIE WITH A 'Y' ! Fair enough. Correction noted. Anyway, back to Milly herself. She is proving to be quite a handful, if you pardon the expression. Just when we think she will perform, she coughs a bit and stops. She's a tease that Milly!
So, there we were again in the dark and the rain. Spanky was under Milly playing with her belts and bits and having the occasional moan, but in a nice way and seemed to be quite happy. Steve could not get any new glo plugs that matched the originals so he decided to put the old ones back in for now. All  the belts and pulleys were timed up again and we were ready for another attempt at making her go. She coughed into life much to my delight again. I thought she sounded OK for an old gal but the guys did not say anything! Then Steve said 'I can see flames around the glo plugs!' Now I don't know much about engines but this did not sound quite right. On closer inspection I could see smoke but no flames and I know the old saying! So, out came the plugs and one of them had a hairline crack. Not good I thought. Spanky said it would be no problem and he would get it sorted at work the next day. I love these guys! When there is a problem it's not a problem. I'm starting to think they like it when she doesn't start 'cos then they can find a solution. It's almost as if they have nothing better to do than lie on the ground, in the dark, in the rain, playing with our Milly! And that's what they like!
The next couple of days I spent lining Kath and Bill's garage walls so that we could use the garage to work on Milly over the coming months. I also noticed some watery yellow stains on the wheels and on the ground around Milly when I discovered that Piddling Pete had be using her as a toilet! Lovely. I was quite glad when Pete went under Milly and came out with a black streak of oil down the middle of his back. That'll teach him. Nah! He's a West Highland Terrier with the madness gene! And Spanky had been lying down in it as well!
A few nights later Steve and Bill had bought some new timing belt covers and new belts. So under Steve went to belt her up agian. Spanky had come up trumps with new glo plugs and so we were away. Steve gave me the task of putting in the glo plugs. This was more difficult than I first so when Mike came along and took over that job I was quietly relieved. No wonder Steve smiled when he gave me the plugs!
We had to modify the timing covers with a Stanley knife quite a bit, something that the designers at VW did not think of unfortunately. And then we started to put the radiator in for the first time! We were getting close now. We noticed some wires that had been worn away and needed replacing. Along with some other random wires that didn't work. 'There's bound to be teething problems' said Mike gleefully. We decided not to fill her up with water just in case we had to take the radiator out again. We fired her up and after a couple of goes she ran! And then she stopped. Shen started and ran again! And then she stopped again. What now Milly! Give us a break! She ran fine when the throttle pedal was pressed but she would not idle. Apparently the timing was slightly out again! Bugger!  'Does that mean we have to take all that lot out again - radiator, timing belt covers, belts, bolts, wires and just about everything else we've done in the last few weeks' I blurted!
Steve and Mike said they would sort it all out next week while I was away in Italy. I made it very clear that they MUST text me when she's going. So, there I was, up a mountain with 10 kids when I felt a vibrating in my pocket. I couldn't resist a 'peak' and much to my kids amazement I yelped at the top of my voice. Milly was running and I'd missed her rebirth.
When I got back to blighty Steve had already put on knew number plates and rebuilt the front end, started to fit a CD player and taken her round the block for a spin. He had to adjust some water pipes, the throttle cable was broken and the battery was buggered. Apart from that all was going well!
On Monday, in the daylight for a change, Lucy, Kath and me gave Milliy some TLC. Lucy and Kath gave her a wash. They scrubbed the bumpers, door handles and bodywork. The dashboard and interior door panels were given some elbow grease and she began to take on a new aura. The neighbours commented later that she looked as if she had been painted. Praise indeed. I took out her inside bits - an old bodged up sink unit, a bodged up bed, some dodgy wall panels and some very wet insulation. The floor was removed to reveal a considerable amount of builders crap. Final sweep out and she was looking good.
I arranged to meet Steve that night to install the new battery and throttle cable and of course as usual it was dark and wet. Nice to be back! With the new bits on, she started like a dream. I opened a celebratory beer and toasted the guys. Steve decided to take her round the block as he had trade plates. Excited was I as I sat in the passenger seat with a large grin! That night I started looking for insurance quotes.
The next day I confirmed insurance, printed of Milly's new birth certificate and hot footed it down to the post office armed with MOT and DVLA paperwork. Duly taxed and insured I decided to treat Lucy to a trip to the local tip to give her a spin. That's Milly, not Lucy! Needless to say she was thrilled with the location for our first van outing.

First outing for Lucy and Milly

So, we loaded up some rubbish, started Milly and we were off, both grinning like small children. Into first gear and 10 mph, second gear 20 mph, third gear 30 mph. Slightly sluggish we thought but we were in a built up area, so steady as she goes. Filled her up with diesel, all £74 and stared going through the gears again. Into fifth gear now and foot to the floor. Max speed 54 mph! And we had to wait till we nearly got to Newton Abbot to reach that! But at least she was running smooth and straight. Oh, and did I mention, no temperature gauge, no fuel gauge, a noisy power steering pump, window winder knob falling off, a strange sound when turning the wheel and one or two other minor things. What a great day !