Sweet Though you have a long way to go, to beat my drive of 553 miles in 11hrs 20mins(But I felt it that night, once I got to bed ).

since doing the timing on my car, ive got way over 46mpg ish which is what i got before, i swear its like double that now!
i used to do trips from chichester and back, about 20 miles a trip, two of them would be a gallon i had worked out, (which is about a 5er now) now, i can do 4 trips to chichester and back on a gallon!!!!

whats going on!

That's a wonderful photo, Old Nail, because it seems to sum up everything you feel for your car. And it looks loyal to you too sitting there; "No probs, Old Nail, any time. G'night..."

Parting will be painful


(Best value camper out there is probably the Mazda Bongo/Ford Freda - 8 seater capacity, or room for a kitchen unit. Elevating roof versions too, so's you can bed down in a 'tent' upstairs. Lovely to drive too, but only 30mpg. Very well priced for what you get - possible to get a decent one from £3k, but more will buy you more assured quality and history.)

Nice headlight bulbs you got there

Mate of mine bought a Bongo for £1400 last winter. He spent another £400 or so sorting out a few glitches, then drove it round France this summer. Even his wife (who hates anything to do with camping, camper vans, etc) thinks it's alright!

I've looked at those Bongo things but they just look like a people carrier to me. I'm looking to go older but bigger, something the size of a hi-top transit is where I want to be, around the 3.5 grand mark. But that puts it about twelve years old or more!

What about a "stealth camper"? ie take a well cared for hi-side Transit or Sprinter, or whatever, and kit out the inside with all you need. They can be bought for next to nothing. I did a bit of research into it earlier in the year. DVLA auctions can be good for these. Go for ex-DHL, utilities etc. A well-cared-for Sprinter will be good for 1/2million miles. (Had a Sprinter offered to me for £1500 by the guy who delivers to us.)
There are often a few half-finished projects like this on Ebay.
Maybe this could be the winter project for you, O-N!

I'm open to all options, but it won't be this winter's project as I'll still be using the 2cv until around March or April, and posting here about it.

I'll also be doing a bit of downsizing shortly, which means that most of the stuff that is in the garage will have to go, including compressor, spray guns and stuff like that. There's a spare 2cv engine, and a sorted Dyane gearbox hanging around in there too. I was loathe to sell them in case mine went pop, maybe I'll offer them with the car?

I have moved house six times in five years, and I've lived at my current address for almost two years of that, so you can imagine how often I've been lumping the huge amount of gear around each time. I gave loads away once just to save keep moving it, including an Austin Somerset car that I had no more room for.

Like many blokes my age I have a lifetimes accumulation of crap that I could happily keep forever, but constantly changing circumstances will no longer allow me to. Over the next twelve months I hope to clear a lot of stuff, lighten the load so to speak, and any money that I get for it can be used toward setting the future in motion.

Also, by spending so much time online recently I have fallen behind in doing the stuff that puts food on the table, so I'm now playing catchup, which means less time for visiting forums I'm afraid. I really like my little 2cv, despite the times it rips my pants, and I only envisaged selling it in order to buy a 602'd ripple one day, which is what I'd really like to own. But sometimes real life gets in the way of what we'd ideally like to do, and this is fast becoming one of those situations.

I can completely agree with all of this - I've sold my Volvo 740 and now use mine for all trips, it just seems to make so much sense. After every trip I look at it with admiration and pat the wing to acknowledge how good I think it is!

I was driving up the A1 from Bedford the other day, got to the M62 where I would normally get off and head through Bradford, but thought bollocks to that and carried on up the A1, heading through Ripon and Pateley Bridge. Nearly a 1/3 as long to get home, an extra 1hr 30mins, but I was enjoying it so much. With no other car have I felt like doing this. All for 8 quid a month insurance and 45mpg...

It's odd isn't it? When the A series was introduced in 1948 it was to provide folks with simple inexpensive transport. Here are we 62 years later praising them for those exact same qualities.

It would be selfish of me to hope that the 2cv price bubble would burst,as many people would lose out financially by that. However, something deep inside me does still yearn for those days of the cheap little French car that had so much character, and could be picked up and run for little more than pocket money.

These days you can buy a Peugot 106 or similar for not much money, but the two 'cheap cars' are not only 62 years apart, they're worlds apart.