Hello Daisy!

26th July 2010, and the arrival of our VW Type 2 Camper - "Daisy", 1974, 1600cc, 50,000 miles and hopefully more to come. After much searching and many miles we returned to Stoke and the first van we looked at, price agreed, insurance sorted and away we go. Paperwork done and it was time throw myself in to the world of the camper. After an rocky start I manged to get from 2nd to 3rd, before "griding" to holt at some lights.



Cruising was fine, a steady 50 - 60mph, duel carriage way, no problem.... until more lights, turning red, ok Sally in front, and no-one behind, "oh damn someone behind, first, come on first, ok try second, no, lights back on red", me sweating and rolling back and cannot get a gear and now stalled!, and its not going to start! Pumping the gas pedal, something I now know you should never do!, the battery was giving up the fight. The car behind had pulled up and guided me back to the safety of the gutter, turns out Skott is wanting a camper - our first Camper friend!

Sally had returned and was now on her her way home to ring back the insurance details so we could get recovery, Skott and I passed the time, convinced that the whole episode was "driver" error rather than the un-mentioned fact we could have brought a "pup". Light was fading and Skott needed to get home and get the tea on, but his company helped pass the time, which was now heading past my normal bedtime! Alone the thoughts turned to the "dark side" had we brought a bad van? The orange lights of the Davis of Stafford recovery man Pete brought me back, bracing myself for the knowing looks of "the mechanic" I jumped out.

Now if fate had dealt a bad hand in passing me driving skills, she now turned the tables. Pete knows all about "vans" and is currently building one, and if his mobile phone pictures are anything to go by, a nice one. The next hour or more was a pure delight as he passed on tips and manage to convince me that Daisy was actually a "good" van, just a few bits to sort! I am sure that in that time I picked up more information than I could of in the next 12 months, so a big thanks to Pete!

Next day, and just had Pete had said Machine 7 turned out to a great help and source of parts, lets just hope I don't need to visit their website too often!

Links -
http://www.staffs-vw.co.uk/
http://www.machine7.com/