So, we’ve only gone and done it. Say hello to Wanda, our new van, a 1989 VW T25 Autosleeper Trooper. 1915 CC petrol water cooled engine and all round snazzy ‘80’s gal.
She won’t see her 20s again, but with just over 52,000 miles on the clock, Wanda promises many miles still to be travelled and although she lets out a little growl when in first gear she rattles on down the road like the proverbial trooper she is. With only two previous owners, Wanda had been well looked after, but her exterior needs a little work (don’t we all?), rust and bumps and such, but nothing initially too scary (you can mock me once she’s been in to a bodywork specialist for a proper look over). Her interior is pretty much original too, so we can recline on her natty Scilly cushions and marvel at her light European oak units, whilst peering out at the unfortunate non-Campervanners through Pink Diagonal curtains. As an extra treat, included in the sale were some rather chic ‘80’s mugs, plates, bowls and even an old kettle. Very much a beige/peach heaven but then that was the 1980s for you.
You may wonder about Wanda, not why we bought her – the sanity that brought us to part with some serious cash on 30 year old van will be understood by those intrepid fools who have done the same, but rather why we christened her with such a name. Well Wanda means Wanderer in German, so apt for a van with a VW heritage and although registered in ’89, she was built in ‘88, when hit British comedy film ‘A Fish Called Wanda’ was released. Admittedly, a tenuous link, and with that logic we could have called her Otto, or Archie, or Ken I suppose, but Wanda seemed more fitting.
We’d been looking for the right van for a few months, but never found one that ticked all our campervan boxes. We found Wanda online, located about 120 miles from where we live, and after a few chats with the owner we thought she was promising enough to consider as our first van and we started to plan visiting her in person.
A word of advice. Before buying, in fact before even seeing her, we did the good and proper thing of completing a car history check (AA at only £14.99 so well worth the piece of mind). Reassured she hadn’t been nicked we then pushed forward with an Inspection Report, again with the AA. A bit of a cost here, just over £200, but for reassurance well worth it, and great for highlighting initial work needed too. Beyond some minor issues, and the usual bodywork concerns, all came back tickety-boo. For added piece-of-mind though we shared the report with a few trusted local garages to get a decent enough idea of how much the non-essential repairs would cost us. Happy with the sums, and after a little haggling with the seller only then did we finally decide to go see the van in the flesh.
It was a rather dreich Saturday morning in October when we left our Fife home and nipped off down to the Borders for a closer inspection. To say there was some serious to and fro discussion on the road is an understatement. A campervan, especially a classic, is a tidy investment, so conversations on how often we’d use her, where would we park her, what about ongoing work, etc., dominated the travelling chat. All points had previously been debated over, of course, but now it was real, we were actually going to see a genuine potential, so the pressure was on. We’d paid a deposit but the seller was happy to refund this if we didn’t buy the van once we saw her, so some comfort there as we were under no pressure from him to buy, still it was an anxious, but exciting, drive.
Before we knew it though, I was at the steering wheel of a genuine classic and driving her the 125 plus miles home! And what a drive too! No issues apart from a couple of stalls (my fault, not Wanda’s), surprisingly smooth once she got going, incredibly easy to handle and we even managed to enjoy our first meal in the van on the journey (Ikea meatballs and gravy if you must know).
So, what’s next for Wanda? Well there are big plans for her new adventures. Not only will she be our home from home as we meander round Scotland, and hopefully beyond, in a post-Covid-19 world, she’ll act as a ‘mobile office’ for some writing projects needing worked on. Heck, we may even consider renting her out on an occasional basis, if we get her tidied up in time for Spring 2021, watch this space… In the meantime, though, she’ll enjoy a few tootles round the Kingdom of Fife, before heading into the garage for some serious TLC over winter. More on that soon too!
Catch you on the road!
Rough's Drafts 