Alas poor Munkymobile

[andygates]

A dashboard without a radio looks like a face that's just lost a tooth. 

I'm getting itchy from being so de-powered since the van went permanently off-road at its MOT last week.  I can't dash off to rescue friends, run a bunch of bikes somewhere, or go to the beach for a swim or a surf or a paddle, or do anything ad hoc.  It's not the doing as much as the capacity to be doing that is vexing me: phantom driver ache.

Bus timetables appear to be lies, which doesn't help even if the main thing I'm missing is a chunk of my usefulness.  Part of me wants to get a heavy bike trailer.

Bah.  Ebay ho!  There must and shall be a new Munkymobile.  Possibly with Misery Machine graphics. 

Comments

[thudthwacker.livejournal.com]

Condolences, good sir. How goes replacement shopping? I thought the ice cream truck suggestion had merit...

[andygates.livejournal.com]

Thus far I've determined that every car-sales website in the world is written to vex me -- the boneheadedness of a dealer with 60 items in stock insisting on you clicking brand and model before telling you they've got nothing is just GAH. I don't care! I just want to see your diesel minivans!

Ebay's showing potential. It also offers distraction: silly things like old Morris Minors...

[ladyjulian.livejournal.com]

Military ambulance. It's the way forward.

[andygates.livejournal.com]

Had a civvy-ambulance-ex-military-service and it was a hound.

Landy ambulance? Tempting.

Unimog ambo? Thunderbird XIII!

Have just received enough loot to lift the shopping into "budget" from "banger" so the main target is things like day-van VW T4s and their ilk. There's a tasty matte-black one I like the look of (there's also a tasty T25, but it's matte-black with PINK FUN FUR INTERIOR and that's just a tad disco for me).

[andygates.livejournal.com]

It's got to be diesel, so I can run it on bio...

[andygates.livejournal.com]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=170542757933&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

[ladyjulian.livejournal.com]

Munkydiscomachine! That would be so much fun with a disco ball and bike lights :D

[andygates.livejournal.com]

It's in my watch list (though to be fair, not deeply in it as T25s drive like pants). It's got a hint of dropship about it too, neh?

[splinister.livejournal.com]

I think it looks brilliant. Good price too, but you know would more about the merits and cons of vans...

[andygates.livejournal.com]

The T25 is a quirky beast. This one's the most gutless of the diesels, which makes me think not, alas. Its flat-out max speed is 100kph; not that I want to go fast, but I don't like to be flooring it to go slow.

It is nice, though. Le sigh.

[sunny-brook.livejournal.com]

A friend of mine runs a Land Rover 101 Forward Control, converted from military ambulance spec to overland expedition-style camper. There's a 3.9EFi in it now though, so it's not so hot on fuel efficiency.

Failing that, Andy, what about Brompton + CityCarClub?

[andygates.livejournal.com]

Your friend wins at camper. That's been my "squee!" spec camper since I started looking.

(Anecdotage: Back in the day, I was looking for a van and my ex-RAF brother said "ex-RAF ambulances, cheap" -- I jumped, but alas, they were regular Bedford civilian ambulances that had served on base. Still bought one, and it was a terrifying shed.)

I looked into car clubs and there isn't one for my town. It's in the pipeline, with pressure from the local hippies to which I've added my name.