THE FOX AND BADGER
Over the next few months, I’ll be looking at a selection of motorhomes from the past decade or so that deserved to make it but didn’t. Some ventures were under-funded, some designs just ahead of their time, and some disappeared due to reasons unconnected to the featured vehicle.
Last month, we looked at the
tag-axle Machzone Sovereign Ultra. This issue, we have something more modest in size, but every bit as clever: the Auto-Trail Badger.
The Badger (and the Fox) were panel van conversions originally built in the early 1990s on the Talbot Express/Fiat Ducato
panel van, and later on the Boxer/new Ducato. Both were fairly conventional in layout, though extremely well appointed. It was the four-berth version that caused a stir because its high-top had a ‘coachbuilt-style’ Luton.
This allowed a large, comfortable high-level bed in addition to the lower-level one, made by converting the lounge seats.
When reporting on a live-in test
of this vehicle, I described it as
“a van conversion that thinks it
is a coachbuilt”.
Unlike many similar-sized van conversions, the Badger had a reasonably spacious shower room and a well-equipped kitchen, with that most precious of commodities – some worktop area!
The Badger’s overcab area was extremely well-executed and, in my opinion, blended in rather well. It wasn’t a great commercial success, though, principally (I guess) because it was ahead of its time.
A few years later, Westfalia took up the idea again and put an identically shaped overcab on some of its VW Transporter conversions. And it sold very well in Europe. Perhaps Auto-Trail should
re-introduce it? Incidentally, the model pictured (below, left) on the 1.9D Ducato 10, cost £26,155 in 1996.
TALKIN' ITALIAN
It must be more than a decade ago when I saw the first ‘budget’ Italian imports, up at Don Amott’s dealership. They offered a build quality no worse than the average British-built van (and better than many!) but with a far superior washroom and a shed-load of extras, all for considerably less money than the British equivalent. In those days I was a heavily mortgaged family man and knew they would appeal instantly, just in terms of value for money.
My opinions were pilloried by some representatives
of UK motorhome manufacturers, two of whom said: “They’ll never sell ’em and they’ll end up on some hire fleet”. Tentatively
I asked whether they had ever actually looked at
one? “Don’t need to,” was their reply.
Now, more than a decade on, there are ten Italian makes established in the British market place, and
the companies represented
by those rather dismissive gentlemen have not enjoyed
a similar, unqualified success.
Thank you, Don Amott Leisure, for having had the courage to ‘try’ to bring in some coachbuilt vans that are within the reach of young families. You succeeded, and then some!
GREETINGS TO ALL
Shortly due to be released is a nifty range of six greetings cards, particularly suitable for Practical Motorhome readers. Produced by motorcaravan archivist, and PMH contributor, Andrew Jenkinson, they feature full-colour photography of classic motorcaravans from the past. And being likely to retail at around £1.40, they seem like good value, too. See our ‘Info’ box (left).
PMH SOVEREIGN AWARDS
Wow! What a response to my initiative to sort the wheat from the chaff, in the form of our ‘Practical Motorhome Sovereign Awards 2005’ survey (see page 45 of the April 2004 issue).
Please keep your responses coming, whichever make of new motorcaravan you’ve bought, and wherever you bought it from.
Apparently, some people felt that because they had bought their van direct from the manufacturer,
they were not entitled to complete a survey form. Far from it – the opposite is true because it will be interesting to compare the service provided by those manufacturers that deal in ‘direct sales’ only, against those which sell through a conventional dealer network.
KEEPING THE KIDS SAFE
At a recent seminar, led by the NCC (National Caravan Council), an important issue was raised which I feel should be passed on. But please don’t worry, unduly: just take reasonable precautions when away in your motorhome.
There is a possibility that, having been scared away from schools, playgrounds, and theme parks, paedophiles may target the larger campsites.
When our daughter was a nipper we always let her wander around campsites, pretty much unsupervised – as long as she stayed within the site boundaries and kept out of trouble. This, we felt, was giving her a bit of freedom in a safe, controlled environment. However, it appears that, today, parents should keep a closer watch on their young children at play.
Having given the matter some thought, here are my suggestions:
1. Know where your children are at all times, and that they are being supervised by a responsible adult. Take it in turns with other parents – after all, there is no need for everybody to be ‘on duty’.
2. At larger holiday parks, take advantage of organised group activities for children
– but don’t trust your child’s safety to anybody who is not suitably qualified.
3. A pitch close to the play area/swing park may enable you to keep an eye on the kids.
4. Club holidays and weekend rallies are worth consideration because everybody knows, or recognises, everybody else – so a stranger who may be ‘up to no good’ can be easily spotted.
5. Two-way radios and mobile phones are a good way idea, though neither is essential, nor a substitute for an adult being present when young children are playing.
To put all this into perspective: statistically, kids
are at far greater risk in the homes of friends and relatives. Campsites are among the safest places in the UK, so let’s keep it that way.
FLASH FLOOD
Thanks, to those who responded to my request for support over my little contretemps with Kojak’s Kodak (PMH Dec, p35) – the two emails positively flooded in! We’ve decided to form a support group for those of us caught in the ‘flash, bang, wallop’ of a speed camera.
It will be called the Society Of Drivers Opposing Fixed Fines. (Those under 18 years of age, or of a sensitive disposition, should not try to write down the acronym.)
To join this auspicious, and ground-breaking group, write your name and address, in pencil, on a used £20 note and send it to the society C/O me, Jack Bancroft, at the PMH editorial office!
NOT A LOAD OF OLD TATA
Fittingly, my last item this month concerns the Tata (pronounced
ta-ta, as in ‘goodbye’). Interested
in the all-new Rover town car? Named the ‘City Rover’, it is a tempting set of urban wheels: affordable and, apparently, great fun to drive.
Already, so it seems, ‘orders’ have been placed with dealers by motorcaravanners wishing to trail one behind their van. But this puzzles me, because buyers wouldn’t have seen it ‘in the flesh’, so to speak, at the time they ordered. So, I wonder if these really are firm orders or just dealer hyperbole for the number of people that have expressed an interest?
This new Rover isn’t really a Rover at all, but a Tata Indica, designed and built in India by this go-ahead company. Incidentally, its tough Loadbeta range has been the pickup of choice for many buying a dependable 4 x 4 chassis on which to transport a dismountable unit. I’ve subjected them to rigorous tests and they are rock solid, performing well, on- and off-road. But wait… do I hear some derisory comments from the saloon bar sages? Well, years ago mighty Subaru began by importing its tough little pickup truck, and look where it is now.
Ta-ta for now (sorry, I just had to), and happy motorcaravanning!
Gentleman Jack Bancroft |
