Explorer Century
The Explorer Group has become synonymous with the manufacture of avant-garde motorhomes and touring caravans, and is celebrating 100 years in business.
Well, it is and it isn't. The group hasn't been going for
a century, but the sum of the ages of its three principal brands adds up to 100. That's Elddis (40 years), Buccaneer (35) and Compass (25), so the group decided to mark the occasion with a spot of posh nosh at the London Natural History Museum.
Not only has Explorer's products always been cleverly designed, they have also been pretty innovative. It was one of the first to fit flued fires,
use double-glazed windows and to build on Al-Ko chassis extensions. Add in a very popular A-class range, and already the image of a go-ahead design team comes to mind.
I've owned several Elddii (presumably that's the plural) over the years and my father bought a very early one as well as the second Compass ever made. The photograph below shows an Auto-Trail and an Elddis together.
The photo at the top of
the page shows one of the company's hugely popular Autostratus on a Talbot Express Al-Ko. This one was built in 1989 and rode well, although the very early ones (1984/85) had a very firm ride (some owners put two or three paving slabs in the far rear to try to soften it a bit).
I'm not going to go into
the history of Elddis and Compass, that's something
for a future column. Instead, let's look forward. Marketing director Stuart Hicks remained tight-lipped over whether or not Explorer is going to build a compact coachbuilt in the manner of the old Veedub Calypso on the sensational new VW T5 chassis.
However, what is on its
way – if not already here by the time you read this – is a new mid-range of coachbuilts from the Consett crew. All will be on the Peugeot Boxer chassis and they will have Explorer's usual sensational value for money.
Double negative
Americans are guilty of providing us with some truly awful 'isms' so beloved by vacuous management types.
I don't particularly enjoy being told to prioritise, incentivise or push the envelope, I should hang my head in shame while admitting to being hugely impressed with the latest bit of senseless 'management speak': the condition of achieving 'negative progress', or, as someone said on the radio, 'to deepen the learning curve'.
That's right, both phrases are coded vocabulary for a goof/
mess-up/blunder, whereby the new model or process has ended up being worse than the one it replaces.
Take the position of a spare wheel on a Sevel coachbuilt, for example. It used to be nice and dry, and easily accessible under the bonnet. Now it's 'skillfully' sited under the floor and as far away as possible from every side. In addition, it needs two pretty fit people with a brace of jacks to retrieve it. A classic example of negative progress.
Fun in Legoland
One of the benefits of being a grandad is that you get to play with Lego again.
As young parents, we very quickly learned that the secret of happy and fun family motorcaravanning holidays was to put some effort into finding activities that we could all enjoy together.
Legoland in Windsor didn't exist then, but if it had, it would have been towards the top of our 'to do' list.
Open from the beginning
of March to the end of October, Legoland offers plenty to do and see, with rides, interactive activities, shows and, of course, the Lego models themselves. First admission is at 10.00am, but the car parks are open earlier, and I suggest you take advantage of this.
I found no problem parking our coachbuilt motorhome.
There are a few campsites nearby. We stayed at the Camping and Caravanning Club site at Chertsey. This is adjacent to the River Thames. Non-members are welcome, but because it is a consistently popular site, it would be wise to book in advance.
The site has recently been refurbished, is open all year and has good facilities for disabled people.
Near miss
For the benefit of new readers this is our slot where we look at motorcaravans that should have been a hit, but weren't. This is sometimes down to a flawed design, or a lack of consumer awareness, but is usually due to circumstances which were, as they say, 'beyond our control'. Such circumstances prevailed with this month's 'near miss', the Karmann Colorado.
Around five years ago,
VW camper specialist Bilbo's decided that it needed a coachbuilt to complement its range of elevating-roof and high-top VW Transporter campers, and decided to import the Colorado.
This motorhome was a beautifully put-together rear lounge compact motorcaravan from a world-renowned German design house. It was based on the long-wheelbase chassis-cab and always fitted with the top-of-the-range,
five-pot turbo-diesel derv drinker, so progress was smooth and swift.
I tested one, thought it brilliant, and was sure that Bilbo's proprietors, David
and Moira Latham, were onto a winner. Then Karmann
went through one of its periodic hiatuses and decided it was not going to produce any more that year. So, that was the end of that.
Today, Karmann is part of the Eura Mobil group, and continuous production should now be assured.
Some facts for you: the Colorado H made extensive use of GRP mouldings, was 5.797m (19ft 0.25in) long and had two large double beds. The price in 2000 was £32,950 for a left-hooker and you'd pay £34,500 for a right-hand drive.
M-way madness
The Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) and Auto Express magazine have recently joined forces in a high-profile campaign aimed at educating drivers in an attempt reduce the number of accidents on our motorways each year. I was shocked to read that 50 percent of all drivers habitually drive for more than two hours on long motorway journeys without a break, and half of those, a staggering 25 percent of all drivers, never stop once, on trips lasting four hours or more.
Frightening, isn't it? What wasn't clear was how many of these were motorcaravanners. None, I hope, but just in case some of us have slipped into bad habits, I have reproduced the IAM's tips to reduce the effects of tiredness on a long motorway trip:
• Plan your journey time in advance so that you can stop for a 15-minute break every two hours
• Try to avoid making long trips between midnight and 6am when natural alertness is at its lowest
• Never start a journey if you are already feeling tired
• If you start to feel sleepy, find a safe place to stop (not on the hard shoulder), take a short nap and resume your journey 15-20 minutes later.
If necessary, drink strong coffee or a high-energy drink, or take a caffeine tablet before setting off again
• Don't rely on opening the window or turning up the volume of the radio – these will do little to stop you falling asleep at the wheel.
On that last point, never, ever do the old sales rep's trick of trapping your hair in the sunroof and relying on the fact that if you do nod off, the pain will wake you up with a jerk. At motorway speeds, it might already be too late.
It's a roll-over!
Now more usually applied to the National Lottery, a roll-over has several meanings.
In the vernacular, it can mean gaining an advantage over somebody, or that your adversary has just given up.
CJ Autos (Heywood) takes it literally, though. For this firm, it really does mean rotating something through 90°, and
in this case it could be an elevating-roof motorcaravan.
CJ Autos supplies enthusiasts and the trade with specialist garage equipment. It has been doing so for years, and makes everything from axle stands to the body roller (pictured below) for those requiring the highest level of accessibility. Just imagine how useful it would be for rust-proofing the bottom of your motorhome. The standard model will accept weights of up to 2500kg, but I'm led to believe CJ Autos can make a heavier-duty model. Just don't forget to empty the 'van first!
Happy motorcaravanning!
Gentleman Jack Bancroft |
