A secret Swift?
Agatha Christie's Poirot frequently proclaims "Eet ees time to exercise the leetle grey cells." And this month we will be exercising your grey cells with a puzzle.
The above photos show a pre-owned Bessacar Mirage, offered for sale at the recent Northern Motorcaravan Show. This example was originally made to order on an extra high-roof, long-wheelbase VW LT panel van. The question is, why didn't Swift Group know anything about it? The answer can be found on page 98.
MCC goes to Spain
Flora and I recently spent three weeks motorcaravanning in southern Spain. The purpose of our visit had been to join a rally run by the newly-formed Spanish Group of The Motor Caravanners' Club. And,
while we were there, we spent
an additional two weeks touring Andalucia and visiting friends.
Regular readers will know that Flora and I are enthusiastic members of all three of the big motorcaravanning clubs.
The Motor Caravanners' Club (MCC) is smaller than either the Camping and Caravanning Club, or the Caravan Club, but it is unique in that it is the only one which is dedicated solely to motorcaravanners.
The MCC specialises in weekend rallies and holiday meets in the UK, with some specially organised trips abroad. These are arranged to coincide with a cultural or social event, or for tours and 'winter warmers'.
Last year, the MCC became the first of the three clubs to establish a group in Spain.
The entire group committee live in Spain and its members are all either Spanish residents or frequent visitors. As with all events arranged by the MCC, the Spanish Group's rallies are open to all members regardless of where they call home. And for some full-timers, home is where the park is.
Given that the mass exodus of Brits to Spain continues unabated, the MCC looks set
to grow. In future issues I will be looking at some of the places we visited.
Masked marvel
Recently, through no fault
of my own, I found myself working later than expected and as a result driving a classic camper home in the dark… Oh, alright then, I lost the Post-it note on which I'd scribbled my 'must do' list, which delayed me horribly.
As I rolled along through
the pitch-black evening it
became apparent just how weak headlights were 30 years ago, compared to today's halogen-powered floodlights.
Bright is best if headlights are correctly aligned but it's a pain in the retina for mainland European drivers who have to put up with us British motorcaravanners driving abroad without first having fitted beam benders or masked our headlights.
Prior to our departure for Spain, I was going to put some insulating tape on our motorcaravan's headlights but then I remembered that our Transit has plastic covers, not the glass lenses found on our old VW LT. Some plastic headlight covers fitted to modern base vehicles suffer deterioration caused by bulbs heating the tape's adhesive. And, some plastic beam benders also react badly to the heat.
So, after putting my thinking cap on, I realised that we required a semi-rigid cover mask that could be attached while remaining clear of the hot surface.
I made my own from an old, flexible, plastic document wallet which was about the same thickness as thin card (180gsm), using templates I had made earlier by trial and error. I made two, because the lights on each side of my 'van require different shaped masks.
These I attached to each headlight using three, small, double-sided adhesive pads. The result was a small gap between the black mask and the headlight cover.
The modified beam pattern was checked against one of our neighbours' garage walls and seemed to work well.
The two main benefits of 20 minutes' DIY and a bit of cognitive processing were that the headlamp covers didn't suffer any damage when I drove long distances at night, and the masks didn't cost me a penny
– and that's really satisfying for a skinflint such as me!
The full ramblings can be found in the September 06 issue of Practical Motorhome
Happy motorhoming!
Jack Bancroft |
