Our Bob Is An Awesome Bob!

I knew that it would take me a little longer to get to the Midlands than normal but…

Bob started perfectly and I was soon on my way through Essex and into Suffolk through Haverhill. The torrential rain was fine but the crosswinds were causing me all sorts of worry. Not since the Suzuki Ignis hire car we had in Hungary have |I had such a bad case of ‘rollaphobia’ where each bend or gust of wind sends shivers through me. Seeing a gap in the edge up ahead was causing anxiety as much of the road towards Duxford is high and exposed and so the winds were strong. I got onto the M11 and then A14 and decided that I’d have to stop at Cambridge Services for a break and a drink of water. On returning to Bob I considered the tyre pressures and thought it would be a good idea to check them. After helping a man find the washer bottle on his Renault Clio I set to putting the tyre pressures to 30 at the front and 46 at the back, as suggested by the sticker on the steering column. The back tyres were 22 and 29, the fronts 35 and 31. No wonder she was like driving a water bed! Tyre pressures as they should be I returned to the A14 and found, not surprisingly, that things were much better. But it was then that the roof clips came undone…

I’d mentioned to H earlier in the week that I thought the roof clips were maybe not up to the job, but thought they’d be OK… The back one kept rattling undone so when I’d stopped to do the tyres I’d had to re-clip it. Back on the A14 the wind picked up and I heard the back clip go. I decided that at the next services/garage I’d pull over and re-clip it. Then the front one came undone too. I was (thankfully) just approaching a slip road when a heard a ‘whoosh’ from behind me and looked around to see the roof had popped up. The wind had obviously caught it and thankfully I wasn’t going too fast.

It could have ripped the roof off or pulled me into the outside lane.  I pulled over onto the slip road and pulled the roof down. I had to stop this happening so I pulled the laces out of one of my astro-turf trainers and tied the roof down as tight as I could. The outside clips were clipped back down but I couldn’t find anything to hold them in place.

With the roof tied there was little chance of the roof popping back up but nevertheless it was a very tentative drive to the next garage where I stopped to look for something I could use as a fastening pin. It was an Esso garage in the middle of nowhere, and I wonder what the lady behind the counter thought of the man with no hair who came in and bought only a card of hair grips… Still, they did the job and stopped the clips coming off again – there may need to be a more permanent solution though!

The rest of the journey was uneventful and I arrived in good time to play nine holes of golf with my brother on his birthday. An eventful journey but a successful one overall. Well done Bob!

Just a quick picture update of our automotive menagerie…a report on the somewhat eventful (but actually pretty much perfect) first-long-trip will feature later!

Bob is now with Superbeetles in Colchester for as long as it takes…

I’ve waited a while before posting this entry in order to let time create a sense of perspective that was sadly lacking on Tuesday.

Some of the texts I sent to H whilst sat by the side of the road waiting for the RAC seemed to suggest regret at our purchase of Bob, and indeed at times even called into question the parentage of our VW Camper…

This was the view that I enjoyed for over three hours on Tuesday as Bob decided not to work again. I’d picked her up the day before from Colchester and she’d been fine. I took her to show off at badminton the night before and she’d not missed a beat. Even though she is booked in at Superbeetles next week to be finally sorted out I thought a quick trip over to Braintree would be well within her capabilities. It was only going to be a short trip out so I didn’t bother putting a jumper on under my coat…

I guessed something was up by the time I’d driven to the end of the road, for although I’d sat and let her warm up for a time on the drive, and although she’d been great the day before, there was a slight loss of power when in mid-revs. The road to Braintree is twisty and with many a blind bend, and it was just before one of these bends that Bob’s engine died for the first time. It was about 11.30am at this time. I tried to restart her but there was nothing. I waited a few minutes and tried again. The engine fired and I quickly got her moving again, aiming for the layby in the distance where I could settle the engine and if need be return home to try a different car. The engine lasted about 20 metres. With the layby tantalisingly close I now found myself actually on the blind bend and thankful that although I was in a dangerous position at least I was big and orange and likely to be seen. Again I tried to get the engine going with no success. I decided to again wait a while before trying, and when eventually she did get going again I slammed her into first gear and headed for the layby. It was a good job that no one was coming the other way – I wasn’t going to stop for them!

And so I sat admiring the view for further while seeing if I could get the engine going again. When I managed it I sat and let it run. For almost two minutes it ticked iver nicely and then. Gone. I was further than two minutes from home and the road is not a good one to be broken down on, so for the third time in a fortnight I called the RAC and gave the registration number JAT 910V. It was 12.30pm. The Scottish woman was very pleasant and apologetic when she informed me that due to an accident that morning the waiting time was around two and a half hours, but that she would try and get someone from another area in less than an hour. The trip to Braintree seemed to be cancelled. I used the opportunity to make some ‘phone calls, check my e-mail and take photos of just how cold it was. For some reason there’s a thermometer stuck to the underside of the sun visor. It stated 15 degrees celcius (Warning!) when I first stopped. By the time I’d been there three hours it was somewhat lower. I did get Bob going on three occasions whilst I was waiting, and each time she ticked over beautifully – for about two minutes each time before cutting out…

At 2.30pm I was called by the RAC to apologise for the wait and to inform me that there wouldn’t be anyone there for at least another 45 minutes. It was then that I called Adam from The Old Volks Home to update him on the situation and he reminded me that there was a gas cooker in the back! Having only owned Bob for a fortnight and never having cooked in her I had forgotten this, and swiftly retired to the rear to crack open the gas bottle and warm myself up a bit. From a low of 9, I managed to get the temperature back up to 15 degrees before the RAC man eventually arrived at the by now misted up Bob just past 3.30pm. Over four hours since I’d left the house. My feet were like ice.

The engine wouldn’t start for the RAC man until he’d linked up the battery to his van to give the starter a bit of extra oomph, but then proceded to run like clockwork for about ten minutes… He’d checked all the easily removable parts and they were, as is known, all A1. We decided to give it a go getting home, and so I shut the engine bay. Immediately the engine started to splutter and fail. I felt very confident that I had diagnosed the problem as the engine cover but the RAC man said that that was unlikely. He quickly opened the engine bay again and got her ticking over properly, and we made our way back home. The engine ran well and made it without any problems. I was followed home by the RAC who gave diagnosis number umpteen – he thought it was air getting into the engine through a gasket or possibly a crack in the manifold. We’ll see…

Bob has since been sat on the drive and tomorrow I’ll be taking her back over to Superbeetles to be completely sorted. The Old Volks Home has again agreed to have Bob put right for us, even to the extent of replacing the carb if need be. Although our first few weeks of VW ownership have been a little less than ideal I do have faith in Superbeetles and The Old Volks Home to put Bob right. Italy is not as far as way as it seemed on Tuesday afternoon.

A watched drive takes an eternity to fill, but just before midday Adam from The Old Volks Home arrived with Bob after giving her a final fettle earlier in the week.

We immediately took her out for a drive to find, thankfully, that she’s in a much better way than at the weekend. H also discovered that the CD I’d prepared especially for the occasion only had ‘Where Are You?’ – the theme from ‘Moonraker’ – on it! On our return home we showed the inside a cleaning cloth (H) and stuck the tax disc in and took photos (Me).

Here we go with the first proper pictures of the outside…

and of the inside (and engine)…

Once I’d worked out what all the keys do (and discovered that there’s a knack to unlocking the front passenger door that only H has) we had the two hour wait until the end of school.

A knew nothing of Bob and as far as he was concerned we were going to go and pick him up so we could do some Christmas shopping at Freeport, a prospect that he was not at all excited about. We’d had to stop whilst getting petrol and ask one of his teachers to keep the secret as he’d seen us, and we’d also spoken to Pete around the corner to make sure he didn’t rumble us either.

On a weekend of much driving we finally got to see Bob in the metal. It was with a mixture of excitement and relief that we found him to be as good as had been described. There’s still a bit of work to be done on him before collection this Saturday but the money has been transfered and the insurance sorted.

All very exciting, and still he doesn’t know!

A new shot showing the green roof extended.

We’d already committed ourselves to buying Bob when we received these photos via media message.
We liked what we saw but were still quite nervous. It had been a while since we’d paid our deposit and it was to be another week before we actually saw it in the metal…

We’d originally gone to look at a slightly older, white camper which turned out to be a bit too basic for what we were looking for.
But we were told us about this one and based on the campers on display in the showroom we thought it was too good an opportunity to miss.