Time to Say Goodbye?

Well, even though we hate to admit it, the time to say goodbye is drawing near and despite the emotional wrench, we know in our heart of hearts, that after 11 fantastic years, our beloved 1971 VW Bay camper van Lucy, must seek adventures with proud new custodians.

Why?  Well, the brutal reality is that we can no longer give her the attention and time she deserves.  At our old business premises, there was such a variety of classes and therapies going on every week that we could take a break safe in the knowledge that the centre would continue operating even when we weren’t there.  Since our move to Honley, well it’s just the two of us now and as every self-employed person knows, there’s no holiday or sick pay to draw on and bills don’t just conveniently disappear when you take time off.

Lucy was named after the Beatles song Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.  Rumour has it that the young lady who owned her in the USA sold her to fund her drug habit, we have no evidence of that and whether it’s true or not, the story makes us smile.

We still remember the day we went to see her for the first time – it was love at first sight.  Lucy started life as an airport bus in Florida, USA before being imported by a company in Preston and bought by a lovely couple called Greg and Louise. Greg took us to a car park for a test drive and with Lucy being left-hand drive, what an experience that was. It took a little while before my impression of semaphore flag waving abated as I trained my brain to find the gear stick on the right instead of left but once it clicked, I began to adore that she’s a left-hand drive.  We love watching the shock on other drivers faces when I’m driving her and they see Jonathan in the passenger seat looking at a map, scrolling on his phone with both hands or pretending to take a nap. He even contemplated sticking his legs out of the window but common sense got the better of him!

I’d always had the romantic idea of camper vanning around Cornwall so as I was suggesting some campsites to visit, Jonathan said: ‘look up the mileage and see how far we could get in the same distance if we catch the ferry from Hull to Rotterdam’ and so I did. 

Now, if you don’t know much about vintage vehicles, well they can be, shall we say a little temperamental on occasion but that just adds to the fun.  The saying ‘it’s all about the journey not the destination’ is so true and we have had some incredible journeys!  Lucy has her own Facebook page so if you want a taste of our past adventures warts n all, go to I Love Lucy VDub

No problem, we resorted to hand-signals, not the usual type seen in modern day driving, just for the record, these were the type to let other drivers know our intention to turn.

Back at base I rang breakdown and asked the young chap on the other end of the phone to make sure he sends an old-school mechanic, not one with just a plug-in diagnostic thingy,   Sure enough, a big, burly, bloke arrived carrying a tool box.  I took one look at his broad 6’ 6” frame and hands the size of shovels and thought ‘oh ‘eck’, I can only just squeeze into the footwell and I’m a third of his size, how’s he going to manage but he did and with ease at that!  Fuse replaced and we were rocking and rolling once more with lesson learned about carrying a variety of spare fuses with us as they are actually very simple to replace.  I looked at the mechanic in relief and used one of those figure of speeches us Brits are good at.  I beamed at him with a grin and said:

“Thank you!  I could kiss you!”  With a very solemn look on his furrowed and sweaty brow, he said in his heavy, deep, dutch accent:  “Please don’t”. I didn’t know whether to laugh or be offended! I did actually double up laughing, poor bloke, maybe he saw the camper and assumed we were into free love!

Aside from the VW festivals we went to every weekend we could and where we made lasting friendships with whom we’d share stories into the early hours, Lucy took us all over Europe – we’ve travelled the Netherlands, Belgium x 2, Luxembourg,  Germany x 2, and Northern France as well as all over the UK.  We’ve visited amazing sites and made wonderful memories that will last us a lifetime.  I could probably write a book about our adventures.  We learned that you don’t get anywhere in a hurry, that people wave at you not because there’s something wrong with the vehicle, they wave just out of delight, we get chatted to at every petrol station and at every stop by people with fond camper vanning memories of their own.

The more I write, the more I reminisce and the more reluctant I am getting about letting her go. Perhaps it’s better I stop here.

So what are the pros of owning a vintage vehicle?

• No road tax and dead cheap insurance
• No MOT needed, though we do for peace of mind
• Fun and freedom – she’s small enough to park anywhere a transit van can
• She has an inbuilt ‘grin-ometer’ – once you’re driving, you can’t stop smiling!
• She’s a great talking point
• Friendships easily made
• You can stop to make a cup of tea or rustle up a meal
• You can sleep in the great outdoors without the hassle of putting up a tent
• She’s easy to maintain yourself, if you have the know-how
• Your street-cred goes sky high
• She’s quaint and quirky and a bringer of joy
• No annoying beeps these modern cars have telling you how to drive
• You can still physically wind the windows down!
• She’s high up so you get to see lots of things you normally wouldn’t, no further comment
• She has a comical klaxon horn – great for making kids at the side of the road jump!
• She is an object of history and beauty
• She has fans from all over the world!

And the cons?

• Well vintage vehicles have quirks but that’s part of their charm
• Don’t plan on getting anywhere quickly, why would you?
• Basic maintenance knowledge is recommended though not essential if you have a good mechanic – oil checking, spark plug changing that sort of thing, why I’ve even changed the fan belt all on my own!
• You need to carry spare parts with you – breakdown does not routinely carry things like brake and clutch cables at the length she needs (we have them but have never needed them) but they can fit your own. Parts are cheap and easy to store so that’s a plus.
• Winter driving is not recommended when the roads have been salted as it’s highly corrosive.
• Ideally you need somewhere dry to store her over winter.
• No power steering – but I see that as a plus to maintaining arm strength!
• Needing a ‘Lucy’ fund for those unexpected roadside stops 😉

As I sit and gaze at her out of the window my stomach somersaults with pending grief and my heart lurches with love for her.  She’s just a machine I keep telling myself but I don’t believe it, this machine has soul and a personality and she’s played a huge part in our lives.

We’ve not advertised her yet, I’m stalling.  I suppose I’m hoping that someone will just come along and say ‘we’ll love her as much as you have’ so it will make it easier for us to let her go. How one can get so attached to a vehicle I have no idea other than it’s what she represents.  So many happy family memories, the feeling of freedom and utter joy in times when the world didn’t seem so bleak.

Anyway, we’re in no rush to let her go, we’d rather wait for the right people. And so I go to her Facebook page to reminisce a little, big mistake!  

“Jonathan?!  I don’t think we should…” 😭

Lucy the Love Bus – Bringer of Happiness & Joy