Eastblock

Many thanks. Hope to arrive Saturday mid-day. My Uaz is being collected in the morning. A friend has offered to fit a new clutch. I just hope the old clutch will be OK for driving it onto the trailer. The Gaz is ready for the weekend :yay:

I'm rubbish at remembering directions. Can anyone mark the spot on this map? (I'm assuming the farm is on this section but IKBA applies)

I had a Munga briefly. Sadly it was in worse condition than described and I decided it was too much work for me and passed it on via Ebay. It had a Warty engine in it and came with an original engine as well. Someone had attempted a very poor repair on the left mudguard where the headlamp sits. I think they are very nice and would love one again if I could find a runner that doesn't break the bank. Fat chance of that happening though. Good luck with the rebuild! Michael

Looks like I have manage to find storage. Now all I need is a truck :cool2:

Damn, I forgot about this day. We went last year just as visitiors. This year I had planned to go in the Gaz and bring one of my stationary engines. Note to self: use your Outlook calendar! Very nice Champ!

I plan to go in the Gaz69M and camp from Sat to Sun.

Hi Gordon, I called you this morning and left a message :-) I need some details about the farm weekend as well as I would like to attend.

Not mine I'm afraid. I only have Russian vehicles at the moment.

Many thanks, I'll give Gordon a call tomorrow. I should be able to make it to the meet on 3-4/10. Michael

I am a MVT member since 2006. Dunstable is not far from me - I'm in Harpenden. What MVT section are you in? Do you have contact details for Gordon Beale? Oh, and are there any meetings in the area? I'd like to meet some fellow MV enthusiats. I've got zero social life at the moment and my colleagues think I'm a nutter because I like old East Block MV's.

All very complicated - thanks for letting me know. Perhaps I should just set my sights on finding a parking space. Even that might be a problem..... Sigh!

Ouch, hadn't thought of rates. I guess you have to be a non-profit organisation to have any hope of getting a break on the rates. Not having any contacts/friends here with local knowledge makes these things hard for me.

This is just an idea I have and it may be entirely impractical but bear with me. I suffer from a lack of suitable storage for my MV's so they live outside. I want to add to the collection but as you have have seen in another thread I started, parking on the road may not be the best idea. I'm in Hertfordshire, not far from Luton. I was wondering if other MV owners in the area would be intersted in joining me in renting an industrial unit for storage and perhaps some workshop facilities as well. The cost of doing it alone is prohibitive. Depending on the size of vehicles and the size of the unit it should be possible to keep the rent per person per month well below £100. By comparison I pay £9 per week for a council garage. Being a foreigner I don't know that much about rules and regulations in the UK but I assume that some sort of society would have to be formed? Some rules around notice period, payment and deposit would also be needed. Such a scheme may exist already in this area? If so I would be interested in joining if possible. If there is no interest perhaps someone would be kind enough to let me know how/where I might find storage for a couple of MV's. Best regards, Michael

Thanks for all the replies to date. It's all a bit clearer to me now. However I just talked to my neighbour who warned me about the spot I was planning to use. Apparently some of the people who live on that street would be very inclined to contact the council even though the truck wouldn't actually be in their way or block their view. I don't want to go into a slugging match with council and neighbours so I have to see if I can rent a spot on a nearby industrial estate. Why people are so bloody sensitive these days I don't know but they are.

Sell it to a museum that will run it. I love the Shuttleworth collection for that reason; they have several unique and priceless aircraft and vehicles in the collection but that does not stop them from using them.

My local council have an online contact form for parking enquiries. Haven't received a reply........

Talked to SV Tech. Very helpful. Should be a straightforward exercise and would cost app. £80.

I asked a policeman if I would be OK to park on the road and he said "no problem" so probably he is not fully aware of the laws. In many cases there seems to be no clear answer until something has actually been tried at the courts and set a precedence. I'm not taking any chances. If I ever get a truck and end up parking on a public highway over night I will make sure it has position lights switched on. As I mentioned earlier something with LEDs could be rigged up and would run a very long time on a spare car battery.

Trust me, I've done a lot of Googling and nothing specifically deals with MVs from deceased manufacturers:) I just spoke to VOSA and they say that when the manufacturer no longer exists I should go through SV Tech. Called them and they will have an engineer call me back later today.

Nigel, I'm in Harpenden.

That was purely what it stated in the listing. My assumption is that I would have to MOT and tax it. My main concern is whether it can be down-plated or not.

It's the Robur LO-2002-A currently on Ebay. It is on a Q plate. Probably from late 70's. From German forums I have been able to find out that the unladen weight with the drop back should be app. 3150kg and that there are several down-rated Roburs driving around in Germany.

I've been doing a lot of searching and reading and it does my head in! It looks like I will need a new VIN plate with the GVW changed but this is where it gets sticky. The manufacturer is no longer in existence. Since the vehicle is ex-NVA (DDR Army) then chances are it wont even have a VIN plate. Commonly all they have is a chassis number. I have email VOSA to ask for advice. The vehicle is on a Q-plate so it is unlikely there will be any weights on the V5. The vehicle is currently considered MOT and tax free.

I'm intersted in a vehicle with a GVW of 5500kg. The unladen weight is 3150kg so it should be possible to use it and stay below 3500kg (the max I can drive on my license). On the DVLA website it says to contact either VOSA or the manufacturer. The manufacturer does not exist anymore so I guess it must be VOSA. Is anyone familiar with the procedure and are there any caveats to be aware of? I assume the vehicle would have to go on a weighbridge?

It would not be difficult to add some position lamps with LEDs in them, connected to a light/dark sensor, a battery and a solar panel on the roof to keep the battery topped up. The LEDs use very little current.