desperatedes

watching all the news regarding the lack of air travel and all the brits stuck in europe. got me to thinking if they all made thier way to the beaches at dunkirk it would be an ideal chance for a dunkirk revival.they could all be picked up by a flotilla of small boats.(might come to that yet)!

welcome jason a really good bunch on here.i like the sound of your new job if i lived up your way i would be after a position.good luck with the maintenance and reviving the dead.

the anderson shelter has stood up to the damage pretty well.goes to show they were better than they initially appear.

i am very interesting and informative.shame they blew up some of that period furniture .i would of liked some of that.

seconds later he ran out of diesel bollocks or verdampft i think he said.

absolutely fantastic work. the best i could do is weld some steel drums to the side of my trekker and fit an outboard in the style of clarksons toybota. then we can go for a swim. all the best mark your an inspiration to the rest of us.:-D

welcome rob .i would recommend a ural dnepr or maybe even a chang jiang parts are cheap easy to maintain i have one myself and its my first mv .i have to admit i was brought up on jap bikes and cant get used to anything with a righthand gear change ive tried a friends and naturally use my right foot as the back brake unfortunately knocking it down a gear and trying to throw me over the handlebars.the russians are conventional left hand change alot have reverse gear too. if you fancy something more modern maybe a harley mt350 .heres a pic of my dnepr with ural engine.

i quite agree dave i had this discussion recently with some friends as regards to new licensing laws where you had to do say do 1 year on a 50cc .1 year on a 125 cc then pass a test before even being aloud to progress to a 4 wheeled vehicle .we all agreed that this climbing the ladder system gives you alot more awareness to other road users especially the 2 wheeled kind.i for one give a lot of room look out for and make space for motorcyclists as i am one and know what its like.as regards to the type of vehicle being driven makes you more aware of your surroundings i agree if you drive along listening to the sound of the road surface through flapping canvas you are far more aware of whats going on around you than mrs mitsuoyotasan with the heater and stereo on picking up the kids from school. and i for one hope the person is prosecuted for driving with undue care and attention who ran over his sister.

looks the biz nigel its amazing what results you can get with a roller.i once did a mk3 cortina in black and white to look like an american cop car for a show everyone thought i had sprayed it.i bought the book kubelwagens a history 1940's on and was chuffed to see my car in it (reprinted ad from car and classic i think)i had to do a double take to check the reg.some numpty had fitted air horns on top of the bonnet.(not there now) i might add.best of luck and thanks for the eberspacher link .happy trekking. mine will be a while yet.to be on the road.

yep should have picked up a few gallons to cover the bright yellow merc i was in at the time wish i had got a shot of it but in those days my brick phone was strangely unable to take pictures.different story now.

just thought i would start a little thread many of you must have a funny story you can recall from the mv world or similar.mine goes back to the early nineties i was working for a small transport company and doing drops all over the south in a 7.5 tonner. this particular day i had done a few deliveries and my next one was somewhere in southampton.the docks it turned out to be.on arrival security checked my delivery notes and told me to proceed along the dockside to the end.i drove in its quite narrow in places and pulled up directly behind a vehicle in front of me.An army lorry i remember in a shade of desert sand as you can imagine pulling up so close behind it i only had use of my peripheral vision as it were.we didnt move for ages but crept along very slowly i could just see the mirrors of another lorry that had pulled up directly behind me.we crept along a bit more and a bit more .eventually we had to drive over some metal ramps of some sort.i thought at the time must be covering a hole in the road or something.it then sloped up more and it was at that moment i let the lorry in front pull away more.i now realised i was on the narrow loading ramp to a ship i couldnt do a u turn i jumped out .in front of me was the ship full of sand bedfords and behind me 20 more.shall we say a chap monitoring the loading came over and said what the f*** are you doing here .err following the road .after alot of arm waving i eventually had to go forward and do a 3 point turn on the ship and drive off and squeeze literally past the line of bedfords waiting to board.i didnt realise or think about it at the time but later realised i was about to go on a free trip to the gulf!.at the height of hostilities. shame i could of done with a bit of sun. please feel free to add your own story we need some amusement.

lovely restored austin champ seen kingsbury nw london stag lane. 10 am ish. was it you?

looks fantastic brilliant work.at least you shouldnt have any touble finding it when you come out of the supermarket. it will be in the wehrmacht section which is just to one side of mothers and children and disabled.oh i wish this was true it would make the weekly shop more interesting and i would even want to go.

careful chaps this thread could turn ugly!

at least it will be easy to take the doors off unlike the average vehicle .i was messing with my eberspacher heater the other day in the workshop at work to see if could get it to work. unfortunately as it looked like a bomb had german writing on it wires and was ticking all the other lads ran away before i fired it up. (chikens the lot of em.) (it works hurray) think the thermostat needs attention fantastic piece of kit if we get any more snow warms up everything before you even start the engine. sounds like a space heater.

anothe shot from a different angle.

hi nigel welcome a very friendly bunch on here and hours of reading material. i have a 181 as well currently being restored. unfortunately an escort mk2 has jumped the que i should be ashamed but i couldnt resist .

something like this.

i would also like to add what i would call quirks (there is a word for this but it escapes me)in movies a bit like in star wars when the stormtrooper bangs his head.one thay springs to mind is in where eagles dare when burton and eastwood get on the motorcycle and sidecar to drive to the cable car station when they start off the bike has twin saddles when they get off the saddle has changed to a long single piece one.im just a bike nerd anyway .anybody got any other similar that they have noticed and chuckled to themselves.

hi nigel it was originally bought as a solo.i later got hold of a sidecar.and yes it does have reverse gear.still amazes some people and quite entertaining.heres a pic of the other side.

hello yes the sidecar is fitted on the right.this is legal if the vehicle is older than if memory serves me 1981 ish.its a very unknown law .if its later the sidecar must be fitted to the left hand side.unless its the 2 wheel drive version then you can get away with registering it as a motor tricycle.i bought the sidecar and frame seperately and had to convert it to be used on the right.a lot of chopping and refitting.also you will see a lot of these bikes with a sidecar on the left but the low cut out to get into the sidecar is on the wrong side.(the right)and there not much fun trying to kickstart.if the sidecars on the left.

fantastic i want one of those on my sidecar.ps i wouldnt leave it there if i were you somebody might put it in the dishwasher thinking it will come out shiny like a new spoon.

hi thought i would add apic of my bike bought it as a 200 wreck engine turned over easily. maybe too easily as one side had no piston rings at all and the barrel was split in two.did everything myself apart from the one job of making some small end bearings (old mg man did it for me) .will try and find a before picture somewhere in the archives it was metallic green and cream with pinstripes. i prefer it now it takes on a new persona as soon as you spray on that first coat of olive im sure many of you know what i mean.now on with the trekker only a few small jobs to finish ie floorpan engine the rust the hood etc etc etc etc etc etc.

hi yes have just read the thread fantastic work and with a dodgy vice and wonky workbench.puts some so called professionals to shame.cant wait to see it swim bet it will be far better than top gears attempts.great stuff.

hello everyone bit of a newbie me i have always had an interest in military vehicles especially the german stuff. i currently own a dnepr 650 outfit in a wehrmacht grey/green of my own mixing .bit of poormans zundapp/bmw. and am restoring my vw 181 trekker poor mans type 82 kubel.working my way up the ladder slowly.the wife thinks i want a tank to add to the collection.a lottery win would do the trick.ah well we can all dream i suppose.im still trying to pick my jaw up after seeing adrians sherman restoration especially the 30 cyl engine.if i ever feel down i will return to this thread it has a kind of medicinal quality in that not many of us would even attempt anything on that scale.and what ever project im doing will never be on a level as hard as that. anyway all the best to everyone and a belated happy new year best of luck in 2010.