Gwynnie, our new 1974 Westy

Next job was to replace her roof canvas. We agonised over which one to buy but now that it's fitted we know we made the right choice in going for this colour and the better quality one from NLAVW. Dai removed the filthy fringe and this has come up a treat with some careful handwashing and a bit of Vanish, so will be replaced once Gwynnie is back home.

Her lights were converted from US to UK spec. She looked a bit forlorn in the process!

It's good to see them working now.
She was almost ready for an MOT, but the servo decided to give up the ghost by holding the brakes on all the time. Likewise the wiper motor decided not to work any more. These parts are on order and should be fitted this week.
Hopefully by the end of the week she will have an MOT. We can't praise Dai highly enough for the standard of his work and his customer service - including the cups of tea whenever we pop in to pay Gwynnie a visit, and his regular email updates.
We have sent for the pack from the DVLA to get her registered.
Dai has also treated her underneath, we decided that as nice as she was with her original paint showing the clear waxoil we put on was not going to protect her that well so she has been well protected for the years ahead

 

Great progress

 

Sorry for the lack of updates we have moved house and have been really busy sorting all that out, van is on the road and being used and loved will post up the pictures as soon as we can.

 

Sorry for the delay with the update but we have been up to our eyes with sorting out our new house. After being tuned and set up on the rolling road, and having her wheel alignment sorted, Gwynnie passed her MOT first time with no advisories and we were able to send all the relevant paperwork off in order to get her registered. Having read some horror stories about how long this can take we were prepared for a long wait but were pleasantly surprised when the paperwork came back within 10 days all ok. Gwynnie now had her identity. Number plates were ordered and fitted and the big day arrived when we were able to pick her up from Dai's V-Dubs.
EDE77 gave us a lift to Dai's and we couldn't have been more pleased with the way she drove - a testament to all the hard work that we, EDE77 and Dai had put in to getting her roadworthy. Naturally we had to stop for a coffee on the way home and take a first picture of the two friends together.

Once we had her back home, we were able to continue fitting the interior including curtains and cooker unit, and after a bit of debate we fitted the spare wheel back onto the front panel.



We are really pleased with how the interior has come back to life, compared to the state it was in when we first got her. The carpet, table, rock & roll bed and units are all original. We have just cleaned them up and repaired them sympathetically as necessary.
The two stickers on the sink unit are pretty special - a gift from my brother who went to Australia. Only lifeguards at Manly Beach are allowed to have the round blue sticker on their vehicle as it's a car park pass! He had to promise that the vehicle will never be parked in their car park with the sticker on. (Challenge accepted! )
We then moved house and EDE 77 stored Gwynnie on his driveway for a few weeks while we got settled. He very kindly washed and waxed her, and did some more repairs to the units. However, when we went to collect her she showed her displeasure at being temporarily rehomed by breaking her throttle pedal as I pulled her off the driveway. We fixed it with cable ties and ordered a modified unit from Butty's Bits which has transformed her performance.

 

Looking great

 

The time had come for our first camp and we stayed fairly local at one of our favourite campsites with EDE77.

After all the blood, sweat and tears it was fantastic to finally sleep in her for the first time. The bed is surprisingly comfortable and Dai had fitted the roof canvas perfectly.
Our next camping trip was further afield and involved a round trip of 150 miles. She performed faultlessly and drew many admiring glances at the campsite (in fact, she still features in a picture on their website).



Following this trip, we experienced our second minor fault. On arriving home one day we noticed a trail of oil up the driveway... and down the street. Fearing the worst, we were relieved to discover it was only the oil pressure switch that had failed. We ordered a new switch but when we went to fit it we discovered she has obviously had a problem in the past and the new switch was much smaller than the old one. The hole had obviously been made bigger for some reason.
With Dai's help again we were able to overcome this and she was soon back on the road for very little outlay.


When Dai took Gwynnie away, he told us we would be going to Busfest in her but we didn't dare to believe it. However, it turns out he was right and we had a great time there with EDE77. Once again Gwynnie performed perfectly there and back, apart from the wipers seeming a bit slow.

While at Busfest we used our new canopy from Funky Leisure and invested in a Fireboy fire extinguisher system which we plan to install over the winter.
Gwynnie's cooker and fridge aren't yet connected to the gas or electricity, but we used the fridge as a coolbox and used portable gas rings. We hope to get the gas, fridge and hook-up working before the summer... although we can get by without them for weekends, a fortnight with the kids and their gadgets would be more tricky.
Our next trip was to West Wales, a birthday treat to have a weekend away without the kids for the first time in a few years. The main entertainment on the journey came when the wipers gave up in the pouring rain... thank goodness for Rainex! We fixed this the next day - it was only a bad connection in the wiring so they now work great.
We've been monitoring her fuel consumption and she's now doing about 20-21 mpg. She cruises beautifully and as Dai says she's got some grunt!

 

Gwynnie in front of Carreg Cennen Castle (we can now cross that trip off the bucket list!).

During this trip we discovered the rear window seal leaked, a job we hadn't been able to do, so this became next on the To Do list.
When the seal was removed, very little rust was found and this was easily remedied. The new seal is now fitted and she is watertight, so the other seals can wait until the weather is better.



As you can see, we've amassed some stickers. The Colorado one came from Ebay USA and we waited 2 years to put it on! The Om is original and we would never take that one off as it's part of Gwynnie's character and history.
Since she has been on the road we have covered 700 miles in Gwynnie and have had lots of lovely trips. Unfortunately our new garage is yet to be built so she's experiencing yet another UK winter outside, but we aim to have a new garage by the end of the year. She has been thoroughly waxed and we've given up on the cover as it seemed to keep damp in rather than protecting her. We have a long list of jobs still to do and hopefully the fact that we've just booked a summer holiday in France will focus our minds and ensure we get them done in the next few months!
2017 was a year of great sadness but getting Gwynnie on the road was a huge plus and we look forward to many more happy times with her.
Happy New Year to you all from us and Gwynnie. We will try to update more regularly!