Good Golly Miss Molly!

GOOD GOLLY! 

CREAM TEAS FOR CHARITY

http://www.facebook.com/goodgollycreamteas

Now she's on the road I'm wasting no time to capitalise on Molly's good looks!  Molly is being put to work in selling scones and posing for photo's to raise money for The Charlotte Miller Art Project in Ecuador.  The money raised from Molly's 'Cream Teas For Charity' will help fund a new series of Photography and Arts workshops for street children in Guayaquil, Ecuador that I will be running from November 2011. 

www.cmap.org.uk

www.justgiving.com/Rachel-Lowe

Available for private wedding and party hire, and appearing at events around the South West this September (after we've given her a little respray in August!).

Molly's first MOT in twelve years

 Sorry for the delay in updating the blog but we've been rather preoccupied with having a road legal vehicle.

Don't let Molly's decidedly original patina fool you because she passed her MOT with no advisories at all.  While she was at the garage she also noticed a rather fetching Morris 1000 that she decided might be a splendid stable mate.  But we can cool any talk of that until next year, so, until then, please raise a glass!

The Big Day

It was three days before the MOT and the list of jobs seemed to be increasing.  The brakes hardly work, there were no out riggers behind the rear wheels, the rear nearside lamp doesn't work, the wipers park in the middle of the screen, there were no split pins in the front hubs, there is a large hole in the floor were we removed a carrier box (presumed to be for water tank), the welds needed to be ground back and filled on the upper nearside wheel arch...etc.

We took time off work to complete the jobs on Monday and Tuesday before the MOT on Wednesday (today!), it was to be a stressful few days.  We started by reversing the van up on to ramps so as to get at the out riggers.  As we did this we noticed some liquid leaking from beneath the van and discovered that the fuel line had fractured.  A good start.  With the back down off the ramps and the front in the air we cut out the offending pipe and jointed it with some rubber piping and a few clips.

Although (predictably) taking longer than we anticipated most jobs were completed by eleven on Tuesday night.  The brakes worked much better having been bled through a few more times and some adjustment on the cylinders.  Rachel patched the hole in the floor with a wooden panel and treated and waxoyled the rest of the chassis.  The engine cowling was back on and all the tools and crap had been removed from the van.  we also picked up a set of new tyres for £192.  The only problem being the rear lamp that I simply couldn't work out in all the madness of the last few days.

And so, after ten long months of Bedford-enforced poverty, frustration and anticipation... we have just arrived home from dropping Molly off at the garage, her first shot on the open road in over twelve years.  The drive down was nerve-racking yet surprisingly trouble free so we await the verdict from Gore Square Garage, and hope the nice mechanic man is a Debonair fan!

Good luck Molly!

The new outriggers.

 What is left of the old outriggers.

Petrol leak.

The rest of the old outriggers.

The new ones in place but not fixed.

On the way to the garage.

The box that is sunk into the floor of the Debonair to house the water tank/ leisure battery and used to mount the rear bench.  Unfortunately ours has seen better days so it's coming back to the workshop with me to be repaired.

Molly makes the headlines

Wax Oil and Wipers

Over a glass of borrowed whiskey, in front of an open fire in a borrowed house, we are formulating a detailed and complex plan of the final stages of Molly's ressurection.  THE FINAL STAGES.

Everything on the van, theoretically, seemed straight forward.  But as is the way with Molly, nothing transpires as so.  For example, after everything we have seen and done, the windscreen wiper motor should be easy to change out.  But Bedford had decided to mount the motor in a rather awkward place, with rather awkward bolts.  After several hours and several knuckles split, Olly placed the final piece of Molly's electrical jigsaw.  Windscreen wipers work.  But they do insist on parking in the middle of the windscreen.

Emerging ill tempered after three hours spent with this spanner

Whilst Olly chapped his knuckles beneath the bonnet, I finally got to paint something - sort of.  I have been counting down the days to MOT, and with it not being booked and 'easy jobs' taking two days, I am quite consistently disappointed.  I can't wait to paint a fresh coat of white inside and out.  But for now I had to make do with black.  Wax Oil black, smeared onto the chassis with a paintbrush.  I was pretty proud of myself for putting in a proper bit of hard work, but I had apparently wasted much of the wax on myself.  I have just found out it's a bugger to get off.  I may have black elbows all summer.

Freshly wax oiled and rust free (?!)

We have a drivers seat!

The front bench is finally upholstered - with a new 2" foam pad on top of the (painful) spring seat and extra supporting brackets on the back. 

And Alice thought it was great!

Driver's Door Back On

I finally got around to reattaching the driver's door.