Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

I've been running the van like this, with half the bed and all of the kitchen removed:

Which has worked really well. However, I've entered some races this year that are over a weekend, so will be camping - therefore the full double bed and the kitchen would be handy.

I removed the second row of seats and put the bike in to see if it would work:

Which looked promising. Off to Blok Pod, who threw the following together:

They invented these, which fit into the rails in the floor:

Both bikes fit:

When you need to pull the bed out the driver and passenger chair can be pushed forward/folded over and the bikes moved along the rails to the front of the vehicle.

Cheers, they seem cheap and process looks easy - will pick one up. I assume I avoid chip repairs?

You mean don't clay bar the chip repairs? No idea.

What about a product for dealing with the many tiny scratches/swirls?

On glass? Hmmm. Maybe consider ceramic coating the glass. Also replace your wiper blade and ceramic coat the edge of the new blades too.

I have done that to our cars and it makes a big difference to keeping the glass nice and clear, plus your visibility in wet weather driving is vastly improved.

Cerium Oxide (jewellers rouge) and some thing like this https://www.polishedbliss.co.uk/products/flexipads-rayon-glass-polishing-disc#aMaster_20FPRD0000 pad will polish the glass but he you can feel the scratch with your nail, the scratch won't disappear.

i admire your constant pursuit of better through custom fittings etc. impressive

Have literally never considered polishing glass. When I clean properly it gets clay dragged over the glass (pulls out all the junk that makes your wipers smear), glass cleaner/fine polish I guesss is what it is?, then sometimes use the finest grade of wire wool to finish off, then rain-x it.
And if the wiper blade fuzz gets too bad for winter low lying sun just put a new screen in it. Might have been able to save a few windscreens over the years if I knew polishing them would work! Have a 125mm RA and a 150mm DA.

Dirty/damaged/smear/greasy windscreen is my biggest pet hate. Rest of your car can be a stinking pit of despair, but if you can't see out clearly = auto hate from me. Often justified as a cyclist number of SMIDSY's due to dirty/damaged/smear/greasy windscreen is insane and totally preventable.

Dirty/damaged/smear/greasy windscreen is my biggest pet hate.

I hear you and agree. It is not a pet hate it is normal IMO. Those who disagree with me are wrong.

Have saved a few windscreens that have had visible scrapes that you can't feel with a nail. But if jewlleres rouge can't fix the screen. It is fucked.

Where is your head office located on other days of the week?

It travels between countries and offices like the European Parliament.

Or it physically travels through time and space - possibly on the back of a giant turtle.

BMW.

'How can we sidestep our horrendous aesthetic?'

Magic paint.

Alpina really have their work cut out for them with the newer models.

Old car update- installed a NOS Citroen choke knob (sounds painful) in my car

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Beautiful set-up. The Blok Pod stuff looks super slick, but at a price. Mind you none of this set-up is cheap! :) I have no idea how you fit both the bed & bikes in that... We have a Marco Polo camper which is essentially the same vehicle base and despite it's longer wheelbase vs. a VW these things are never big enough! :)

i admire your constant pursuit of better through custom fittings etc. impressive

I can't help tinkering. Also, the parts that we made yesterday are now available to anyone else with a similar van who might want to use them, as I am sure will the other bits I'm getting made.

Beautiful set-up. The Blok Pod stuff looks super slick, but at a price. Mind you none of this set-up is cheap! :) I have no idea how you fit both the bed & bikes in that... We have a Marco Polo camper which is essentially the same vehicle base and despite it's longer wheelbase vs. a VW these things are never big enough! :)

I might have bought a Marco Polo - but they're simply impossible to buy new at the moment unless you are happy to wait until '23 for the vehicle.

The Blok Pod stuff is lovely, hits the "just works" level, which is key for me.

I'm also a big fan of the flexibility, and that whatever I end up with can be transferred into another V-Class chassis in a few years.

Hear you on the size thing - although the packaging constraints do make for an enjoyable challenge. If I was going to use this as a "month on the road" type camper (rather than race weekends) I'd want a Sprinter size vehicle for sure.

As you said that Blok Pod stuff is an investment and will fit into any other vehicle.

We were super lucky and got our van in the summer of 2020 from a neighbour who works for Mercedes. At the time you couldn't buy a camper for love or money, OK silly money and still it's the case! The pop-top of a Marco Polo would have certainly made it more flexible and easier to sleep in.

We love ours and although the wife keeps looking at BIGGER vans it's smallish size and low height (height limit barriers!) offers great flexibility, we just need to find time to use it more often than we do!

If one had been available I’d have bought the version with the pop top but without the kitchen and cupboards (forget the name of this version), and fitted the sliding trays.

The V-Class has the panoramic roof option which brings a huge amount of light in (my E63 also had this option) which I do like, and obviously doesn’t co-exist with a pop top, so I’m doing a decent job of convincing myself that it’s fine not to have one.

What kind of BHP you running with NOS®?

If you did have a pop top version the chances are it might need replacing like ours! Due to go to MB later this month for a new roof as they've had lots of issues with the paint blistering. All under warranty of course, but not something you'd expect on such a vehicle.

Looking forward to seeing the configuration with the bikes & bed! :)

Does the clock work?

:)
sometimes, but when it does it runs fast.
I've got 2 others that don't

Small Mini shopping update on the off chance that anyone's interested 😅

Went to see two today, both One models, both N18 - edit: N12 not N18

First was in decent cosmetic nick, good service history including timing chain. 07 reg on 107k miles. A handful of options but nothing flashy. No odd noises besides what I think may have been the steering pump. Cons are a very weepy rocker cover, a lot of oil scum on the sump and gearbox, and corrosion on the subframe. Drove nicely though.

Second a bit rattier - some rust coming up, had been keyed down both sides, clean-ish inside but lower spec. 09 plate on 87k miles. No sign of timing chain work but no death rattle either. Cleaner under the bonnet, and the seller has done recent work on some oil seals but not the engine cover. Crucially we could only drive this one “round the yard” as it “wasn’t insured” so since we couldn’t even get it up to speed/temp its probs out of the running.

Hopefully going to see a cooper tomorrow which has pages and pages of receipts in the listing, fsh, and used to belong to the Secretary of the Yorkshire owners club.

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1,700 miles since the 4th of December. Seeing family is an effective way of stacking up the distance.

Fun so far.

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Have a collection of jaegar and veglia clocks, as I used to buy them everytime I found one in a scrap yard hoping they would work, or I could take them apart repair them.

I'm renting a Hyundai ioniq as my car felt weird earlier and I didn't want to risk a long journey in it.

How do I turn it on?

It says turn on engine to avoid discharge so presume it's in battery mode but I can't figure out how to turn on the petrol bit. I can't even reverse in electric mode.

It appears to have half a tank of fuel and zero charge. It's in park.

What happens if you put your foot on the brake then shift into Drive?

Dash lights won't even turn on at all now! Battery dead? Lights were left on by previous user in auto mode if that means anything?

Can't get through to enterprise obviously