Hello Everyone
After a couple of years away from our beloved Bus i wanted to share my experiences of our restoration in 'real time'. We are the proud owners of a stock 1971 Danbury Conversion who we named Bertha. We have owned her since 2005 and drove her for the first couple years of ownership. She even helped us move house from Leicester to Glasgow - and then to move flat whilst living in Glasgow as well as being my daily driver during this time also. We enjoyed trips to the highlands and during our time in Scotland my wife changed a clutch cable (due to me pulling my back!!!).
We made the decision to SORN her whilst we saved for our wedding and our plans included doing a 'little' spruce job to her knowing we would have to spend some serious time and money on her to get her back to her best at a later date.
http://flic.kr/p/dFvt9C" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://flic.kr/p/dFq3pe" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Unfortunately, we ran out of time to get her ready for our big day as we were travelling down from Scotland to Sussex where Bertha was SORN'd for long weekends, and weeks here and there, and whilst my wife would be rushing around planning our big day i would spend my time stripping things down, restoring where i could, and repairing as needed.
http://flic.kr/p/dQr42z" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://flic.kr/p/dQwGPj" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://flic.kr/p/dQwDt1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Our big day came and although we did not have Bertha on the day , my father in law came to the rescue and said we could use his Morris Minor Million! It was just perfect and right for the occasion and our family came up trumps again as my brother in law loaned us his BONGO camper for our honeymoon.
So, due to what happened and running out of time i must admit to having to 'lick my wounds' as i was really disappointed she was not part of our big day. Its sad to say but i really couldn't focus on her and she stayed under wraps at my father in laws house until we moved again.
Turning the corner
We left Scotland after nearly 5 years there and we took the opportunity to move south closer to relatives as we were going to start our own family (Our daughter was born 6 weeks after the move!!!). Also around this time we were properly reunited with our camper - as she took pride of place in our garage. 3 years on now and another new addition to the clan (a son this time) and Jo and I have decided we now have to pull out the stops and get Bertha completed.
I am going to return and upload photo's regularly - I have just started to strip all of the ancillaries from outside the Bus. I have removed the front and rear bumpers and today i removed the glass. Needless to say i am building up the welding list up at the mo!
So far i have noted that repair pieces are needed along the lower edge of the opening for the windscreen, also the same patch job is needed for the nearside rear window. like most UK Bays the lower most six inches are rotten all the way around. i also noticed the the front chassis members (under the cab) are rotten on the offside and need replacing! add to that the cab floor as it has more patches that an old quilt of ours! apart from one jacking point the rest of the underneath looks good! phwew, you hear me say! i am going to be a busy boy for some time.
After a couple of years away from our beloved Bus i wanted to share my experiences of our restoration in 'real time'. We are the proud owners of a stock 1971 Danbury Conversion who we named Bertha. We have owned her since 2005 and drove her for the first couple years of ownership. She even helped us move house from Leicester to Glasgow - and then to move flat whilst living in Glasgow as well as being my daily driver during this time also. We enjoyed trips to the highlands and during our time in Scotland my wife changed a clutch cable (due to me pulling my back!!!).
We made the decision to SORN her whilst we saved for our wedding and our plans included doing a 'little' spruce job to her knowing we would have to spend some serious time and money on her to get her back to her best at a later date.
http://flic.kr/p/dFvt9C" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://flic.kr/p/dFq3pe" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Unfortunately, we ran out of time to get her ready for our big day as we were travelling down from Scotland to Sussex where Bertha was SORN'd for long weekends, and weeks here and there, and whilst my wife would be rushing around planning our big day i would spend my time stripping things down, restoring where i could, and repairing as needed.
http://flic.kr/p/dQr42z" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://flic.kr/p/dQwGPj" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://flic.kr/p/dQwDt1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Our big day came and although we did not have Bertha on the day , my father in law came to the rescue and said we could use his Morris Minor Million! It was just perfect and right for the occasion and our family came up trumps again as my brother in law loaned us his BONGO camper for our honeymoon.
So, due to what happened and running out of time i must admit to having to 'lick my wounds' as i was really disappointed she was not part of our big day. Its sad to say but i really couldn't focus on her and she stayed under wraps at my father in laws house until we moved again.
Turning the corner
We left Scotland after nearly 5 years there and we took the opportunity to move south closer to relatives as we were going to start our own family (Our daughter was born 6 weeks after the move!!!). Also around this time we were properly reunited with our camper - as she took pride of place in our garage. 3 years on now and another new addition to the clan (a son this time) and Jo and I have decided we now have to pull out the stops and get Bertha completed.
I am going to return and upload photo's regularly - I have just started to strip all of the ancillaries from outside the Bus. I have removed the front and rear bumpers and today i removed the glass. Needless to say i am building up the welding list up at the mo!
So far i have noted that repair pieces are needed along the lower edge of the opening for the windscreen, also the same patch job is needed for the nearside rear window. like most UK Bays the lower most six inches are rotten all the way around. i also noticed the the front chassis members (under the cab) are rotten on the offside and need replacing! add to that the cab floor as it has more patches that an old quilt of ours! apart from one jacking point the rest of the underneath looks good! phwew, you hear me say! i am going to be a busy boy for some time.
