Wow wow wow, i am on the road!!!!!!!!!

[Austin]

i know this is a naff thread, but i'd like to shout it from the mountain tops, but as i dont have a mountain this will do!!!

I am on the road at last!!!!!!!!

bought Richie Randolph Jan 26th after a long long time weighing up i if should, after he had been stood in a warehouse for 16 years, then god knows how many years in a field before that.

March 5th RR loaded and shipped from california!! April 4th lands in the UK.

Friday the 9th of April we pick him up. Got him home had a week off, me, my wife, my Dad, and a few pals worked round the clock all week, got banned from B&Q (funny story but another time!!) then worked on it every spare moment i got inside and mechanically. Cracked my ribs again.

20th of May, Passed mot first time, then worked on it over the weekend getting the few advisories done.

24th of May, went down the DVLA and handed all the documents in, 27th of May nice brown envelopes from DVLA arrives with my new reg in!! woop woop how fast!!! i got the black and silver plates made up and hour later. Worked on a few other bits last night, and today took my Mrs for the first proper drive!!!!

Over the moon, all done with a shoe string budget, so big time pleased!! Just got to get the rock and rock bed back and trimmed then go camping!!!

I know most people i'll mention wont see this but you never know, cheers to everyone who helped me both on the bus and keeping my sanity, cheers My wife Zehra (who is just as crazy as i am), Britt, Syed, Dad, Jim, Jon, and Speedy Jim for helping out that last minute before the mot (he doesnt know how much i appreciate his input)!!

If you are thinking of doing this and dont have alot of money, it can be done, do it!!!! enjoys all all of the highs and lows.

I'll put some before and after pics on very very soon!!

 

[froggy]

Congrats, its a great feeling to have. Mine took 6 months to get through the MOT (Its 1st in 14 years although this was 2 years ago) and its a UK bus.
This year it flew through with a couple of advisories that i will (eventually) sort out :lol:

 

[pk1was]

excellent, we too are back on the road after a 15 month off :roll: hope you enjoy the summer

 

[mattd1984]

A great story makes it all seem worth it. Get some pictures up mate

 

[Cali_bay]

Congratulations dude. 8)

You were lucky with the DVLA. I had to go for an inspection with ours, which delayed getting it on the road a few more weeks :roll:

 

[gninnam]

Cool 8) Well done dude

 

[faux]

Well done. Always a great feeling when a gamble pays off. Now enjoy. 8)

 

[jonnyvolks73]

well done mate ! I love these posts as it gives me incentive to crack on with mine .. ! its been off the road since 94 . so i will be shouting from the mountain tops too !!!
well done and enjoy !

 

[ant]

8)

 

[Austin]

Cheers for the nice responses everyone, been out in it as much as possible in it today even tho its been raining all day!!

glad it gives a few people who have projects on the go a bit of inspiration to crack on.

I did forget to say in my story that one of the hardest things to do before i got my camper was sell my Dove blue 1962 beetle, so that i could finance the shoe string budget bus project. also just noticed a picture of my 62 bug is on the Brighton Breeze 2010 flyer at the top. A pic they must have taken when we were there last year. Looks cool.

i will put some pics up very soon!!!!! i took plenty!!!! just got to do something to it on my day off on thursday, then i'll put some up.

 

[Guest]

good stuff 8)

 

[Austin]

here is a few pics of before and after!! i have so many of it when i was working on it, but hardly any now its on the road!! but here goes, 1'st up a snap of it on my buddies trailer in CA

next up, its home!!! me rolling it off the trailer!! (edit forgot this one!!)

on the road now, and deciding if i should put the overiders on!

thought the overiders were right!! here it is at stoner on sunday,

i know these pics arent the greatest, but i wanted to stick something up for the people who posted replies on my thread, i will put up load in the gallery section, covering all of the build from start to finish.

 

[Grazy]

Looks good Austin , i like the dented front panel 8)

 

[ozziedog]

hey looks great !! front panel makes it look sort of lived in. I can`t wait till I`m squealing the very same thing, shouldn`t be too long now. Andddddddddddd it`s the same colour as mine, mine`s called sherbie (bit of a lemon but not too much) so what`s yours called ????????????

Ozziedog,,,,,,,,, Sherbie Pilot (almost) :lol: :roll: :lol:

 

[ed.]

congrats, the bus looks good

did you still need the dash pod, it has a small bit chipped off from the bottom corner, this can be glued back on. let me know if you do want it

cheers Ed

 

[Austin]

cheers guys, yeah i like the dents and scrapes on it, i didnt really want a nice freashly painted bus, i was lucky enough to find one which has zero filler, and has never seen a welder before.

as for the name, its called "Richie Randolph"!! there is a reason behind this!!

and Ed yeah i'll have it, i thought it was for a RHD though, mines pretty ko'd, could pm me a pic of the damage. cheers bud.

 

[ed.]

pm sent

 

[therotbox]

I reckon most people here totally get where you are coming from dude :lol:
I can only dream about mine being on the road at mo!
Congrats on having it rolling for real 8) :mrgreen:

 

[RICH-I-AM]

Nice looking Bus mate and the front panel came up well considering you had the spare mounted on it 8).
MK Cruise next then is it? :mrgreen:

Rich