... All works of mechanical magnificence. I've been interested in them first from matchbox models, then trump cards, then from magazines and of course Top Gear and some 7 years ago started to collect them.
Today is a milestone, for more than 2 years since I first bought Bas, in it's semi-restored state,from a migrating young man in Selangor, he is now coming home in a nearly fully restored state. I say nearly because parts of this old van still doesn't work. The side windows wing stay up. The speedometer has flatlined. The drivetrain rattles, and the air con fluid gurgles. Some non essentials like the clock, now set perpetually at 8am which was the time we set off from Skudai where it has been for a year being restored by D's mechanic uncle's network of friends and family. Shortly upon setting off, we found that its fuel overflow connector pipe has corroded. Uncle fixed it and here we are a mere half hour away from OOHH and Bas is still going strong.
J is quite excited about this old van. In fact when I bought it, I had him in mind because he shares my passion for cars, and is an even bigger fan of Jeremy Clarkson than I am. Of the three Top gear presenters (sadly no more a trio now), I find the pedant James "Captain Slow" May most entertaining. It's the juxtaposition of the thing. He's a fussy, careful man-child sandwiched between a loud overbearing man-child and an egregious daredevil man-child (both of whom one would easily expect to find amongst petrol heads).
Speaking of heads, here's a view of two similarly shaped ones, belonging to grandpa and grandson, in this old bus bravely traversing the North-South highway, averaging 90kmh (according to Wazw, since the broken speedometer can't do its job).
