1991 Toyota Deliboy

I haven't done much with the Deliboy recently, other than drive it about. I tried to source a new aircon condenser from Japan, but unsurprisingly it's out of production. Oh well.

I did take it to Thruxton on Monday for the Mission Motorsport 'Kids 'n Skids' day on the Skidpan. Much fun was had, especially with the old hard tyres on the back to eliminate 99% of rear end grip. A whole lot of sliding around was going on, some of it intentional. It was most amusing to be able to initiate a slide and rapidly wind on lock to try to catch and maintain it. I hit the lockstops on the steering more than once without spinning (and failed to wind it on fast enough on the many occasions when I did spin). I was even giving passenger rides to some of the kids, who all seemed to enjoy the experience (i.e. they didn't throw up). All in all a grand day out.





All good things must come to an end, though. I've decided that as we are returning to predominantly office-based working I need to replace the Deliboy with something more suited to commuting (if only slightly). Hence it will be up for sale soon. If I just do the minimum 3 days a week in the office, that comes to 6000 miles per year (and I drove 5000 miles in it in the last year without going to the office). I think the van deserves a more graceful retirement rather than just being a daily driver. It feels like it will go on forever, but eventually it will need to take a well-earned rest.

I'll write up an advert and take it to a couple more events in the coming weeks so people can see it (including the Retro Rides Gathering, of course), and see what happens. In the immediate future, I'll look after my ex's car for a couple of months to make sure that is tip-top before she starts using it again, and in the meantime start looking for a sensible replacement for the van. However, sensible is a temporary state of mind for me, so no doubt I'll end up in something very silly before I know it. 

Morning mate.

I had a referral l to the Deliboy via UKGSER last night.

Looks like a few people know and like your van.

I should probably put a little more effort into selling this vehicle.

I've been using it regularly, so the mileage is now up to ~135k miles. I've been pottering about locally, commuting, enjoying a trip to Bicester Heritage and I've taken it on days out down to Thruxton to mess around on the Skidpan (including doing passenger-ride skid demonstrations in it for a bunch of squaddies who turned up). It's still running very well (Toyota, etc.), and I'll change the oil and filters this weekend to keep it that way.

Price reduced to £3850ono. I'm open to offers, but lowballers will be politely turned away. 

As expected, one of the other complications has been trying to put off people who want a van for business purposes. Yes, it is a very practical and reliable vehicle, but basing your business's success of a 30 year old JDM vehicle is not a great strategy. It needs to be a fun 2nd or 3rd vehicle rather than clocking up tens of thousands of miles shuffling things around.

While at Bicester, I picked up an empty fuel drum, to use as garage stool of some sort. To prevent it rolling around in the cavernous load bay, I secured it in the passenger seat. Partly for fun...

Wish I could buy this. It would be an ideal vehicle for my wife and our youngest son to use for their bee keeping. All it would need is a partition of some sort to keep stray bees out of the cab while driving.

...and it's gone!



Two chaps from Rotherham turned up on Saturday and left with the Deliboy, off to join their 80's tribute van as an instrument mover.

They did leave something behind in addition to some money. Details to follow...