Grizz's Redneck Express 1966 Chevy Short Fleetside RESTO-GO!

[flashed]

I think the little van is pretty cool and you could haul all your interesting finds in there .

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by flashed

I think the little van is pretty cool and you could haul all your interesting finds in there .

Hi John,

They really are very small, but perfect at the same time.

I hope that I can get to buy it.

[flashed]

I wish you luck on getting it ,on another note are you finally feeling better ?

[65sub]

Cool little van. I like the Tiki style someone suggested

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by flashed

I wish you luck on getting it ,on another note are you finally feeling better ?

Yesterday and today in bed.
This thing really just wants rest.
Not even seeing Katy this weekend

Originally Posted by 65sub

Cool little van. I like the Tiki style someone suggested

Tiki style is very good, or woody style wagon with stick on vinyl wood .




Photo shoppers............ have your way with it.








Thinking all sorts of stuff.

One of the ideas is race support or pit crew car.

Some liveries from the past.

Can be done with rattle can, vinyl, wrap and stickers.









Other ideas.

Keeping in mind the car has to retain its base dark blue paint.

[Grizz1963]

Ups and Downs and more of them....... Life is good.


This is what makes us what we are.


Thankfully in my world the various forums and friends I frequent keeps my sanity on a level plane.


So what do you do when life hands you a bucket of lemons?? Of course, you drink tequila.


I have been looking for a distraction that could be a tool as well for weeks, if not months.


This week I was interested in a 4.3 litre V6 Chevy S10 truck at sensible money in the U.K. Not a lot of them about at sensible money. Unfortunately it has had a bit of a chequered history and when I started asking the seller some questions, the answers to which I did not necessarily subscribe to, next thing he goes quiet, then I get a text that someone has offered him £500.00 more than the number he had offered it to me for........ I suspect it will be on EBay soon.

Anyway, Some of you know I have random, eclectic taste and next thing I looked at, after mates like Paul Y, CraigRK, Martin and others tried to rattle my wallet with various finds all over the world (literally) was a cheap Facebook trade page car.

I started this thread to find out more on various forums and learned enough to decide to go look at the car today, after speaking to the seller who is the second owner only, having bought it a year ago from the first owner.........

Thread: http://retrorides.proboards.com/thre...tispace-bought

So this was the ad.



2001 model Citroen Berlingo Multispace in 1400cc petrol guise. A rip snorting 75bhp from the factory.

This car came with a full length electric sunroof.




I called on mate Martin, always game, like me for any road trip, so this morning after his lady went to work, we walked his dog, then hit the road to go look at the car.

By 09.00 we pulled up in the yard where the car was stored.
Seller a really nice guy, chatted, looked around the car, then took it for a quick test run.
A few small issues, all within the realm of a small car for cheap bicycle money.

It seems it has had a load of attention over time, new tyres, exhaust, battery and steering parts as well as a timing belt about 4 yeas or 25k miles ago.



The brakes suck and need investigating. Probably pads, discs etc, but it seems they are reasonably cheap as well.
The drivers seat is in need of replacement in my world, still good but not good enough.

Back seats fold forward in two phases making for a large load area, and of course if you open the roof you could have 5 meter lengths of timber stacked through to the rear.

Electric sunroof is a pleasure to open and allow to fold back on itself.

Martin's drive was about 15 miles and my first drive about 30 miles and we both agreed that it is just a lovely little thing.

Having done only 86150 miles, confirmed by its MOT history, it maintains legal speeds easily up and downhill.

The seller told us when we got there that the radio/cd player was wired in in such a way that you needed to pull the removable face off it when you parked up in order to switch off the dash lights...........

So at Martin's place, before even going indoors, he was straight into it and pulled the head unit out the dash.
This car has a CanBus wiring system......

Less said the better.

After an hour of trying to figure out the why and how of some clearly expert radio fitter, I ordered an ISO Lead off eBay which should help resolve the weird setup and fix all of this mess.



Current shoes......... on steelies with painted hubcaps. Nothing wrong with them.



However.....

Been offered a set of Saxo VTR wheels with 5 year old 185/65-14" wheels for £40.00

Even without the tyres, I like them.

Kind of reminds me of the NASCAR wheels on mate Dennis in St Louis, Missouri's race trucks.




So I bring you my own version of Prozac for my Soul.

I need a bit of distraction right now.

This little van should give me some of that.

Modification direction is not yet established, so happy for advice, input and ideas.

I like the Tiki surf wagon or Woody look, but also race support vehicle look.

Black rims are cool, and Gold will contrast more......... what to do? Photoshop?

I will be back with more photos tomorrow once I have given the van a look over.



Lastly, I thought that being a quirky tool I would rummage in the key ring box and find something interesting





Hope you approve.

[realvc]

Congrats. on your new van/wagon.
Can't wait to see what you do with it.

[Palf70Step]

Great parts fetcher!!

[flashed]

I like it .

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by realvc

Congrats. on your new van/wagon.
Can't wait to see what you do with it.

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Great parts fetcher!!

Originally Posted by flashed

I like it .

Thanks guys.

It will have to tell me what it wants.

But I am loving it.

[Grizz1963]

Something interesting from UKGSER

Copy and paste.

Originally Posted by ebbo

Well, when the Post Office finish with them someone must buy them :thumb

This one is labelled as a Berlingo 2.0 HDi 4x4 and looks very high on its suspension


Video!


https://youtu.be/1Z9g13R6SD8

I will update on the Prozac-Mobile when I get time, hopefully tonight.

Back to work today.

[clemdaddy]

like your new ride, should be cheap to motor around in and haul all your stuff.
also it sounds like you're finally feeling better.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by clemdaddy

like your new ride, should be cheap to motor around in and haul all your stuff.
also it sounds like you're finally feeling better.

Hi Clem,

I love it a lot. It has grown on me really fast.

And yes, feeling better. Not completely back, but much much better. This thing has really beaten me up for a while.

[Grizz1963]

So Sunday I looked it over a bit.

I always like to just get a feel for stuff.

Mechanically I am not at all the sharpest wrench in the toolbox.

Anyway, some pics to speak for themselves.

The drivers seat is past it's best, but is still very much functional.

Forward view is great.



Tailgate inner panel, rear wiper and its motor missing.

Interesting repair.



Underside really clean for 16 years.



Rear brake proportioning valve and its actuator was seized solid.

Long screwdriver, some WD40 and 10 minutes later that was loose.

HOWEVER....... The return spring is hanging loose, so I will need to figure that out some time.



Front brake discs look rough as hell, but pads are thick.

Brakes work fine but I suspect new parts would work too.



Inner side of disc.



Passenger side on the inside, not even full surface contact.



I took off the one rear wheel, but the drum was solid on it and I did not want to use a load of force, so no idea what goes on, on the inside. A job for another day.

Then I drove over tomAndy's place in Gravesend to buy the Saxo VTR wheels off him, the tyres are shagged, but Scot (Jabbo) agreed to remove the tyres for me, so that I can clean up and paint the wheels before moving the tyres from my existing steel wheels onto the alloys.

Andy drives a Berlingo Van.



Wheels in.



I also bought 16 new wheel bolts for alloy wheels from Andy.



That's was Sunday.

At this point I had already done over 100 miles in the car and it put a big grin on my face.

Perfect.

[flashed]

Rian,where was the van built at ,never heard of them before ? The brake discs do look pretty rough but they may be able to be turned .

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by flashed

Rian,where was the van built at ,never heard of them before ? The brake discs do look pretty rough but they may be able to be turned .

Citroen is a French car.

Part of Peugeot, Renault etc.

No idea where it was assembled.

Loads of small cars in Europe because cities have 700 year old streets that are narrow and winding.


Right....


A quick bunch of photos I took on Saturday on the way home, overlooking the Thames river to Essex.


Video splicing and make up by mate CraigRK and thanks to Martin for helping me get it back to my place.

VIDEO

Citroen Berlingo Multispace. Prozac for the soul...

Photos. Because we like photos.








Pop out side windows. Basic but fine.



Deceptively large. Especially when the rear seats are rolled forward.



Full length sunroof feels really ofd initially



Thats it for now.

[flashed]

Rian,loved the video ,the little van is just cool ,that truck going thru that narrow driveway was scary close .Thanks for sharing with us across the pond .

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by flashed

Rian,loved the video ,the little van is just cool ,that truck going thru that narrow driveway was scary close .Thanks for sharing with us across the pond .

Always a pleasure John.

I post up stuff like that as I know you guys would not see them.

I only ever drove the truck down that way face first once.

Since then I only reverse it, as it's easier to reverse and then come out head first.

[Grizz1963]

Temptation alert.

Andy offered me some 8' timber planks. Shed anyone?

Was going to offer it to Mickey but thought that maybe I should build a garden tool shed under the pine tree in the garden.



Looks like the weather is turning too.



Harley really did a good tour of the van on Sunday too. Never got a photo but exhaustion saw her settle in the study later.



Andy who sold me the VTR wheels and new wheel bolts also has a Berlingo van. He identified that the rear silencer was missing a support strap.
I went to look tonight and found this bodge.



Kwik Fit telephonic quote was £135.00 fitted.

Not impressed, I searched and found a cheaper DIY alternative.

Under £40.00 including delivery.



Because when you wriggle the tailpipe with your toe around the rear wheel you see part of the problem.

I am not going to try weld it up.

[ibrown50]

Looks a great fun little parts hauler. For my two penneth I vote white for the wheels, my second vote would be gold (it's that World Rally thing)

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by ibrown50

Looks a great fun little parts hauler. For my two penneth I vote white for the wheels, my second vote would be gold (it's that World Rally thing)

May have to disappoint you and others......

Will probably be black. In order to go with a theme that is spinning around in my head.

Who knows...?

However, Gold is a great choice.

[mjh1965]

Originally Posted by flashed

Rian,where was the van built at ,never heard of them before ? The brake discs do look pretty rough but they may be able to be turned .

The thing with these European cars and vans are parts are very cheap to buy as they often all share the same platform so discs are probably only £40 the pair

The German cars however are slightly more expensive for parts due to them being generally more expensive to buy IE . Audi , Mercedes , Porsche and VW .

In case you are interested check out the link

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citro%C3%ABn_Berlingo

[Grizz1963]

Maybe not in the direction I am thinking.

But I do like the combination.

[flashed]

Some pretty cool stuff in that link .Cant say the Gold turns me on though.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by flashed

Some pretty cool stuff in that link .Cant say the Gold turns me on though.

This may be the better way to go....... for the wheels.


Black or dark anthracite. Like what was on my old MX5 roof or wheels.





I also took the van out to fill it up late afternoon........

Service with a smile as standard.

Bradfords Garage, they still work the forecourt and frown on self service.



Looked at replacing the discs and pads. But decided to see what a bit of road use will do to them first.

Bosch brake system, typically the most costly option, thankfully there are 30% and 50% discount vouchers online this weekend.



Just before dark I buffed up all the plastics as well as polishing the scuffs from the first owners use.

Removed the Italian flag and replaced it with this on the rear.