Don't punish younger drivers. Just give them a Luton van

LOTS of people in cardigans have been using this last week to call for even tougher restrictions on those pesky young drivers who keep passing their test and then crashing.

Among the suggestions being bandied about by the bores-that-be are restricting them to cars as woefully underpowered as the one-litre Kia Picanto I tried the other day, banning them from venturing onto Britain’s highways and byways once the sun goes down, and bringing in yoof-specific drink-driving laws that’ll land them in prison for twenty years if they’re caught in the possession of wine gums.

In fact, the only sensible idea that hasn’t come from someone who’d otherwise suggest reintroducing National Service is tougher, more plentiful driving lessons, and a harder driving test to match. It’s mad, for instance, that my newly-qualified mate can freely venture onto the M6 at rush hour, despite not having had a single lesson on motorway driving!

I, however, have found an even better way to encourage careful driving after moving house last week. Insist everyone does their driving test – and all the lessons leading up to it – in a Ford Transit Luton van packed to the brim with their most prized possessions.

Driving something the size of a student flat is a little nerve-racking at the best of times, but knowing it’s weighed down with your furniture, your DVDs, your carefully accumulated copies of Evo magazine and the IKEA bookcases you gingerly screwed together on an idle Sunday afternoon does tend to focus your mind on driving more carefully.

The windy West Lancashire lanes I use to get to the motorway network – lanes I’d normally enjoy driving – were mildly terrifying, not only because a Luton van is so long and so wide, but because the cargo in the back is yours. It also encourages you, thanks to its appetite for diesel, to go easy on the throttle, and if you can park one, you can park pretty much anything.

Make cocky, over-confident new drivers – like me not that long ago – do their lessons and tests in vans fully loaded with their prized personal belongings and they’ll learn more about defensive driving and not taking risks than any 1950s-style motoring curfews.

You never know. There might even be a few less hot hatches wrapped around trees as a result…

Fire up the... Peugeot Partner

A DOUBLE duvet, a mountain bike, and a pile of bags and boxes filled with household clutter. No, not the prizes of some awful Generation Game spinoff but a list of things Peugeot's Partner could swallow with ease.

Trips to the tip are the sort of missions where you'd want the generously-named Peugeot Partner Teepee Outdoor HDi 115 on your side; it really is family man motoring on a truly utilitarian level. Keen students of all things automotive will have already deduced it's the familiar Partner van with an additional helping of windows and seats, but if you're prepared to drop any pretensions of being sporty and go along with its load-lugging groove than you've got the perfect, er, partner. If you strip your family car requirements back to hauling five people and as much luggage as possible, then I challenge you to find a motor more geared up to the task then this one.

Stylish it ain't and it's a big thing, but the tradeoff is the simply enormous amount of room you get inside, and when you aren't using the faintly ridiculous amounts of headroom and legroom in the rear the back seats fold away and the Partner turns back into a van, offering you more luggage space than just about any other people mover for the money. True, the 1.6 version I drove will set you back £17,000 but while I don't think that's too unreasonable, there are plenty of other Partners in the range offering you the same amount of space for even less.

But the best thing about the Partner is that despite its van origins it doesn't alienate drivers who like their vehicles smaller and lower (me, basically). No, it's not going to inspire you with its handling in a bleak corner of Britain's countryside but it disguises its considerable bulk with a welcome dose of handling aplomb, and on the motorway it's a comfortable cruiser which isn't left wanting for turbocharged diesel punch. The only thing I'd ask Peugeot to give the Partner for Christmas is a sixth gear, to help improve the already none-too-bad 44mpg I averaged with it.

The Partner isn't a thriller through the corners or a work of art, but it isn't pretending to be. See it for what it is - a tool which dedicates everything at its disposal to moving people and things as efficiently as possible - and it's a belter.

It might be a van with windows, but I'm a convert

JUST call me Jean-Jaques and pass me a beret. This week, I've fallen for that most French of motoring institutions.

I know that the small-van-with-windows format is offered by all sorts of manufacturers these days - Ford with its Tourneo, Fiat with the Doblo and so on - but really it's the Gallic trio of Citroen, Renault and Peugeot who've made it a hit with motorists on this side of the Channel. Now, thanks to a week with a Partner as my partner, I can see why.

I've entrusted it with a several missions, including a trip to the tip to get rid of a few bits of household clutter simply too big for the Rover 214 to deal with, but the assignment on which it's impressed me most was conveying a carload of petrolheads to the NEC in Birmingham for last weekend's Footman James Classic Motor Show. Normally, this would be a job given to either my Rover or my mate's turbodiesel Saab 93, but it seemed almost rude not to use the big Pug instead.

Each and every one of us - a group of car enthusiasts who'd usually value the small, the sporty and the quick - left impressed by the Partner's almost ruthless approach to practical, family-friendly motoring. Up front, I loved the way it disguised its considerable bulk with its sweet handling, my turbo nutter, Saab-owning pal liked its mid range punch, and everyone else seemed slightly lost with the vast amounts of head and legroom.
In fact, the only real gripes were the popout windows in the sliding rear doors, which left them with a slightly stuffy feel on the long trip.

Admittedly, the boxy shape - especially in the delightfully Seventies shade of brown the car I've just tested came in - isn't going to keep you awake at night, and nor is it going to thrill you on the Buttertubs Pass, but I'm a small-vans-with-windows convert, because these things do the job they're designed to do brilliantly and unpretentiously.

Now, what's the going rate for a secondhand one?

The Southport brothers who built a camper van for less than a grand

TWO brothers from Southport have used their technical know-how to write a book on their bid to build a camper van on a budget.

Matthew and Stuart Ball, of Fylde Road said this week that they have used their technical skills to convert an LDV van into a camper van for less than £1,000, and detailed how they did it in a book which has just been launched by publishing firm Veloce.

Co-author Matthew Ball said: “We've always dreamed of having our own camper. We love being able to go anywhere at the drop of a hat, and being able to afford it. The Lakes, The Cotswolds, Scotland, Cornwall - heck, the whole world is there waiting for you!

"We used to think that one day, once we'd got enough money together, we'd get our dream machine, but we never seemed to have the money and that's the problem - dream machines seem to cost so much. Isn't the idea of a camper van to get away, anytime you want, cheaply. That was certainly our plan anyway."

The pair, having been put off by both the prices of brand new campervans and the quality of secondhand machines available, decided to use Matt's experience as a resistant materials tutor to convert a secondhand van into a campervan to keep costs down, and have chronicled the project in a book to help spur others on to follow suit.

The project, which took place over ten weeks last summer, saw the brothers convert the van into a fully-functioned camper van for a total of £996, including the cost of buying the van itself. It also marks their debut into the publishing world, with the finished title being their first book.

Stuart Ball said: "Inspiration came from Ron Champion's book, Build a Sports Car for Less Than £250. I knew through converting another van into a camper that costs can easily run out of control, so a great deal of thought and preparation was required to achieve such a low cost.

“We have also developed a basic website showing pictures which didn't make it into the book, and a gallery page for fellow camper van enthusiasts to upload their camper van builds.”

The book, entitled Build Your Own Dream Camper Van For Less Than £1,000 is available to buy now both in bookstores and online, costing £19.99. For more information visit the brothers' website.

Pictures courtesy of Matthew and Stuart Ball

Hot Rod magazine and Mackeys Hot Rod Shop in Huntington Beach Ca are trying to win a contest and raise cash for the Semper Fi Fund

So.. why am I telling you about it? You can use this link :  http://www.builtfromebay.com/?utm_campaign=si_social&utm_medium=fb_post_hr&utm_source=facebook&utm_content=episode_01#episode1    and vote for the van, and when it wins the contest, and gets sold on Ebay, the money goes to the Semper Fi Fund http://www.semperfifund.org/ that assists recovering US Marines and their families while recovering from, or getting therapy for, debilitating loss of limbs, mobility, or other severe complications from roadside bombs, Al Queda bullets, rocket propelled grenades, etc etc and other rotten stuff that war inflicts on soldiers

http://blogs.hotrod.com/help-hot-rod-help-injured-marines-30639.html for the full story about the contest between magazines (you don't want a Porsche, El Camino, or Jeep winning, do you?) and http://mackeyshotrods.com/ for the shop that is doing the work, in case you like to help a little too (I bet pizza and beer are a great "Thank You" )
http://www.builtfromebay.com/?utm_campaign=si_social&utm_medium=fb_post_hr&utm_source=facebook&utm_content=episode_01#episode1 to vote for the van

That leaves Hot Rod. Our esteemed Publisher Jerry Pitt bought a 1968 Chevy van residing in Ohio from ebay, had it shipped to Mackey’s, and now you’re going to vote for it to win the competition. Build-up videos of the chaos, voting and more can be had at ebay, you know, that web site where great cars and parts are found that you never dreamed you wanted until you clicked onto them.

The van is only half-a-heap; and Mackey’s has a concept, a plan, the expertise, a wad of money, and six weeks build time to make our readers proud and our competition wish they were working for the winning team.

The winning Hot Rod van and three losing projects will be on display in all their glory at the 2012 SEMA Show in November. And the best part comes after the hoopla when the proceeds from the sale of the van will be donated to the Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund so go to http://www.builtfromebay.com/?utm_campaign=si_social&utm_medium=fb_post_hr&utm_source=facebook&utm_content=episode_01#episode1 to vote for the van, and the Semper Fi Fund!

The van is currently in 3rd, and needs a lot of votes to beat the others

Once you vote the bar turns gray... so I guess to vote more than once I have to do more than hit refresh (of course I'm trying to cheat... aren't you? For the Marines? Hell yes and hoo rah!)

cool VW photos from Empistyler blogspot

Cool stuff! All from http://empistyler.blogspot.com/

Gran Prix by James Garner

the racing scenes are magnificent

one of the characters in the movie lives or stays at some place that has these representations of the race tracks in the Gran Prix circuit on the 2 storey wall in the staircase

below is the scene where James Garner's character drives some other characters wife home

 Naturally beautiful woman, Jessica Walter

 Hertz Shelby GT350 Mustang that James Garner's character drove as a commuter

below are examples of the multiple uses that VW vans were used for in the 60's... they were used for everything, advertising signboards, mobile mechanics tool boxes,

 this mobile gas station seems to be a converted bus

 more great cinematography

Now to the making of

 cool 1960's French helicopter, an Alouette

director Frankenheimer was a amatuer racer, Ferrari fan

James Garner was in the Carroll Shelby school of race car driving for a couple weeks, and Bob Bondurant was his personal trainer. Lucky!

a real GT 40 was used as a camera car. I've posted photos of this in the archives, and can't find them

the right way to sell drinks at a car show... Rastarita, the Mobile Margarita Truck vintage delivery van. From Rasta Taco, a mobile gourmet taco cart catering company

I like this style of catering/drinks vans... it's got class to be relevant at a car show, design enough to have Americana proudly but subtly in front of you... and it's not slathered is bad vinyl wrap or garish colors.

Well done Rastarita! My compliments
http://rastataco.wordpress.com/ for more from this company and https://plus.google.com/photos/109390585637023262355/albums/5758162868464465889/5758165657788781586?banner=pwa for photos of the Rastarita van in action at the Dana Point and the following photo is from their link