Page 6 - Transporter Talk No 143

Transporter Talk No 143
CHAIRMAN’S CHAT
Well, it’s been a few weeks since the AGM and there have been a couple of changes. Firstly Christie has been unanimously elected by the committee to be the new President of the club, a position formally held by Phil Shaw who sadly passed away some years ago. As a result, the Chairman’s position became vacant and I was successful in being elected to that o ce.
To introduce myself, I am Malcolm Marchbank, some may recognise the name as part of the membership secretary but this task has now been fully transferred to Val Lewis who has in reality been doing a sterling job at this for years. I live in Herefordshire with Val and Abbie, the Cocker Spaniel who is frequently featured in Membership Mutters. I have been a member of the VWT2OC for 19 years and have been on the committee for over 4, starting as a “general member” and then graduating to the o ce of “discount manager”. When Ken Brimson retired from o ce as membership secretary we took over this post, it was as we were to nd a huge task.
I have been interested in classic cars for several years and currently own a Reliant Sabre 4, Triumph Herald 13/60 and recently acquired a Dash MCA 600 car. The Reliant is particularly di cult to obtain parts for as only 208 were made, I enjoy a challenge! My interest in VW
campers started in earnest in 1996 when I looked at a couple of rusty bays, keen to nd out more we visited Vanfest. We were amazed, 2000 vans, fantastic spares support and evening entertainment (brilliant bands and people ga er taping beer cans in the shape of the VW badge!) and just so BIG! I still knew little about bays or T25’s but purchased a 1972 (had to be tax exempt) Danbury which had a badly modi ed interior. The performance of this van was a disappointment and on closer inspection I found a 1500cc single port engine had been tted and no support bar! To solve this, I purchased a 2 litre CU engine mated to a 1600cc gearbox and this powered Colin the Camper (we name all our cars) for the next 9 years. During this time I quali ed as an LPG tter and so now most of my classics run on LPG, including Colin, saving money is always good. In order to pursue my interest in vehicles I have the luxury of a workshop with hydraulic vehicle lift (no laying on the oor to bleed brakes for me!) and can tackle most jobs from welding and mechanics to painting and electrical work.
Sadly Colin was badly damaged in a collision with an HGV and has remained on my driveway ever since. He has been replaced by Connie the Camper who is a T25 1986 Club Joker turbo diesel and that is what I drive today. A 1974 bay RHD Westfalia is in the workshop undergoing restoration and will have LPG fuelling and a return to air cooling. This seems to be a long term job as there is always another job taking precedence.
To return to my role as chairman, although the AGM included a trip to the motor museum for a club of 750 members it was very poorly attended. You can see from the voting form in the last TT that many posts are vacant and we need YOU our members to participate in the running of YOUR club. To that end I
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