It’s taken 10 years but....

[Muzorewa]

That’s a devilishly high mileage for one of those unreliable overheating diesel Bongos

Ten years ago we’d been doing regular camping in a car and after too many soggy holidays we decided there had to be a better way. Having agreed that a campervan could be the answer, and having gasped at the price of VW vans, we stumbled across a Bongo at Silverstone circuit and looked into it further. We were still far from convinced when we bought this Bongo, in fact the first time I had driven one was driving this one away from Imperial’s forecourt in Poole. But it’s been every bit the adventure we hoped, has taken us far & wide (Scotland, Ireland, France, Belgium, Germany, Spain, Portugal, even Wales ) and has enabled us to see sights we would never have seen any other way. It’s also introduced us to an enormous family of likeminded friends.

In that time the Bongo has had in excess of 60 oil changes, more than 30 oil filters, 12 sets of tyres and I think I have enough Tiger Tokens to wallpaper the whole house. Oh, the transmission oil and fuel filter got changed once too

Thanks to Imperial Leisure Vehicles for the original bulletproof vehicle and Ady (Northern Bongolow) for vital (and sometimes extensive) maintenance to keep the show on the road

After ten years, herewith my ten favourite photos from our Bongo travels:


Heusden-Zolder, Limburg, Belgium


Rannoch Moor, Scottish Highlands


Pass of Llanberis, Gwynedd, Wales


Brighouse Bay, Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland


Loch Linnhe & Ben Nevis, Scottish Highlands


Kirkstone Pass, Cumbria


Cannock Chase, Staffordshire


Killarney National Park, County Kerry, Republic of Ireland


North Sannox, Isle of Arran, Scotland


Campo de Criptana, Castilla-La Mancha, Spain

[Glenda]

Excellent stuff and meticulous planning to get the devilish 666 to come up on the odometer .

[Merlot man]

This is a great story , love it
Can I ask what mileage you bought the bus with and wheather you ever had to replace the head ?
Brian

[Muzorewa]

Hi Brian,

83,000 when we got it which we thought was high then

Original motor & box as far as we know, certainly no changes since we've had it and no head issues. I did forget to put the expansion tank cap on once and deposited most of the contents of the cooling system over West Yorkshire but the low coolant alarm kicked in and then Northern Bongolow refilled & bled etc.

Overall, the best ride we've had by a long way.

[Bob]

Fantastic.

[tootsmcfruits]

Wowee! That's amazing!

I hope I can keep my Bongo going for all that mileage - very impressive!

[MalcW]

So, I've got just 297,500 miles to go then!

Actually, that's just the inspirational post I need. Our diesel Freda 'Che' has just failed the MOT - nothing major, but a bit of inner sill welding is required. for a few moments (not too many) I did wonder whether get the MOT and sell him, but not any more!

Malc

[mikeonb4c]

Great update Muz and congrats to the old Bongo - legendary

[Northern Bongolow]

congratulations the muz family. thats a lot of sight seeing.
glad to have been a help in keeping things going.
the thing i find most amazing is that its only just had its second ever starter battery fitted. they dont make things like they used to do they.

well done all.

[Jillygumbo]

What a wonderful and inspiring post - keep it up!

[aitch]

I wish mine had lasted half mileage but well done and lovely photos as usual

[Sven]

Great photos and an inspirational post.
From someone who only got their Bongo a few weeks ago, and are going on our first weekend away tomorrow - i can only hope that in 10 years time i can post something similar.

[Mimsy]

We are new to the Bongo having only collected it (still don't know what sex it is yet) last Monday.....but this has inspired us to get out and play. Awesome....

[Bob]

Look after Bongy, and Bongy will look after you.

[Glenda]

It's an incredible amount of miles. 250,000 clocked minus the 50,000 when bought is a family 200,000 miles over 10 years. 20,000 a year average.
Ours starting at 40,000 did 80,000 over 10 years a mere 8,000 miles.