New Delica owners

[konadog]

Hello all. We are happy to introduce ourselves as new owners and new members. After much research and looking we finally put a down payment on a 1992 GLX P25w with only 64,000 km. We hope to pick it up in a couple of days as Derek at Bonsai Motors in Campbell River BC is doing his detail check over before letting us drive away in it. VERY excited. I drove a 1971 VW bus for years and loved it, but found it was way too fragile for the Vancouver Island back country logging roads and I bashed it up (feel very guilty) pretty roughly at times. The first time I spotted a Delica motoring down the road last year I knew it was the answer and we have been working towards getting one ever since. (I suppose it is frowned upon to refer to the Delica as a "bus" but I drove that old vw for a long time and the habit runs deep). Picked up the right hand drive thing while test driving it though admit my wife and I were both apprehensive at first. Anyway, this club and the forum is great and we look forward to years of happy motoring and participation. Thanks to Glen at Coombs Country Autos for his generous advice and to Derek at Bonsai Motors for his honesty in making the deal. Can't wait to get on the open road and to do some back country travel!!!
Konadog

[jaggedfish]

Congrats on your new Deli! Another P25!

You know... I'd rather these be referred to as a "bus" than a "soccer-mom-mobile". Admittedly I don't really fit into either category but "bus" is definitely more cool and I have noticed that real "bus" owners sit up and take a good look when a Deli pulls up beside... and vice versa. Just yesterday a gal in South Surrey practically climbed out of her window to have a look at mine!

As far as the driving on the right goes... one day and you will be fine... you just have to get used to signaling with your windshield wipers

Enjoy your new toy! Cheers,
Ian

[jwfchase]

And just like bus drivers, we get to drive cab-over. If one has not driven a cab-over design before, you will probably find that takes more getting used to than the right hand drive issue. If you can get your hands on a few traffic pylons sometime, there's a few different exercises you can do to get used to the slightly different steering and stopping distance (appearance) characterisitics. In the meantime- go easy on those curbs and sharp rocks!

[jwfchase]

As far as the driving on the right goes... one day and you will be fine... you just have to get used to signaling with your windshield wipers

Now that I finally got that one sorted out, I'm doing the wiper-signal in our left-hand drive Golf!

[Green1]

Now that I finally got that one sorted out, I'm doing the wiper-signal in our left-hand drive Golf!

both my RHD and LHD have wipers in the same place...it's the signals and the gear shifter that get me...
(I've "signalled" by putting my work van in to neutral a couple of times now )
I also bruised my left hand throwing it in to the door of the work van reaching for the shift lever to put the vehicle in reverse... ouch!

beyond that, I find everything to be just fine...

[jaggedfish]

Yup... still going for the "air seatbelt" too.... I wonder how I would fair competing against a rat in a maze.... hmmm...

[Green1]

Yup... still going for the "air seatbelt" too....

that one's never been a problem for me... but I think that's because I am doing that while getting in to the vehicle, and all seatbelts are mounted on the door side of the seat... so it's no different from getting in to the passenger side of other vehicles...

I have discovered though that at the moment I am a passenger so rarely in vehicles, and yet drive frequently from both sides, so it doesn't matter which side of a vehicle I get in, I expect to be the driver, and feel weird when the mirrors aren't adjusted for me and someone else is doing the driving...

[Delicanagan]

I was told it would take about 15 minutes of downtown driving to get onto the signals...and about four hours of drive time to feel comfortable driving from the right.

We picked up our (her) Delica in New West.. We took it for about a 20 minute ride before purchasing, and by that time the signals were no longer an issue. By the time we drove the van/bus home (about 4 1/2 hours), it was no longer an uncomfortable feeling. In all, I think the 15 minutes and four hour guidelines are just about bang on. Now I also drive RHD and find getting into my old LHD awkward and foreign.

It doesn't take long.

I used to drive a 72 VW Campmobile "pre-westy" with the pop up top and all the amenities a long haired, head banded hoodlum could wish for. My wife and I drove it out from NS to BC 13 years back when we first met. She needed a ride home and I needed and escape route. We worked out a great deal. I brought the baggie and she brought the papers. We've tidied up a bit since those days, but we haven't changed much. We still ride around in a cool-ass van waving like maniacs and flipping peace signs when we see another like us.

I wanted another old Campmobile, but found these Deli's and made the clearly more suitable decision. Haven't any regrets yet...although, one day I still want to own another old Campmobile and do what I always intended to do with mine...flower it up!

Peace!

[konadog]

Cool. Not really sure what a "prewestie" is though. 72 eh? My 71 was the last year with the bug style upright motor. How was working on the engine in your 72 - The pancake motor with no inside access hatch must have been trick to do the points and so on. I got mine for free from a guy who was driving it from Nelson to Victoria to sell it when the motor died en route (Aldergrove). I was the first guy to respond to his add so he GAVE it to me. Rebuilt motor and I was away. It came set up much like the Deli with bench seats in the back (Kombi). I went to the wreckers and for $100.00 got the fold out bed and closet and seat behind the driver. Had lots of long trips and adventures in that machine. I saw it years after I sold it and someone had reupholstered the fold out bed and the whole interior. Looked just great, loved and cared for. Getting better with age - hope she is still alive out there. I'm looking forward to getting out to some Deli meets to see how others have camperized their machines. Except for the lack of optional factory (like Westfallia) camper set up the Delicas are, to me, just a modern, tough, Japanese 4x4 version of the vw bus. The camaraderie between owners and the cab-over driving position has vw all over it. And I won't be at all surprised to see a Deli or two motoring along "all flowered up!"

[mararmeisto]

...We still ride around in a cool-ass van waving like maniacs and flipping peace signs when we see another like us.

...flower it up! Peace!

I don't know about flowers, but there is the Pink Pig on the UK forum...

And welcome to the group konadog. You'll get used to the vehicle, but I doubt you'll ever tire of it - they're just too much fun to drive!