R.I.P. Mervin

R.I.P. (Rust in pieces) Mervin.

That sad day has come when old Mervin the Courier van has finally popped his last backfire. His death came suddenly from a heart attack (Cam Belt failure) and he died as he would have wanted to go, hill climbing in the North Yorkshire Moors National Park, and lugging a load, albeit only two bikes and a couple of rucksacks.

He is of course, a parts donor, and hopefully he will help others live on after his death. His starter motor for example was reconditioned not so very long ago, and will breathe new life into some old Fiesta Diesel.

As this is in effect a sort of Eulogy for Mervin, let us remember a little about him. I first met Mervin in September 2008, when he was already an old and tired van. Having only a five digit odometer it was difficult to know how many miles he has covered he was showing 64675, but that could have had a 1 or more likely a 2 in front of it. Certainly he had been abused by his previous owner, a builder, who had left him looking like a skip, but his earlier life was more cossetted I suspect, with British Airways World Cargo Services. He was nursed back to good health, tidied up and given a new interior, and the all important Vegetable Oil conversion.

Mervin thrived on the veg oil, but devloped a taste for real diesel and the occasional sip of petrol this winter, but had recently returned to normal running on Veg.

In recent weeks he had suffered an increasingly noisy wheel bearing issue, for which I had ordered a new bearing only this moring. I was also going to treat him to new brake shoes at the same time.

Sadly, his health began to decline on the way to Goathland this morning, when after a bit of abuse on a single track road which I drove like a rally stage, he began to rattle a little under the hood, but I eased off and we reached Beck Hole with no problem. I expected the problem might be the oil a little low, but nothing serious.

Following an adventurous bike ride with Thomas, we returned to Beck Hole, loaded the bikes and set off up the steep hill out of the village. The journey was short, but eventful, as a loud bang signified Mervins death, the cam belt having snapped and we came to an ignobale end. Gravity and some careful steering with use of the rear view mirrors saw us gliding neatly into a parking space and from their, several hours later, Mervin was taken away by a motors equivalent of a hearse, a recovery truck.

In the 18 months in my custody, Mervin has cost a total of £1455.37, and covered approximately 11,583 miles. This includes the price of fuel, insurance, tax, Mot and all the servicing and repairs costs. That works out at 12 1/2 pence per mile. Given that my Zafira costs 14 1/2 pence per mile on fuel alone that is quite a saving - £231.66 pence just on those figures. Plus consider that Mervin has been used for runs tothe tip, and carrying furniture, doors, bikes - etc etc and saved the Zafira getting messed up, plus avoiding excess mileage on the car and the depreciation then it has been a very worthwhile relationship.

The salvage of any useful parts will also reduce his overall running costs. I mean there's still 3/4 of a tank of diesel in there for a start!