Mogstock 2
Well, what can I begin with? – hmmm…………………………
We had the invite, we had the venue, we had the time off – but did we have a Unimog?.................................Yah yah yah!
A winter project was what was needed and Uni was our chosen target – a total bare-metal respray!!!! We thought we had plenty of time, but as everyone knows – time just slips through your fingers without any effort and we tried to be strict with ourselves. Eddie (our leader) had promised the loan of professional spraying equipment and the least we could do was be thoroughly prepared in both meanings of the word. Uni was dismantled, ground, sanded, buffed and primered (26 large cans of grey) and while the parts were drying and nuts and bolts refurbished, the tilt and all the other components were washed down and folded neatly. A few times it was too cold in the barn to function (even when the electric was on) and only a quick visit had to suffice, just to check up on things and remind ourselves of the job in hand.
May Bank Holiday was the chosen weekend and the compressor and spray equipment was picked up from Eddie’s workshop – along with some wire to make into ‘S’ hooks to use on a hanger to dry the parts. RAL 6014 (everyone’s favourite colour (in our house anyway)) was collected from Gramic’s, where they gave us some helpful tips and the correct thinners to go with the paint; five litres of each was recommended and this indeed was just enough. The extra thinners was used to clean the spray equipment after each bout of work. RAL 6014 is the colour Uni was in all the hidden places where no other colour scheme reached and we were pleased to have this information from Gramic’s when we took an unsullied part for colour identification as our other two vehicles are the same colour.
Warm and windy weather proved to be a little difficult to work in (when is it EVER warm on a bank holiday?) and a spray booth was set up out in the fresh air – using the vehicles and tarpaulins for three sides. The compressor and spray equipment snaked across the concrete all day and Gareth received designer green glasses whilst I finished off painting the chassis with smooth matt Hammerite, using the ‘roller’ version proved so easy to use with a mini foam roller set – just throwing the rollers away when they started getting ‘sticky’
Each day saw us up at 05.30 and off at 07.00 with our sandwiches and Barry’s kettle (ta baz – sorry, but it is also green now) to make a day of it at the barn! Thank goodness we were seeing a successful outcome as it was well worth all our time and effort. The Unimog was duly put back together and the cabin hood was re-assembled – all the tilt and sticks were stowed away as good weather was forecast (ha ha)
The morning of our trip saw us tanking up at £105 a go and off we went – taking it easy along the A120. M11. A14. M6 and then off on the M56. Six hours later found us the first Plebs, sorry Peops to arrive. Jim, who was running late, had a fuel filter problem and then had no money to pay for the lucky find of a new part, but as he is royalty (not) he had his serfs Derek and Pete following on with the spondoolicks! Jim wasn’t even expecting us as e-mails sent were lost or not sent, but we were still well received and in the finish, we were one of only four Unimogs at the event.
Friends from Mogstock 1 (two years ago) arrived in the Ivecos and Unimogs and we had visits from Simon and John who were ‘Mogless’ this year. Al came without his Niva, but still managed to have fun and beer with us!
The first evening found most people erecting tents, but we were kipping in the back of the Unimog and bunged up our sticks and tilt to make extremely pleasant sleeping quarters and we then got the bonfire burning and the cold beers out (Ch’ti) It was strange feeling so warm down the front of us and rain on our backs, but we all went off before midnight to bed down as we had a busy day ahead of us on Saturday.
Gareth and I went off to ‘walk’ the course and were given a tip off to keep to the top outer most track that skirted the off road area. We had to be scrutinised by the Niva Club as we were using their club facilities and insurance and then took a mosey-on-down and up the muddy course. Gareth coped admirably on the terrain, but I was feeling a little dubious about taking the Unimog on such slidy mud. Silly really and had no excuse for my feelings and only went round the once. Well – we didn’t actually get round the course as we got a snarl up with rutted 4x4s needing Unimog power to winch them out. Some of the smaller Nivas managed to power their way over the ruts to safe ground. We got out to offer solace and jeer (sorry ‘cheer’) on the grounded vehicles, but there was no chance of passing this bottle-neck and took a U turn through the fence and back down the way we came. And that was the last I saw of the mud……………….. Gareth had another ‘go’ at it after our hefty lunch (always hungry out in the fresh air) I hung around with the lads, waiting for my Unimog and Gareth to return…….. Oh no, what mud on our lovely paint work and I found out that our Uni had rescued some more Nivas on the course. I took a short film of them both manoeuvring the lumps and bumps at the beginning and Uni took it all in her stride as any Unimog should.
We both caught a chill spraying the mud off over the cattle grid contraption – putting your thumb over the end gave the hose more pressure, but shot out all ways and mostly over us. Glad we had a spare change of clothes for the evening gathering round the bonfire. Mark went off to get a chain saw (he doesn’t live too far away) to cut the woodland down for fire fodder (only joking – it were dead brush and stuff) Jim was desperate to have a go, weilding the chain saw high in the air before swooping down on the small log. All very controlled and overseen by at least two health and safety officers!
The rain got persistent and we were glad that we chose Saturday to drive the course as the track got very sticky. We had another cosy night in the Unimog and in the morning took the tilt off again, hoping to save fuel on the return journey. We found out from Mark where the nearest fuel station was again and said au revoir to all our mates, promising that there would only be a year in between this and the next Mogstock.
Most of our friends had either: got married, been to Iceland, Marrakesh, followed the Dakar or just worked on their broken Unimogs!!! All we had to do – was paint her!!!
Took the same route home – ‘nother 100 quid in the tank and 6 hours plus drive home to arrive at about 17.30 on Sunday at the barn, where we had left Heidi for safe keeping.
Well done Jim for the organisation and the Niva Club for having us and, of course, a thankyou to all our fellow 4x4 ers for making up a memorable crowd!
lollo_tank_girl – now awaiting the re-construction of our Unimog's engine and that’s another story...
