Bongo 2024

Its been a while (3 years) since I last posted, so maybe a condensed history from 2021 to 2024 is in order.

My last post of 2021 was during the ‘fuel crisis’ and a shortage of Diesel , thankfully there has been no repeat of that and in 2024 whilst Covid is still here (boosters still required!) there is nothing like the UK witnessed in 2020/2021. With that the Bongo has been an amazing vehichle, with taking me camping, doing amateur radio and racking up some serious miles with going between Guildford and Bournemouth.

Back in early 2024 the bongo was having real trouble starting, so I fitted a new alternator, I suspect this was caused by me driving thru a weir at high speed and flooding the alternator with water. After this the Bongo overheated as well – I fear the worsts that the cyclinder head had been damaged once more and the Bongo was on its way out..

I needed a reliable vehicle and something comfortable for us both, so in May of 2024, I bought a C-Class Mercedes, which was ideal for Monica and I. This however meant I head a ‘dead’ Bongo in the driveway and a Jaguar XK8 that I wanted to keep for the occasional drive/venture out, but not daily use. The one thing we both immedately noticed was the comfort levels in the Mercedes, even compared to the XK8 which has great leather chairs, the Merc was incredbly comfortable, and even with 3 adults in, was a good car to drive. With that there was no urgency to get the bongo fixed.

I kept the bongo on the drive until I would need/want to use it once more, with me this is spring/summer time as I like doing amateur radio from the comfort of the Bongo. I had to consider what I was going to do, as I now had 3 cars and the tax on the Bongo was due to expire (ironically it was still in MoT). I decided to keep my options open and re-tax the Bongo. I hooked up a charger and Bongo refused to start easily, I was really at my whits end what to do with the bongo as it was beoming a money pit, with an XK8 having just cost me over £1k to keep on the road for another year, and a Merccedes to keep serviced/well running, the costs where getting higher each year.

I contacted a Bongo scrap merchant, I wont say who, but they offered ‘better than scrap value’ for Mazda Bongos – I’d thought I’d at least enquire. I wont say how much they offered, but I found it outright insulting, the reason being ‘the distance required to travel’. I thought my Bongo deserved better ending that, yes it had cost me alot of money over the years I had it, but it had done so much for us, so I reconsidered keeping the bongo. Also almost everyone I have spoken to who owns/have owned a Bongo almost immediatly regrets getting rid of them once they have gone.. there seems to be some hidden effection for Bongos by there owners..

I arranged having the Bongo picked up, its not easy to find someone that will take a 2.5 tonne van and I booked the Bongo into our local Bongo service garage, R D Motors in Poole. When something does go wrong with my Bongo its very rare it will go anywhere else, the team at R D Motors really are bongo experts. I asked them for a quote to fix the issues I had (non starting) and what it would take to get it thru its next MoT. Amazingly on the morning the pickup van came to recover the Bongo it started ! Maybe a positive omen that there was life in te Bongo still..

A week or so later, I got the price back. Welding, a new radiator and other pieces of work would be required to get the Bongo thru the MoT – the price would be ‘considerable’, but at least it would get the Bongo back on the road and running reliably. I thought about the derisiory offer I had been given for ‘scrap’ and wether I could afford to get the Bongo fixed. With a bit of number crunching, it would be possible, so I went ahead with the repairs !

May 2024

So here we are back in May of 2024, a little poorer, but at least with a running and MoT pass on the Bongo. The Bongo starts first time, all the time and runs great, sadly it looked rather tired. I thought that it was time to give the Bongo a really good clean, the filth and c**p that had built up over the years was awful, and thinking how much I had spent, I wanted it to look the best it could without spending any more money on it.

I started off with the interior, giving everything a really good hoover, even tho I dont smoke I even found old ciggerete butts (eeew!) I have no idea where they have been hidden, probably a gap between the bongo carpet and frame. Needless to say I was please to get them out ! I gave the cockpit a good going over with shine and was pleased that small bits of work really lifted the bongo up..

I then worked on the outside, given the bongo a really good blast with the pressure washer I had, I think the last time I done this was in 2021 ! I got plenty of surface dirt off the bongo and the lovely green body work paint wasnt looking too bad, especially given the Bongo is somewhat over 26 years old !

I then focused on getting the end-kitchen nice and clean. It had been years since I used this, so the water containers had become quite disgusting. I started off with cleaning them out with denture cleaner, then disenfectign them with Milton fluid. Whilst the waste tank had some stubbon stains, the ‘clean’ water container came up really well. I dont drink the water from the tap in the Bongo, its just for cleaning and cooking. I might get some stickers as well to point out its not drinking water.

I was really happy how the Bongo was turning out, I carried on with trying to sort the electrics out to get my 2m/70cm Kenwood radio back in, but cant find the whip antenna ! I’m sure a shack tidy will locate it. I was rather tired by now with all the cleaning so tidied up my tools and got the Bongo back to a state I could take it out for a drive.

On my usual drive route around Bournemouth I really enjoyed driving the Bongo once more. It was clean, tidy and best of all drove really well thanks to the work done by R D Motors, no overheating, no issues starting and fantastic handling was once more restored to my beloved Bongo. Yes, there is still more ‘cosmetic’ work to be done to the Bongo, but I’m really looking forward to 2024 and using the Bongo for camping trips, amateur radio and just enjoying this lovely van.