Introducing the Starwagon

Introducing our new van - a 1995 Mitsubishi Delica L300 Starwagon! You may remember our previous van, also a Mitsubishi Delica but the L400 which is a later model. We loved our old van: its ruggedness and odd proportions; its ability to get us and our tools into the woods for workshops and I guess the fact that there aren’t many of them around. We made many memories in the short time we had the van (admittedly many of them were of repairing various mechanical issues) and were heartbroken when we accidentally drove into a ditch and wrote it off earlier this year. In truth however we always preferred the shape of the even rarer, older L300. When one came up for sale while searching for a new van, the idea of owning an L300 and embarking on a new project eased the pain of losing the old L400 a little. Added to which, it was located in the Lake District, which although being 7 hours away helped sealed the deal. The whole thing was starting to feel like a micro adventure in the making.

Frantic messages and calls later and we had paid a deposit on a van we had never driven before and we all set to collect and drive it home from the Lake District. We both spoke to the previous owner, who turned out to be a retired ecologist and conservationist. We could tell we had plenty in common beside a weird penchant for Japanese 4x4 vans. He and his wife had owned the van for 16 years and it was a reluctant sale. They had driven the van all over Europe whilst working, sleeping in the van on the sleeping platform that replaced the third row of seats and generally using the van to live an adventurous and enviable life; we liked to think that we could carry on the van’s legacy and I think they hoped we would be able to too.

With various lockdown restrictions still in place, and having not been anywhere for the previous 14 months or we felt uneasy about catching the train all the way to the Lake District. But it was so nice to be actually doing something. Heading somewhere new to do something slightly silly for the first time in what felt like forever. The three of us would be picked up from the train station and taken to the van for a walkthrough of its quirks (it is 26 years old after all) and a proper hand over. After that we’d be on our own in the van, driving across the Lake District to stay in a cosy looking yurt we’d booked for a couple nights.

The van was everything we hoped it would be, complete with ladder, awning and original expedition roof rack and it was lovely to meet the previous owners who made us feel at ease with our purchase. We chatted about ecology and conservation which I’ve certainly never done before when buying a second hand car. There were relatively few quirks, just a couple of mechanical niggles that we knew we could sort out. We were shown all the neat features, most of which surprisingly still worked, ours is a basic model but others had built in coolers, electric sliding curtains and a karaoke machine. A quick tour of the 4WD system and the engine (which is under the passenger seat!) and we were on our way.

Although we were only there for 2 days, and the weather was wet and cold, our time in the Lake District was unexpectedly invigorating. Perhaps collecting the van made it feel like more of an adventure than it was. Or perhaps the consecutive lockdowns had affected us more than we thought, but to see the mountains and the rivers and streams and be somewhere other than home was a tonic for the feeling of malaise that had crept over us during the last year or more. The cobwebs blown away and the rust cast off.

Back home, we were eager to get started on building out a micro camper conversion, similar to the one we had in our old L400. A full camper conversion is just not within our budget, but we knew that it was possible to make something that felt homely whilst being functional with just a few sheets of plywood and some careful planning. We took measurements and ideas from the sleeping platform that was in the van when we bought it and used those as a starting point for our plans. The middle row of seats folded down flat to meet the sleeping platform, making a pretty comfortable bed. Storage would be underneath the sleeping area and we’d cook outside most of the time so the stove would be accessed from the tailgate. That being said, one frustrating problem with our old van was that we had to go outside to get our hands on food, water or cooking equipment so we wanted to make sure we could access essential items from inside the van in case of bad weather. We decided on making a small work surface that we can cook on with a hiking stove and a tap with a sink so we didn’t have to go outside to get water or to brush our teeth in bad weather.

Mostly the van is used as a day van, so although all three of us could sleep inside, most of the time we will sleep in the roof top tent or in our hiking tent. Designed as a cosy dry refuge at the end of rainy hikes, somewhere to eat pizza on summer evenings, a nature exploration vehicle and a living space that we can drive to beaches or the tops of hills on windy rainy days to drink coffee and hot chocolate whilst sheltered from the storm, we are pretty happy with how it turned out. Its first real test however will be in just a couple of days as we embark on a tour of Scotland…wish us luck!