Best car to have a kip in.

[History]

Because I am frail (or lazy) I do like my afternoon kip. If the wife is shopping ( she doesn't drive) I like to take advantage and have a kip.

The Jeep is not as good as my Shadow for back seat kipping. I once slept in a Mini all 6ft of me, most uncomfortable.

Best was a Citroën CX Estate with an air bed.

A feature of the Austin Maxi was the back could be configured as a bed.

Bob

[tractorman]

And a fine bed the Maxis had too - especially the earlier ones, which had fold down legs under the back seat squab that levelled the "top half" of the bed.

I remember that, soon after buying mine (in 1976), I laid the seats out so it would be easier to clean the headlining. I woke half an hour later! While Father also had a Maxi later on, he was able to sleep on a plank - and could do so sitting in the back of any car! The last Golf (mk4 estate) must have been OK as, when I took a couple of friends to a show, the one in the back spent most of the journey asleep!

There again, I nearly went to sleep in the Passat a few times. There was only one snag - I was driving to/from work!

[JPB]

Great idea for a thread! I lived in my red Maxi for a fortnight once, when I was experiencing some domestic disharmony, it was great, especially as the bed was the full length of the car just like that in an A60 Suntor camper, but the MK3 Golf Estate was good as the load area was long enough to have an airbed at the 2/3 side and still have a useable rear seat at the 1/3 side of the split. The MK7 was a hatch, so far too short but I discovered today that the Corolla's load bed is 5ft 8" long with the seat down, so only 7 inches too short to be a John-sized bed but fine as a temporary measure. Best of all of mine as a place to kip though, well that has to be GUS, the Tartan Red Rebel estate. Rebel estates' back seats folded completely flat into the rear floor and by adding a pair of mini Clubman recliners up front, a full length bed could be made in a car that was only eleven feet long, this simply by removing the stop from the reclining mechanism which had the effect of enabling the back to drop flat onto the base, so continuing the flatness along the side of the engine to the very front of the footwell.

I also slept in one of my R12 estates for a week or two, it wasn't ideal as the rear seat base didn't fold flat but with some suitable cushions borrowed from the settee, a passable bed could be made up in there. I always managed to leave the radio on when I fell asleep in the 12 though, thank goodness for the French and their fondness for starter dogs and starting handles!

Then there was the Thames Trader horsebox in which I stayed for eight months while my house was being assembled. That had a bed that could be converted instantly into a pool table (it was a pool table with a mattress on it), a pot bellied stove and a shower made from a Reliant fire pump, a domestic hot water cylinder and a garden hose with variable sprinkler but that was perhaps not strictly a car, though as the Royce was included, I thought that my old truck might also be allowed!

[History]

Always remember before going to sleep pull over to the slow lane or if one is not confident of driving while asleep pull over onto the hard shoulder and slow down to 30mph.
( Sean Locke joke )

Many years ago I was driving down the M3 in a Reliant Super Van 1972 vintage, and I saw a body lying jn the road so I stopped to find it was a shadow a trick of the light. I carried on and fell asleep. My mate woke me up before something bad happened. 48 hours no sleep. Hawkwind at stone henge. I had 90 mins kip in Fleet services then back on the road in time for work at 7 am. About 2pm I collapsed at work. The mechanics put me in the back seat of a MkX Jag and threw a blanket over me, so the boss couldn't see. 1975.

I was impressed with the Reliant van it went all over Southern England and Wales never missed a beat instant starter even in ice. Only criticism was no power steering or air con or leather. Seriously the Reliant 3 wheelers are better than most people think. I got 75mph out of mine. Of course one drives 3 wheelers with a bit of sense. No high speed swerving to miss animals. The rear is just big enough for a nice kip on an air bed. Van not car. 40 mpg. I sold the 3 wheeler to a guy in Portsmouth and he toured Europe in it. That's dedication for you.

Tip if the side of the battery carrier is cut away a bigger battery can be fitted. The correct battery was really expensive. I used a Austin 1100 one.

Sleep tight and watch that the radio doesn't flatten the battery.

Bob.

[arceye]

Not cars, but I will say transit pick ups are rubbish for kipping in, quite a few nights of snoozing in these when on Hand-signalling duties for railway possesions when the only requirement was to set out the detonators and stop boards and remain available should the signaller have a train movement to deal with, or just providing "an onsite presence" when we were using subcontractors on some rail jobs.

I must add that most of my tasks involved being on the tools for many hours on nightshifts in whatever muck and gloom the gods chose to throw at us, so did actually do some work most of the time

Comfort aside I have managed to kip in loads of motors from transit Pickups to vauxhall combis, it was made more bearable when actually being paid to do so

Two vehicles that come to mind as decent for sleeping were my import Toyota Lucida which I occasionally took to jobs if they were not too far and in the opposite direction to the works yard, and a Vauxhall VX1800 that took me camping a few times that was so comfy I preferred it to the tent.

[JPB]

Vauxhall VX1800

I had one, it was fitted with a low compression 2.3 so was both slower than a stock 1800 and managed to use lots more petrol.


But I'm guessing that your VX was an estate? This was mine, owned when it was only nine years old and already attracting some enthusiast interest. This had been a taxi but thanks to a fresh gearbox every 100k or so, and that CF engine, it all worked pretty well:

[arceye]

My VX was a saloon too John, but at only 5'7" or so tall the front seats provided ample room for sleeping and a fair bit of courting. That VX was so good I owned it three times before eventually turning it down for a fourth go after it failed its MOT on a small hole in the "chassis" rail above the rear axle or something relatively minor like that.

At one point we fitted it (well dad mainly) with a 2.3 from a rotten 490 along with the axles / brakes etc and it used to munch the miles until one day when the gearbox / overdrive unit (we didn't really investigate) crunched / bucked/ and ground to a halt, at which point we reverted the engine back to the original 1800 but it never really seemed as much fun after that.

It is one of the few I wish I could have back now though.

[History]

I quite liked the FE Victor. First mainstream engine to use a timing belt.
FE Ventora. 3.3 litre straight six. Nothing in Fords contemporary stable could stay with a Ventora. Maybe a 3 litre Capri might just manage to compete.

Bob.

[tractorman]

Wasn't it the FD that first used the belt-driven engine? I remember one of my sister's boyfriends hired one to come and visit (when my sister was in the army in Woolwich or wherever). It was a nice motor (especially as the olds had the '61 Minor Traveller!), though rather more American-looking than the FB and FC that were common around here at the time. We had an FB a few years later (when they came into Father's price bracket!) that was a nice comfy car and had the four-speed gearbox. One of my first bosses inherited his father's FC, when it was about three or four years old and it seemed a bit cheap and tacky compared to the FB - and had the three-speed column change box (well, they were farmers - got to keep the costs down!).

Thinking back to those days - the Series Minx and Vogues etc were nice cars to sleep in - the front seats were close together (hand brake to RH side of the driver's seat) and all the seats were really comfortable.

[History]

Absolutely correct it was the FD not the FE.

Classic coke bottle shape FD.

The 4 cylinder engine bad a reputation for oil leaks. I found that with carefull assembly that reasonable oil tightness could be obtained.

A mate had a Minx with an electric gearbox that didn't work. I slept in it for 2 weeks when I got made homeless.

Then I moved to a flat in 8 Church Road Hanwell W7 London. I remember sleeping in a double bed on the first night such luxury compared to the back seat of a minx.

Spare a thought for people who have to sleep in shop doorways. Some thugs kicked a homeless person to death in Bournemouth. RIP Ralph the Big Issue seller. The two thugs got 5 years. The got released recently and were bragging about the murder/ manslaughter.

My son works for a homeless charity and some of his clients are gradually dying from being homeless. He reckons one a month dies. He has one client in hospital with serious health issues. The hospital won't discharge the ill bloke unless he has somewhere to live. But the local council won't help him because he's young and single.

A local councillor said that he wants to drive all the homeless people out of Bournemouth because it gives Bournemouth a bad reputation. A bad reputation for not looking after needy people that is.

Bob.