Vans in the wild
Chris Morris is by no means the only Delica ‘Vanthusiast’ out there. Earlier this year he met up with 12 others for a one-day group drive.
“I’d left Napier at 4.00am in order to be in Wellington by 8.00am. I joined a group of members of the Delica owners’ Facebook page and spent the day driving around in the beautiful Akatarawa forest. Roads in the forest are not public roads as such, you must be member, or guest of, a NZ four-wheel drive club to go in there. There are rules and regulations to be followed and that is why 4WD enthusiasts are still able to access such places.” That means users must treat the area with respect.
Among the vans present there were early L300 to L400 series 2.
“There are three V8 powered L400 vans on the road in NZ and two of them were at this event. I believe the third one is in pieces at the moment.”
The weather had been very wet during the week and rain was still falling when the group arrived.
“There were a couple of small creek crossings on the roads but nothing more than knee deep even with the flooding.”
All vans were able to keep in touch with UHF radios, and the group was escorted front and rear by local 4WD club members who knew the area.
“My van performed well, it got a bit hot on some of the long slow climbs (no airflow at walking pace) but that didn’t cause any issues.”
The rain on the way home was torrential, some of the worst Chris had ever experienced, but the van coped admirably.
“Standing water and surface flooding in many places; very slippery conditions. Got home eventually after 15 hours or more driving. A good day out overall, great to catch up with mates and meet others who until then had only been a name on Facebook.”