So the new T25 has gone in to see my friend Ian at South West Classic VWs for its ‘make sure I won’t blow up’ check. I do this with all my t25s as they can have a habit of blowing up. As it turns out it could have blown up. The thermostat that controls the air flow over the engine to keep it cool was stuck closed. And whilst it might be winter now, you can almost guarantee that, as soon as you drive off the ferry, the sun will come out and spoil the t25’s maiden holiday. We also found a few bits and pieces that are inevitable, like rust at the bottom of the doors and leaky push rod tubes (whatever they are) but nothing major. So we’re ready to rock. With confidence.

Except that there’s one little thing niggling me. I’ve been wondering what to call it. Or whether or not I should call it anything at all. Or whether it is a she or a he. Looking on sites like VW Camper Crazy I notice that people always seem to have pet names for their buses like Billy, Bertha, Snowdrop or Rusty. My suspicous side tells me that it is deeply un-cool to give a car a name but then I still remember a 1303 Beetle a friend had for a couple of months (in 1985) that she called ‘Hungry Horace’ becuase she couldn’t get enough petrol in it. It’s the name that stuck. So what do you do? Become unnaturally attached to a rusting and expensive hulk of metal and give it a name that would make an american princess puke? Or drive around in a vehicle known simply and unemotionally as ‘the van’?

Since I have kids and since I know I am about to spend an awful lot of money getting the t25 back to its shiny, camping-ready best I’m beginning to think that maybe I should call it something. If only to reflect the love, elbow grease and cash that will be lavished upon it. But what to call it. I haven’t driven it enough yet to know its foibles so there’s nothing that stands out (OK, Horace, but that one’s taken). And it feels wrong to pick it up from the garage without a proper name. It’s like taking a baby home from the hospital unnamed.

So what do you call yours? Seriously, I genuinely want to know. Is it a Bluebell or a Dipsy, a Tyson or a Bumble? And why did you choose to call it ‘Gordano’? Because you love the fried chicken at the Services there or because you waited for the AA there on your first ever surf trip? Whatever possessed you to name it ‘Bad Boy’? Because you’ve got ideas above your van’s station or because the dog is afraid of it? Let me know. Please. Before ‘the van’ gets out of the hospital.

All aboard the happy bus!