Thanks for all the kind comments! Alan is a great bloke and he told me all about the van before I left on a blazing hot...well, wet and cold morning. Couldn't take son Stuart as no seatbelts and the back doors flew open in traffic, taking several years off the life of the driver behind me. The wardrobe door kept flying open as well. After both things were sorted it was a fairly uneventful drive and the little Commer went well as Alan said it would. Thirsty little bugger though...filled up the tank and down to just under half full by the time we reached Devizes where lodgings have been found until I move at the end of the month to a house with a drive big enough to keep it on. I kept the speed down to 55 or so, resisting the temptation to hit the ton on dual carriageways. I found the gearchange rather stiff...is this usual? I'll probably have a lot of questions born of ignorance so hope you'll all bear with me. It's my first Commer but my fifth Rootes-mobile. Had a Super Minx Estate and a Singer Chamois in the '70s, then the Minx 8A which I still have. I also had a Mk8 Minx convertible in burgundy and a Series 1 which can bee seen at Thornfalcon Classics. Also for sale there is a beautiful CA Campervan restored by Alan - worth looking at these two beauties. The Minx is Fiesta Blue and Pearl Grey, the colours I'd like to finish the camper in. Incidentally, the brown looks very like an old Rootes shade called Antelope which was very fashionable in 1956/7.