Old Van Noises

Growing up we always owned old cars. They took on their own personalities, almost as extra family members.

I have long lost count of the amount of times where a family outting, roadtrip or holiday would suddenly include a person from the roadside breakdown assistance coming to fix our cars so that we were able to continue.

Most of the times the breakdown would occur in a countryside setting and there was usually a pub or café nearby where we could wait for our saviour’s arrival.

It only added to the sense of Adventure. We literally never knew if we would get to wherever we had planned to go.

Cars and vans have always served the purpose of function over fashion to my family.

Aside from one sporty-ish vehicle (when my father clearly had aspirations of becoming Ayrton Senna), they were economical, standard and practical cars.

Fast forward a good few decades and I have clearly inherited a love of old vehicles and their nuances. There is always something to tinker or fix here and there. And owning 3 of them keeps me busy.

Early this morning upon jumping into one van, I turned on the ignition and started the motor. I was greeted with a strange rhythmical squeaking sound which I had not heard before.

I immediately turned off the stereo and ventilation to both eliminate these possibilities and also their noise. But the squeaking and beeping sound persisted. Both engine belts were switched out last year, so it shouldn’t be those. The fan makes a bit of noise but also an unlikely source.

I popped the hood and decided to jump out to check the engine. As I opened my door I found the unexpected source of the unidentified noise……. It was a bird sitting on a branch just above my truck.

Clearly he had been startled by the noise of the truck starting up, or maybe he felt that he needed to compete with the mating call of the Toyota Hilux.

Either way, it did make me laugh and smile. That was an easy fix!

Doggies: Vilma, Balto, Ibsen, Stella and Timon