Fiat Brava

Part 1: Preparation. Driving down motorway @70mph on a weekend in the Lake District when bonnet on my Fiat Brava flipped up!

Cue wrecked bonnet, dented roof and sunroof, plus a cracked windscreen and broken headlight. We quickly realised the car was beyond economical repair and thus suitable as transport for Timbuktu

Supplies so far: 2 sleeping bags, 160 sachets of milk, 2 mugs and a compressor.

Plan: catch 13:00 Dover – Calais ferry in late December. Route: Paris, Milau, Pyrenées (for some snowboarding), arriving in Tarifa at the bottom of Spain.

Next: Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania, Mali. Donate car to charity and fly back home 15 January.

Easy really!

Stuff we still need:

* Angle iron (for sand pegs) Big thanks to Jeremy for this one

* Single inflatable beds

* 14inch wheels and tyres for Fiat 175/65R14 82H Got VW wheels that are smaller but they will do.

* Fiat Brava bonnet (long shot!)

Any offers appreciated and will try to respond in kind.

24/10 - Started to make the sandboard out of some spare facia board (see pic below).

28/10 - Built a cooking stand for the gas burner and water can.

29/10 - The Brava is back on the road! Now just need new tyres and stop that fuel leak.

06/11 - Fuel leak turns out to be a blocked injector. Fitted roof rack by bolting straight through the roof. Brava definitely has no resale value now. Sealed exhaust leak and added injector cleaner in the hope of a cheap fix. Being a fiat the injectors are well hidden and will take some work to get to if the cleaner doesn't work. fitted bonnet from scrap yard and salvaged bulbs, fuses etc

14/12 - Joining us will be Pete as 2nd co-driver. The car is fixed and we are nearly ready.