As a new member of the Bedford Owners Club I though it a nice touch to see my name in the 'Very Warm Welcome' column in the current magazine, although I was a little bemused to see how my vehicle's name was spelt. I have had one or two interesting variations before, but the autumn magazine's was the best by far!

Build quality for 16 or 17 years ago is I think very good, with a body size and shape that belies its tardis-like features. The layout is excellent with a choice of a single or twin Luton bunk that is a dream to make up, a downstairs double similarly easy to arrange, plenty of storage in both high and low-level cupboards and lockers, adequate seating for four or more, a good-sized wardrobe and shower room/toilet, while the kitchen section boasts good cupboards with drawers, full oven, hob with extractor, large capacity fridge and good sink and drainer. Mains hook-up is installed and there is good quality lighting and an extractor vent in the toilet compartment.

A lack of attention to minor details of finishing was surprising in a conversion that was obviously not cheap, but perhaps I am being 'picky'. The one thing that was most peculiar, though, and which I just could not understand was, why was the vehicle's main battery left in its original underfloor cradle behind the front passenger step?

In a short wheelbase Dormobile Freeway that I once owned, access to that battery was via a hatch in the floor. I assume that many CFs had the same facility (the vans certainly did - Ed). In the Continental, however, a low-level side cupboard covers that area of floor and the only way of getting to the battery was to slide underneath the van. It follows, therefore, that if you had to get the battery out, you needed strong arms and a strong back to do it!

The battery problem was solved, however, when I began the van's renovation. The contoured caravan door had been leaking heavily, causing the wooden step to rot. Out came the whole step structure and in went a metal frame and floor which also provides battery storage with immediate access. With the original battery cradle removed, enough space was created to house an 80-litre LPG tank - cheaper fuel is essential with this beast. Economical it is not!

One of the biggest jobs, a respray, was finished last year, when the van's drab and dreary white and mushroom colour scheme was drastically changed for something more eye-catching. Our previous vehicles have never had names - not intentionally, that is. They were always "The van" or "The CF" or "The Merc". On a bad day they were often called other things as well, mind. The Continental, however, became "Connie" my wife's derivation from its maker's name. After seeing the vehicle nearing completion in its new colours, my expression "It looks like a tube of ruddy toothpaste" led to the van being promptly christened "Spearmint".

After having modified and completely refitted my old 1972 Freeway I swore I would never do anything similar again. So what am I now doing? Yes, you guessed it...

To date over 120 separate jobs have been carried out on the vehicle with something approaching 50 more before it is finished...oh, boy!

Although this van is rare in the UK, there may be other people who have further information on them and I would be grateful to hear from them on 01299 829307

My motorcaravan is a little-known Reisemobil Continental 4. When I bought it, it still sported its original registration plates bearing the name of W. Hayes, later Hayes Leisure, a motorcaravan dealer in the West Midlands. Enquiries with the company revealed that our vehicle was one of only two or four made for Bill Hayes Snr to test the UK market. Each was registered in 1985 on a long wheelbase CF 280, the chassis-cabs having been shipped out to Holland where the glass-fibre caravan bodies were attached and the vehicles were fitted out. They were then returned, completed, for Bill Hayes to market. The finished vehicle was reported then to have been too expensive to

 be an economic proposition and no more were imported or completed - at least not for Mr Hayes.

One further curiosity is that the advertising material, a copy of which thankfully and most unexpectedly given the state of the vehicle, accompanied the van when I bought it, is in German, and indicates that a choice of base vehicle was available - the Bedford, a Transit or a Peugeot. There was also a choice of layouts available - or perhaps they were projected layouts if only a very limited number were built. The advert sheet shows four variations, while my vehicle is different again.