Some
period photos of the Ford Anglia Van know as
"Supervan".
The van was owned by the late Brian Nelson, owner
of the "Monte Carlo" garage in Dublin
and was used on two European trips.
The
first trip, with co-driver Paddy McClintock, was
in 1972 and went from Dublin to Moscow. Catching
the boat to Helsinki they then drove into the
Soviet Union from Leningrad to Moscow. On the
return journey they passed through various other
European Countries, from Kiev in the Ukraine,
into Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Greece,
Yugoslavia, Italy and France before finally
sailing back to Ireland.
They visited 14 different Countries, drove over
12,000 miles and did it all in 26 days.
The
second trip, this time with Co-Driver Gerry
Mooney, was in 1973 and went from Dublin to
Timbuktu. The trip was undertaken to raise money
for Famine Relief. This time the route taken was
down through Spain, across to Morocco and
straight down to Timbuktu through the Sahara
Desert and then back to Dublin.
The
Ford Motor Company of Eire, Duckhams and Dunlop,
all helped out by providing parts etc for the
Van.
Brian's daughter Alice has
made a short film called A
Map with Gaps about her fathers two trips.
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