Karmnu's Transits [ Malta ]

[malta transit]

Hi everybody, its me Gerald again . I wish to dedicate this tread to a friend of mine called Karmnu,who by a living is a farmer in his late 50s. He lives alone and has spent all his life helping people keeping alive or lengthing the life of their Transits. In his spare time when he's not in his near by fields he spends time giving new life to a transit, whom the previous owner had betrade it with a newer van. The Transits which sit there without a number plate end up as spares,donor vehicles,that's charity! In his drive way,you always see about 6 Transits,from pick-up trucks to vans. In his life he has never owned an other type of vehicle. Below is a glimps of his courtyard.



This Mk1 deisel front Transit had its destiny to have another span of life.



This Mk2 had been owned by some nuns,that why she's tidy. All she needed was a lick of paint. Now she's been sold to a new owner.



This orange DI Transit below,has just been brought in, its destiny is unsure yet. It will be sorted out unless somebody would call in for a good DI engine.



Below are some parts,such as deisel grills, bonnets doors hanging on walls or in a corner. Any where you look you see parts.









Whenever I go to see Karmnu or that i need an unobtainable part,he always welcomes me and its not the first time i take some friends from the UK,who likes Transits. Unfortunatly he does not speek english nor does read or write. He's locked in a time warp and engines from Perkins,York and DIs are his favorite,as long as there's no modern ecu s staff. This chap for us Transits nuts deserves the highest order medal of loyalty and patriotism for transits and when one time an english man gave him some Transit club stickers he was in 7th heaven.Below are some of many transits resting in peace. And belive me its well worth a visit.









I hope i havn't bored you, But will post more pictures when there will be more left.

[/b]

[Luke]

wow look at all those bullnose fronts

and the orange transit looks mint - how can that be a breaker

one time an english man gave him some Transit club stickers

was that peter lee (who runs the club) who gave his them

[malta transit]

No Luke. Gary Younger,had the club for about 4 years then stoped it as he could not coop with club and work,nice guy managed to ship out some parts back to the U.K.

[MONSTER 0NE]

This Mk2 had been owned by some nuns,that why she's tidy. All she needed was a lick of paint. Now she's been sold to a new owner.



What wheels on this van off as they dont look like standard tranny wheels ?
And as luke said WOW

[rover]

I have never seen such a collection of old parts in such good condition..

That bloke deserves a medal

Rover.

[malta transit]

Hi, today i v been to Karmnu i had 2 bad news. First his dad passed away 2 weeks ago and second the environment officers made him get rid of some transit donnors. The Transits which i had photographed as donnors in the previos treads are all gone now.
Well after rain the sun always comes out, and things are coming back to normal. This is 1 of 2 Mk1s, amongst many spare parts.



Below here by the way is him, with one of his favorite transit.











I have asked him also about the wheels, they are called Julien Racing as what it says on the center cap, and they are 15"inch. They fit on perfect on Mk1s and Mk2s without any spacers but as Karmnu had changed the front axel to one with disk brakes, he had to grind slightly the bolt heads of behind the wheel. Here goes an other photo.



That all folks

[Luke]

wow that bus is superb

real shame about his father passing on and the enviroment agency

[djswampy]

Wow, I can see why he likes that van the best. Top colour too.

Typical council though making him tidy up. I don't need parts for mk1/2 but I would love to gander round his yard. I love automotive tout.

[malta transit]

Belive it or not this van was in a sorry state before he done it a long time ago. He used brush paint on, but sprayed it on by adding white spirit ,underneath its all grey without any muck. And his special recipe for protection is linseed oil + sawdust, mixed and applied as wax oil?. And the engine is an isuzu deisel as its under 20 horse power. Any comercials in Malta with any amount of horse power have a fee of Lm40 road licence [ from a mini van to the biggest Transit ]. Any vehicle over 20 horse power have a fee of Lm150. And as the yellow van has windows it is classified as a vechicle not as a van. He likes best Transit buses and 2nd Transit trucks.

[bigmastif]

there has gotta be some way of gettin a few ppl together and filling a container full of this gear and bring it back to the uk.

better than some one like nigel going over there to turn a quick buck on it and ripping honest ppl off

and as gerald said about the owner of the yard the guy deserves a medal for having such a collection

could he be our geoff of malta

think we should send the guy a windscreen banner with the forum name

[redeemer]

I m also from malta and I live in the same town near the location of this yard. I know Karmnu personally, he s a too good guy and will give all his strength in order to find you the right part.
Sometime I used to assemble gearboxes for him by joining up the good parts of two or three gearboxes!
The medal mentioned above or the Forum's sticker ideas might be considered as he deserves them!

[malta transit]

Yesterday i v been to Karmnu to collect some spares to post to Norway, and took these pictures as i was there.

This van below was having a new engine fitted.



These two Transits were waiting to be prepared for a respray.





These other two are two next projects or for spares.





AS i was there, a father and son came and bought a differation for a double wheel for just 70euros. Here the father is seen lowering the side of his Mk1 to load the diff.

[rover]

He really does need a medal

Rover.

[redeemer]

Yes he deserve it , he's a good guy.

[malta transit]

Hi Today i ' v visited my friend Karmnu, as he had phoned me last week telling me that i had to come and see this original Mk1 transit he bought,which had been garaged ( no number plates ) some quiet a few years. He told me that he had bought this van from just seeing it at an angle in a garage. From a person who had bought 100ths of transits in his life, he knew that this van was special. It's not usuall that he does so and so as every wednesday as i go swimming to B'Bugia beach, not very far from him ,i went to see this van. On arrival my eyes went on the van and he greeted me in. He told me what i think of it and after i v gone all over it just to find a fault i had shivers all over me. It's hot here at the moment and belive me i have never seen an original Mk1 transit , 1 owner from new and still in it's factory colour!
He told me it's owner when he bought it from new ( 1970 ) after some time he thought he would prefer it with windows so taking back the van to Malta's supplier of Ford they fitted windows to the van. The windows are no ordinary glass and what confused me was that they fitted smaller glass and could see the difference between an original window bus. I told Karmnu that by this a profesional could easily weld back new metal in as the round contors have not been touched.
The van is a 1970 model. The grill is of the first type with big lettering FORD and less vent holes. The front indicators are the full orange round ones not like mine which include the side light and the back light cluster is of the latter type, the ones i have are metal nikel ones whilst this van has the plastic nikle coated. The inside door trims are like mine, black, but the handles are of the latter type. The handle is simmilar to the Mk2 not like mine with the grab handle.
The engine is the red engined perkins 4108. The hapcaps are painted white as they are not nikel which are very rare now. The back and front bumpers are also metal and painted white. The doors are like new and are like new ( no noises ) and the locks are all functionable like new. Underneath its all there, not even a slight hole of rust, just a very small layer of dirt which if it was mine i would give it a good power wash. All rubber is still there; the rubber of the bonnet rod, the rectangular external rubber seal of the side doors. This van is as it left the factory.
Of all things that i v seen and heard about this van, what commosed me is that when Karmnu was leaving the owner, the elderly owner went away in tears, whom Karmnu felt an ache in his heart.








Here you can see the small polished part by hand, trying to get it shinner on the rear panel.








What kept those imaculate straight sides are thanks to the wood coverings on the inside, whom the owner had made as it was his trade a joiner.





The insde is very bare and simple, no heater no nothing as at that time everything was an optional cost, and not everyone could afford a new van.





When i was there he had been working on this Mk1 long wheel base;