Oh Yes!!!
Hired a van to collect my car from GD. However, this seemingly simple activity nearly turned into a nightmare scenario. The GDEuro MkIV body is 391 cm (length) x 180 cm (width.) Luton vans vary in size from 317-420 cm (length) x 202 cm (width.) Conversely, a long wheel-base van, i.e. not a Luton, has intruding wheel arches so one of those was out of the question. Luckily I had the company check the dimensions of the van I was going to get otherwise it could have been an expensive trip to bring back a van full of Long Bennington fresh air, a windscreen, and a couple of cardboard boxes of car bits.
Pre-Pickup Checklist:
- Datasheets
- Invoice
- Mobile phone
- Address of factory in Satnav
- Today is the right day day
- Check to make sure the insurance for the kit starts today
I arrived at GD bang-on the pre-arranged time; driving down the hill, and just before I turned into GD I spotted my car sitting outside... Inert and radiant under the grey skies of Roseland Business Park. And after a surreal "that-must-be-mine" moment, I parked the van and walked sedately to the office feeling very apprehensive.
A very quick couple of hours later, all items were secured in the van and I was ready to be on my way..... And travelling back home I began to understand how Charles Lindbergh felt when he took delivery of his plane 'The Spirit of St. Louise.'
Extract from the book "FLIGHT" by Robert Burleigh
"Flight, Loneliness, Fear, Danger. The courage to dream."
Charles Lindbergh didn't know he would never see Paris when he left Long Island early that morning in May 1927. But he did know that he had to try. He had a dream and he knew he had to make it real. He was just twenty-five years old.
Many thought he was foolish, too young to know better. No one before had ever flown across the Atlantic alone without a stop. Why did this Lindbergh think he could? With no radio or parachute, and only two compasses and the stars to guide him. Lindberg set off on his journey. The rest is history.
In Robert Burleigh's vivid, intimate telling, experience Charles Lindbergh's thirty-three and a half hours across the Atlantic as if you were there. Coupled with Mike Wimmer's bold, dramatic painting, Flight is an extraordinary story of courage and endurance that will inspire anyone who has ever followed a dream."
My Inert but Radiant Acquisition 
A very quick couple of hours later I [we] arrived home without incident.
Snug as a bug-in-a-rug
All in all, a very...VERY good day!