 My name is Billy Joe Royle and I have special needs, suffering from Aspergers syndrome, a type of autism, my mum and dad are my registered careers.
I always loved collecting American toy cars and in February 2003 my dad purchased our Astro Van online from an auction in West Point Virginia USA. It was a black 1995 Chevy Astro Van with a Cobra conversion with 6200 k miles on the clock and not to many listed faults. I found a company in Blackpool that would import it for us, do the SVA, MOT, all the paperwork and deliver it to our door.
After 12 weeks it finely arrived at our door in fact it almost came through our door due to the driver reversing onto the drive missing the brake pedal and hitting the garden wall. However no real damage so we just laughed it off and got on with the deal, checked the van over everything was ok and we had our first American vehicle. On our first drive I was so impressed with the power and acceleration it had and the smooth change through the 4 speed auto box, I had never experienced anything so good in my dads many Europe/Japanese vehicles.
The interior was a nice soft grey leather with thick pile carpet but was in need of some TLC and a lot of elbow grease. Most of the electrics were working except the central locking but after a few hours investigation my dad had sorted it out.
Arrived from the USA - 2003So I spent the rest of 2003 going to as many shows as possible with my mum, dad, brother Bob and Max the dog, and loving every minute of it, even my mum and dad were enjoying our new found hobby.
After seeing so many vans at the shows we decided at the end of the season we would get to work dressing it up a little. So we added some lights, horns, decals and studs to the exterior and new TV, DVD, VCR, 10 changer CD player, SatNav, Reversing camera and stainless steel plates to the running boards.
2004 came and off we went to the shows the Astro never let us down and even won 6 best van awards. We covered over 4000 miles that year from Scotland to Devon, east and west coast and not once did the Chevy let us down.
Again the season came to an end and once again we set to work adding more personal touches to the Astro. My dad fitted a extra 120 ah marine auxiliary battery to take all the new electrical equipment with a split charging system linking the existing battery. We decided to have some Hot Wheel flames down the sides and on the hood and were very pleased with the work that was done by a small local body shop.
We were now really into the American car shows meeting so many nice friendly people and seeing so many great vehicles it really was the best thing that had happened to me and helped so much in improving my quality of life.
2005 came and not a moment to soon, we were off again to enjoy the shows up and down the country. The Chevy was still running like a dream and although heavily over customed and in your face still managed to win some more awards.
The season is over once again and we are already looking forward to 2006, I suspect we will be adding something else to the Chevy not sure what yet but I suspect it's a never ending passion and I am well and truly smitten.
So thanks Chevy Astro for taking me to places I love and making my life so much better I cannot imagine life without you now and hope to have you for ever.
Black 1995 Chevrolet Astro Conversion Van 4.3' Auto named Trailblazer.. .Billy Joe & Sam Royle….Member # 264
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