There are a couple of contenders for our fifth team member... And there's been many many people who've helped us out invaluably. People that need a proper shout out. There's a big thank you list that we all need to compile together. But really, the fifth space in the car can only belong to just one man. One super hero being
I started writing this just before I left. It was an incredibly important blog post and I felt like it was something I could only write before the trip began. My worry was that the journey itself would somehow taint my ability to write how deeply I felt about it's contents. I didn't feel like I would have the sufficient energy to complete what is, and still remains to be a mystery I find hard to describe.
This blog is really about the most important member to our team. Probably the person most responsible for getting us as far as we've come. It's about somebody I've known for some time. Someone who's constantly us. Someone who's always been there.
Now I know what you're thinking. This is going to get mushy. This is going to be one long letter to an older brother. A soliloquy of appreciation. A swan song about how great he is, and how great he's been as a friend and a brother. But hold the phone, turn down the stereo, this is a completely different love letter.
To whom I refer, is the man, we all know as Kev.
If you don't about Kev yet well... Kev is the real reason why we are here. As I write this we're well into our trip. The Ka is running beautifully. Entirely without problems. There isn't even a squeak. We've passed over other teams with hanging off or non existent exhausts. One team now can't start their engine without jumping. People's cars are falling to bits.
And although our Ford was made in a factory, it's last jounrey was entirely constructed, uniquely built, by Kev.
I met Kev four years ago now. Having grown up with my business partner Jamie, I understood that Kev had, what can only be described as a difficult upbringing. Anyone growing up anywhere near Jamie still does.
Jamie and I work in the film industry. As producers and directors we work with large teams. On a day to day basis we work with people called gaffers and best boys. We work with Sparks. Jamie sometimes works with Fluffers. But that's another blog post entirely.
As we went into our second shoot together Jamie suggested Kev to come down to set and help out. At this time, Kev had no on set experience. He didn't know who anyone was or what people did. But by the end of the day Kev knew nearly everyone and everything. Within the confines of one day he had gone from starting out to being indispensable. The whole crew loved him. And that's the best way to sum him up in a way. He's the most personable sponge of information known to man.
We struggled to give Kev a specific role in the shoots that followed. We could only inadequately describe him as a fixer. One who possessed not only the knowledge, but the almost ninja like instinctive ability to spot problems before they happened, fix them, and then not tell anyone that he'd done something that would either save time, money, the equipment or on a few occasions, peoples sanity and / or lives. He could fix things that needed fixing things.
On a shoot in Kosovo earlier this year Kev created a follow focus unit by jimmying together a motor from a clock with two elastic bands, a piece of wood and what appeared to be several packets of Starbursts. When, in a rather unfortunate accident occurred involving myself, a handbrake, and me breaking it, Kev disappeared underneath the van to fix one together with an intricate system of bungee chords wrapped together. He would have fixed the economy if anyone would have let him. And it would have been done incredibly quickly too.
But Kev's greatest challenge was in the somewhere near impossible task of getting our car to Mongolia. He had ten days to turn our shopping car into a mountain destroyer
For the next week Kev spent nearly every waking hour at his friend's Micks house underneath the tinny beast. He got all kinds of dirty. All kinds of sweaty. Every day Kev would ring to ask he needed this. He needed that. And they were always incredibly strange things. Did I have a spare hoover? Did I have a plastic water barrel? Did I have any steel plates lying about anywhere? I began to question my his sanity... And my whole conception of manhood. Was a less of a man for not having spare steel plates stored somewhere?
The list is long in what he did to our little car. Rather than regal everything we thought it best to offer some highlights. A snorkel has been added to allow the Ka to cross rivers. There is a steel sheet that has been applied to the entirety of the Ka's underneath to stop rocks, boulders, bricks and other bad things from hitting, breaking and dislodging parts. There's new springs in the suspension. The car can take more than double it's previous weight. The whole car has been lifted nearly a foot into the air.
Check this out:-
Gnarly right?
Kev sourced pretty much everything too and relished the opportunity without a hint of 'why the fuck am I doing this?' He rang countless scrap yards, garages, and spares with the same lines. 'I'm doing this thing for charity - can I get it for free'? This course of action was enjoyed so much that it extended to receiving additional portions of fries and chicken wings when Kev ordered at KFC.
He also did this largely, if not entirely by himself. Tristan, Chubs and Henryk should be thanked for helping when another hand was needed, as should Mick for the use of his garage and tools. But their work shouldn't diminish in any way what Kev has done, and continues to do for us in this trip. Every email we send to Kev, no matter how small the worry is replied to if not instantly, then by the next morning. And the email comes with diagrams, youtube links and step by step instructions. We've got on board mechanic at all times. At every part of our journey.
We would all like to say a massive thank you to you Kev. For all that you've done for us.You've made this car able to take on this thing. And we're relishing the opportunity. We are simply loving it. Driving through Mongolia would not have been fun without you. It would have been hell.
If you're interested in sending a Kev a message he's contactable at the following email address
kevmarchant@hotmail.com
We're all pushing for Kev to do the Mongol Rally next year and if you ever need someone to pimp your ride or... to get you to Mongolia next summer in a granny mobile... It goes without saying. Kev is the man.
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