"I have a dream...Save the Black Pearl!"

I have a dream. And an idea. Not sure if it will work, but i'm gonna try and I need your help for it to work.

Thing is; me and my girlfriend bought ourselvers a van like six months ago. An old camper van from 1980 so it's tax free (atleast in Sweden), it was a bit worn out but we patched it up good. Even bought it a new pair of tyres. We found out that one of the previous owners had named her "The Black Pearl", or "Svarta Pärlan" in swedish. We've kept that name. So far everything was great. I've been dreaming about having a van for years and so have my girlfriend. I even managed to take my driving license after we bought the Pearl. We  painted her (yes, we call the van "her") on the inside and made great plans of where to go, what do to.

So one beautiful october morning, about a week after I got my driving license, I decided to take the Pearl out for a ride for about a week, to see what it would be like. I had a great week, met lots of old friends and slept like a baby in the back. We had found a bed-frame, that fit perfectly inside the van, at a freeshop in the village where we currently live.

One thing I discovered during this week was that the Pearl is a heavy drinker. She drinks gasoline like a drunk drinks free beer on judgement day. Seriously, i'm not joking. This insight is a major setback for us.
Gasoline in Europe is insanely expensive at the moment and we're not gonna last long on the road the way the Pearl handles her gasoline today. What we could do though, is to switch out her 34 year old engine for a newer one that drinks less gasoline. Preferrably one that slurps diesel as it is more energy-efficient and thus lasts longer. Now we come to the real issue: money. There is none to be had and it costs a lot of money to switch engine. I'm a student at the moment, gonna study the upcoming six months to become a writer. I do know how to write, I just need to get some more weight and confidence under my belt since I would want to make a living out of it in the future. Plus I get to stay at home since it's a distance course. Anyway, I do not get much cash from this and my girlfriend is unemployed at the moment. It's quite difficult to get a job in Sweden these days. I'm sure you understand where i'm getting at, don't you? Please stay, and hear me out.

We were planning to live in the bus and travel for a very, very long time. Going from place to place, selling stuff we've made so we could get money for gas and go to the next place and so on until we find a place where we could settle down for good. The van is perfect, we've spent a lot of money already to patch her up to her current state.

The Black Pearl chilling in front of the place where we lived during the summer of 2013.

Now we've arrived to what I really want. We need help to raise enough money so we could switch engine. I know most of you will frown upon this, but i'm really desperate. The other option would be to let her go, sell her, but then we'd lose everything we've worked so hard for, our dreams. I need help, feedback on what we could do in exchange for your possible contribution. There are many people out there, travelling for what it's worth, making money through charity and fundraising-sites. Only they've stolen the best ideas. Or have they?

I'm not asking for much. Anything would help. Be it 5 cent or a million dollars/euros it would be great. But i'd be willing do something fun in return. To give something back. Like a challenge: "plant a tree in every tenth city you go through" or home-made bracelets or whatever. Perhaps even come by your house and help with your garden or clean or whatever if it's on the way. Our current plans is to get to Spain in may/june. If you have any great ideas on what we could do, please tell us.

If you would like to help us, it would be amazing. If so, please check out this website: (It's called "Save the Black Pearl")  http://www.gofundme.com/black-pearl

Many thanks in advance //
Mattias