Help!

[Hubbard]

Hey everyone!

I'm a late starter on campervans, having just got the bug having spent 2 glorious weeks on a road trip around the north of England in a van I hired.

Any tips on what my first purchase should be, and where I should look? Wanna spend around £8k on a Bay Window with not much (if anything) needing to be sorted!

Rich :confused:

[Fatboy]

I see no one's replied yet so I'll start off. I noticed you're in Bristol. There's loads of Vee Dubbers in Bristol and at least 2 clubs. Find someone who has been into buses for a long time and take them with you when you go and view one.

Spend plenty time under the bus and check in all the nooks and crannies for rust. If you don't mind LHD try to go for a rust free US bus. Try to go for a bus with a recognised and complete interior, preferably in top nick. Original buses hold their value better. If it's been restored, it will hold it's value better in it's original colour, or at least an original colour for that year. Remember that if a bus has been customised, it might be difficult to sell on if it's not to everyone's taste.

Probably best to go for one which is mechanically stock if you're new to the game. This will prove to be more reliable and there will be less to go wrong.

Finally, don't get 'rat look' and 'pile of rusty ****' confused. There are some lovely rat lookers out there and if you look underneath these you will find these have been properly sorted and are mechanically great. But some people call their bus a rat looker cos it's just rusty everywhere. A decent rat looker will be nice and solid with a bit of patina from years of gentle weathering.

Oh, and it's buyers market at the mo cos no one's got any cash (except you!) and not much is selling.

Hope this helps:)

[Albie3]

With 8k I'd go for a RHD import from Australia see Volksworld Ads.

[Fatboy]

Yep. There seems to be an increasing number of Aussie buses about. Some of them are really nice and of course there's the added bonus of RHD :)

[Hubbard]

Cheers guys

[mollycat1]

defo go for an aussie one a friend has one and its really clean he needed to do nothing to it

[vdubwill]

aussie cars are good, just check for spiders, found some horriable things in my bug when i got it

[Dubcrazy]

aussie cars are good, just check for spiders, found some horriable things in my bug when i got it

still going on about that one!!! it was dead already u big girly man sook!!!!, anyhows we thought England would enjoy a huntsman or two running around:thumbs:


steff....................

[thebushaus]

A little more than you wanna spent but i'm sure he'll take a bid or two:)

http://www.autoscout24.de/Details.aspx?id=vo3xpnzxup41

[Rizzo The Rat]

Remember that if a bus has been customised, it might be difficult to sell on if it's not to everyone's taste.


If you are thinking about customising a bus (lowering suspension, alloys, stainless steel axhaust, chrome accessories, etc) then it is by far cheaper to buy one that someone has already spent money on modifying as you will find you can easily spend a couple of grand on this stuff alone yet pick up a bus with it already done for the same price or not a lot more than one that is standard.

Would have saved me a fortune...

[MarkC68]

From my buying experience, bide your time and look at lots of Bus's that meet your requirements and budget! Make sure you look over your prospective purchase thoroughly and, same as Fatboy mentions, take someone in the know with you for advice/tips etc.
I got carried away and believed the seller that mine was mechanically sound and restored ground upwards by 12". Oh yeah, all has been done he said, just the interior to finish and she'll be good for many years! We looked over her in pouring rain, she looked well from the outside so it was a done deal!! On the way home, we topped her up with petrol, pouring with leaks! No heater coz he'd chopped all the pipes off and removed all of the tinware! Started to renovate her and well, the pics in the gallery tell a different tale of being assured by the PO!!!!

Dont be hasty, look at plenty and go for the Bus YOU want!! Ours made no odds to us, we have the tools, skills and materials to hand to rebuild her slowly.
Good luck

[Ivan]

Some good advice here! Well done to all who have spent time giving their opinions.

I have this to add and, I hope it is helpful.
The main market for VW Campers tends to be seasonal, and tends to nose-dive from November through to March. So, technically speaking, now is a good time to buy.
Add to this the constant doom and gloom, credit crunch, recession, depression and you'll find far fewer people are buying* than usual. Therefore, a serious buyer is a welcome sight and you should be able to get a lot more for you money today than you would have this time last year.

The only other advice is that you will have worked hard to get the money you have, or have to work hard to pay off a loan, so bear this in mind and hold out for the right Bus. There are plenty out there and so rushing to get A Bus rather than THE Bus is a big mistake.

Finally, I don't want this to come over the wrong way, but I should really add that our specialist advertisers are well worth checking out. If you are new to VWs go and visit some of them - you'll probably be able to see and compare more than one vehicle on the same visit, and the more you check out the more you will learn about them.

I hope this helps, and good luck with the search.

*This is information gleaned from my own research into the subject and the subject of my Editorial column in the Nov 2008 issue of VolksWorld Camper & Bus magazine.

[Shamrockez]

Another vote for an Aussie bus. We imported 3 Dubs from Australia and they're an absolute pleasure to work on. We sold our Aussie Bay a couple years ago now, but that was an excellent Bus - wouldn't have needed anything doing to it for years and years! :)

[Hubbard]

Thanks for the advice, just picked up a lovely '74 Westy LHD US import, she's wicked!