Angel VW Club

Hi there,

It is my partner's 40th birthday in February and on his bucket list is to be a proud owner of a VW camper van.

I love them too but I know little about the more technical side of motorhomes although I am an admirer.

I have decided I want to buy a van for him and I have been trawling the sites for some time. We will be using it for a festival, a few trips to the Lakes with our dogs, picnics with my elderly mum, nothing too strenuous but obviously we want something reliable if possible.

A colleague and VW enthusiast directed me to this site and gave me some tips to look out for. I guess I am picking your brains to see if you think this would be a good deal, if there are things I should especially look out for or are there better vans out there I should be looking at.

My budget is £5500 although I could probably stretch to £6000 if the right one came along. It doesn't have to be pretty as I think my partner wouldn't mind the project but it would need to be reliable.

I am especially interested in this one http://www.gumtree.com/p/cars-vans-moto ... to-content. What do you think? I know the roof isn't to everyone's taste but I think it's quite sweet.

Any help at all for a beginner that hope to become a novice would be really appreciated!

Thanks

Gill

Hi good luck with your search as it took me 18 month to find the right one.
The biggest issue with old vw's is rust unless you buy a LHD one which has been Imported from a dry state if you have a look in the for sale section Micky T has vans for sale, he gets all sorts of vans in.
Just don't rush into it

Thanks Barry, it's all very confusing (and exciting) - I wondered why those from sunnier states had higher prices.

Does anyone have any thoughts on the one I intend to see? It would be helpful to know any thoughts before I book a train from Newcastle to Hull.

Thanks all

Gill

It looks clean but looks can be misleading!

You really need to make sure it as clean as possible underneath. Check for rust, bad repairs, seam sealer hiding stuff, fresh underseal over things etc, chassis work can be criuplingly expensive! Poke at everything, and make sure you know what you're looking at, ask me how I know! Our's had bits of chassis missing but as I didn't know they should be there and it had been bodged to hide and evidence of it actually being there I had no idea!

Check round the windows, the bottoms tend to be water traps, especially the front windscreen. Run your finger right along the edge of the window rubber at the front, the metal panel should be smooth with no rust under the paint. Once there's rust coming through it's probably too late and it'll be messy under the rubber.

Like buying any car it wants to start on the key with no 'special tricks', drive in a straight line, pull up on the brakes in a straight line and have make no funny noises (knocks going round corners, rumbles etc).

If you've never driven one before then it's an experience, you're sitting over the wheels like a bus driver so you turn into a corner a bit later, strange feeling!

This is all based on our experience, we made every one of those mistakes up there and it took the shine off of it a little bit!

_________________
in the real world my name is Grant.....

Thanks so much for this! Going to see it this week - excited and nervous at the same time!

Hey good luck and don't rush in

If you need a hand looking at it give me a shout

I work down in hull during the week, so could help view during the evening or next weekend

Matt

We have lots to choose from, all from USA
here in Chester le street

Quite a few from this club have bought from us
Google restore and more ne

Cheers, Michael