Is a Bay ever 'beyond repair'?

It's reckoned now that a Split would be resurrected whatever the condition, what about a Bay?
How far is too far? How long before we reach Split status, especially as production has finally ceased?

 

I've seen some bays that have been brought back from the beyond!!

Rotten chassis rails, is probably one of the worst jobs you'll ever encounter!!

 

mine was pretty shocking tbh.... people kept telling the guy doing it up he was crazy and that it ahould be scrapped... x

 

Peoples determination to save these makes me chuckle sometimes, particulary when they're buying cuts from a bus being chopped up that's in better condition than the one they're repairing. It happens a lot. Anything is saveable with determination, but as there are millions of these things I do wonder why.

 

People will save whatever they like no matter how bad. Everything can be saved and fortunately for us most Bay bodywork is available. When the chassis is so bad or the roof does not hold strength then you have to wonder, since everything will be out of line etc
For example no matter what ever happens to my Beetle, I will still restore it. We have been together since 1986 and it never let me down. Sentimental value can be a strong motivator. For Bays though I recon money is a big motivator.

 

In my experience the big driver is indeed sentimentality. I've told customers they could save £5-10K and a year of pain by chucking their bus, buying a good one and going camping next week, but many choose not to listen. I guess if your family were conceived in the back or something... Usually the blokes say ok we'll think about it, then the lady insists due to "memories". So I blame TP and the ladies (and camperjam of course).

 

The most worrying thing is going in for a 'simple' resto and the grot that lurks underneath years of badly patched together bodywork, have a look at Wilma's resto. She shocked lots of people because she looked OK before the restore. She wasn't; when John at 81a pulled back layers of metal ( non of it his work) she was unbelievably rotten

 

What I find amusing especially on the Classic car scene - when MG owners totally reshell their roadsters then claim its original, as they transferred the mechanic bits across! Where is the original sentimental value to that particular car when its all new! Same with the Bay , if the only original thing is the roof or the engine lid.........

 

yep things start as a simple small resto... thn you take the paint off and just find filler, rust and expanding foam...

 

Triggers old broom?
3 new handles and 4 new heads!

 

The trouble is its easy to say to people for the money you have spent restoring that and putting it back on the road you could of brought an import, however, for many having the pound notes sat there in one lump to buy an import etc doesn't happen, however you seem to find a little bit of money each month/week/whatever and do it bit by bit and you don't notice the vast sums of money spent on one. There is a lot to be said that when you have restored something properly you do know exactly what you have got! As Zed has said before you are better off buying the cheapest bus you can find and spend £xooo on it getting it right than you are to spend your thousands on a bus that looks right only to find it needs as much work as the £1200 rot pig you could of brought.

Everyone's case is different and I do think there will be times if we aren't already there that bays are like splits and not ever beyond repair, however if some don't get cut up then others can't be saved. Some have to die for the greater good.

 

I think its the emotional investment in these vans, after you've had it for a few years its hard to scrap; taking a wreck and getting solid is probably the best advice for anyone thinking of getting a T2

 

Give it another few years & we'll see resto threads like we now see about splitties.
I look at some of the work done on busses in the U.K. & think "we'd scrap that here or use it as a parts bus".

 

17 new heads, 14 new handles.

So slightly less work than most buses.

 

I had to have some pretty drastic work done on our bus once. Hidden rot the length of one side, all along the gutter. Complete swine to repair, and cost an arm and a leg too. The restorer made the comment (and he was quite right) that a few years ago, people would have scrapped the bus rather than dot he repair we did to it. As they get more valuable, the repairs people do will get more extreme. Someone will pull one out of a lake before long and restore it.

 

Yep not much at all really...my friends selling his split for what you'd pay for a good bay...

 

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=1433942
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=1439707
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=1378329

I'd sell my bay for that.
In fact I'd sell my mother for that!