New to the site, any advice gratefully received

Mine was in the £4K bracket and all of the bad body work and cover ups made themselves known over the first few years and have generally got worse (especially with sea air)

@davidoft was one of the first people in the know to see it after I bought it and did spot things I hadn’t noticed very quickly. He does know what he’s looking at.

10 years later and plans are afoot for resto 2 (or 3) for my van!

 

It depends on the van really. I've got a space in the basement car park where I live, so if I get a van I need to do work on, the interior etc jlnot mechanical, then it'll be parked there and the car will go in a local car park (joys if city centre living is no on street) but If its a ready to go van it'll be stored in a climate controlled place I know of and only brought out for trips away

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You've got me wondering now! I'm pretty sure it's 2.1m. It's what put me off going to see a Jurgens Autovilla that was up for sale recently

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Not only the straight hieght but the access, sloping? Tight corners? Etc.

 

Welcome to the site fella! Im only 18 months in to the adventure myself so know the buying fear quite well. When I was buying mine I rang round some local garages (VW specialists) to the place i was buying (deepest darkest carmarthen) and discussed paying for someone to come out and do a survey. After many many phonecalls found a chap who came out for 100 quid and travel expenses (25). Can not underestimate the peace of mind that gave me when buying, he produced a buyer style report (handwritten the gent) with all the niggleys which mostly matched what the seller was telling me and gave me peace of mind. I would seriously recommend getting on the blower and seeing if one of the many VW Van specialists in that area would come out to help.

If not I'm sure you might tempt (recommend expenses and bottomless tea as a starting point) one of the knowledgeable chaps and chapettes on here up....

 

Slopes are awkward..beware.

 

I realise that a lot of very useful information with first hand experience has been posted but bear in mind how long you want to keep your van as once it's up to "scratch " it will need constant attention.. old houses boats and young women spring to mind. Just saying.

My van cost 4k over 20 years ago but I reckon I've probably spent more than 5 times that to keep it up to "scratch ".
I wish you well and look forward to your choice as these Van's are very endearing.......

 

It is sloped yes, but I'd say the soffit is actually about 2.4, its just a bit of ducting that is the low point and I'd put my money on the van coming out on top of that battle
And it's not quite as tight as you'd imagine for the corners. There's a few very long vehicles down there, you know the exec types with about a 6 litre engine

 

Yeah that's it really. I'm a surveyor myself, I'd balk at the idea of somebody without any knowledge of buildings just buying a house based on a seller telling them its sound and them not getting a proper survey done. In the same way I know I don't have the knowledge or experience of these vans to be able to buy one off my own accord. I'm hoping once I own one I'll learn it all the enjoyable way. But there's no way I'd make such a sizeable investment in one now without getting an expert to give it a thorough looking at. This site has been unbelievable for advice though to be fair!

 

Hello and Welcome from The Colonial Contingent.

 

I thought I should update on having now become the proud owner of the van in question, after what had been a very long, arduous search.
I've thanked them both personally, but would like to say in here also what an absolute gent @Lasty was in calling round TWICE to see the van and give me some much needed help looking over it. And to @davidoft, who despite his troubles over the last week, still continued to offer me advice, when helping a stranger out must have been the furthest thing from his mind!
Thanks to all who provided their thoughts and input. Hopefully I'll see you all at a future meet thingy. I've got more than the lingo to learn!

 

Congratulations.

Now post a photo of your new bus for us to have a look at then!

 

Well there's pictures of the good and bad of the bus already in this thread. So to give you a laugh, this is my parking space in the very tight basement car park. Took about a 40 point turn, I'm going to get a decent set of guns just gett ing it in and out regularly.