I was around at a mate who runs his own garage today.. Hes a great welder and If I needed anyone to weld for me I would ask him to do it ( hes not as good as me mind ) Any ways for the last 7 years he has had a late bay gathering dust in the corner of his workshop. He has replaced all the rust including side panels, sills outriggers etc etc and filled and redoxide primed 90% of the body. all the glass is in it the Viking roof is mint over all its a solid old bus.. hes also sourced some 16 inch merc alloys and tyres, and its fitted with Chrysler PT cruiser half leather half sued seats etc It also comes with £500 of new spares including headlights n stuff. On top of all this its fitted with a rover V8 via a vintage UVA adapter surprisingly it doesnt hang out the back, the engine cover has been modded and to top that a swing away spare mount disguses the minor modification. He has also fitted additional vents in the lower part of the rear quarters and fitted twin Fiesta rads and electric fans.. In theory it does more per gallon than the air cooled lump and would cruise at 80 all day .... and its RHD... It needs finnished so it can be classed as a project...He says I can have it for £4000... Im swithering.... but begining to think that the VW van market is swamped just now, but also thinking there might be some interest generated in the vans now they are no longer being made? painted and tidied up would it be worth £10K to £12K ?
Sounds like hes ruined good work with a crud engine to me - stock rocks, that's where the money is Soz
4k to much ....................I assess...................seeming the market would be good to buy now but this I would think 2.5 to 3k as a project would be fair grounding .......................
I was thinking the V8 would be the sticking point, the van minus engine would probably be worth the asking price .. Im seeing plenty junk for a lot more doe. In all seriousness I would put this van up there with some of the 6 to 8 k vans for sale at the minute since its rock solid with some seriously good work done on it .. Thinking about the V8 its kinda swings and roundabouts, If it origional relaxed reliability with crap fuel consumption and uphill struggles, the 1600 flat 4 is the way to go... Ive actually just remembered I have a good low mileage 1600 twin carb motor from a type 3 fasty I broke recently ???? now the wheels are turnin...(does the type 3 motor fit the van gearbox etc ?)The old V8 will haul ass for a smaller fuel bill and pull the brick uphill, at or above the speed limit .... ...if ypuir not fussed about the air cooled issue... Folk want these vans for different reasons and the V8 might suit some folk....... A tree hugger had a look at the van and walked away cause it had a gas guzzlin V8 in it .. bless the naievity of the besandled wannabee hippy... the air cooled is probably way more polluting than the V8 .... In still mulling it over Im also thinking I might just buy a new mountain bike.......
horses for courses .. I have a few VWs but dont really care to much for the flat 4 air cooled wheezers...they do what they do adequately and fill the hole nicely, but thats about it... there not really a motor to get overly excited about in bone stock factory form...The remains of the old hot rodder in me says go for it ..
That was the figure I had in my head when he mentioned it was for sale... If he said 3k I would have shook his hand there and then..
I think that because it's such an individual conversion, you'd be hard pushed to sell it....it may well be a good job, with decent parts etc. but it would be more of a curiosity than anything else...buy it for yourself if you like it, but I wouldn't think it would fetch anything like 10K....shiney paint or not
In that case get it and get out there on the track and get a sub 14 in. You never said you were into that did yer? That said holmsen does about 14 secs in an aircooled
On the other hand it might make it desireable to someone who needs to get from A to B in a reasonable time to be honest the more suggestion that its a Illegitimate child van and not worthy makes me more interested.. Im kinda getting like that now Im teetering on the brink of 50... Having looked at a ton of rust in the past and mused at the asking prices im kinda thinking this is a good deal just wanted to run it buy a few folk to gauge some opinion...
Aircooled is what these vans are all about btw, You shouldn't be surprised if people don't take readily to watercooled it kinda compromises the belief tbh.
Sound awesome to me, the old rover lump is as reliable as they come, can take a Marmite load of tuning to! If I had the money I'd be considering it as a rod project, if it's as solid as you say, can't decide between Matt black badness or all bells 'n whistles chrome and metal flake though!
I knew there was some body out there with the blinkers off... looking at holmsens web page hes not adverse to alternatives to air cooled either.. agreed aircooled is part of the big picture but cheepish rock solid stuff with alternative motors shoudnt be shunned .. you really have to embrace some of the alternatives kinda like the bus V van conversion camper argument or the lowered V stock .... Its interesting to see if there is a ballanced argument and establish if there really is a market for the slightly alternative engined late bay.. The hot rod hobby went all pidgeon holed, steel v glass, hot rod v street rod, fendered V unfendered, rat, trad, resto, etc ... drove a mahoosive wedge between ENTHUSIASTS... But thats another thread altogether ...
I completely agree, a solid chassis and body is an expensive item to come across as it is the basis upon which everything else must work. You could swap the v8 out and go back to stock or you could go full on, balls out, psycho bus, but the common denominator is a good solid bus holding it all together. Try bartering!
It was but a small remark constructed well I thought and delivered with an apology. Almost gracious I would say. I hope your van goes well!
