Looking to get a late bay

Discussion in 'Introduce Yourselves' started by LittleRob, Sep 11, 2020.

  1. Would love to take mine to Morzine. I’d want to tackle the incline at day break to avoid a snail of cars behind me


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  2. It really wasn’t that bad, lovely drive up from lake Geneva to Morzine!
     
  3. From Thonon and through Biot ?


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  4. Zed

    Zed Gradually getting grumpier

    You're safe for a while, they won't be insureable.
     
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  5. Yep that’s the one
     
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  6. vinnyboy

    vinnyboy Supporter

    I’ve just done a week tour of Yorkshire and then a week tour of the lakes. Lots a very steep hills, winding country roads, motorways etc. Never had a power or speed issue and certainly trusted my brakes and steering 100%. Probably surprised quite a few kno* heads in Audis touching my bumper even though I’m doing the speed limit. Mines a 2 litre type 4. Standard engine with big carbs. Personally I find it a pleasure to drive on any road.
     
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  7. MorkC68

    MorkC68 Administrator

    Welcome to the forum, good luck in your search!
     
  8. Razzyh

    Razzyh Supporter

    Try to go for something with a type 4 engine and if you do find one a Subaru engine would be good.

    Get bus with a pop top so you have the height to stand up, you’ll probably end up with a sore back bending over just trying to get your clothes on in a tin top. Likely easier to find anyway.

    We have a 74 and has disk up front drums on the rears.

    Don’t get a shiny van, it’s likely covering up loads of rust.

    If you mention where your from someone might be able to look at vans with you.

    If your up for it, you could also build your own interior or buy a kit and fit yourself.
     
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  9. Razzyh

    Razzyh Supporter

    When we had our air cooled 2.0 engine, we did the south of France and also from Spain back up to the uk. Plenty of people take their busses on long journeys. Try to find the thread titled along the lines of chip the all American bus. It’s a great read.
     
  10. Baysearcher

    Baysearcher [secret moderator]

    I passed a bay on the M5 on the way to Techenders on Friday afternoon. They were struggling to hold 50mph.
    Personally, I'd have dumped it on the side of the road and torched it. It looked terrifying.
     
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  11. to be honest I don't miss the air cooled chug chug sound, my Subaru conversion sounds much better ask @Sick Boy when it was air-cooled I took it through France from Spain (Santander) and to Scotland from the south cost of England but I was always worried about reliability.
     
  12. Ozziedog

    Ozziedog Supporter

    Was that me bud by any chance ??? I might sometimes venture up to 55 just to race them lorries :eek:

    Ozziedog,,,,,,,,, went in the fast lane once :)
     
  13. Baysearcher

    Baysearcher [secret moderator]

    Nah, t'was a blue westy. Kids in the back, trucks coming flying up its arse.
    Not for me, that!
     
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  14. If I had my time over i’d have paid folk from this forum to look at a selection of vans with me. It really pays to know these vehicles inside and out.

    On narrowing down the options (good start by the way), know your limits (skill set, financing, time...stress threshold) then accept you will be pushing them all! ha ha If you can enjoy the process then that’s a bonus.

    My van seemed like it was worth £20k and i’d bought a bargain...it didn’t take long to discover that £10k was more realistic and i’d taken over someone else’s ‘project’.

    However, it drives like a car. Never had any issues with hills, motorways or braking; so it’s possible to get one with an engine and performance you can enjoy.

    You’ll be learning a lot in terms of maintenance, but that will eventually pay for itself in savings on professionals - and everyone on here has so much advice & guidance to give.

    I wish i’d known more about the vehicle before buying (I purchased in a hurry), so do plenty of research, take your time...and take someone along with you to look.
    You’ll not know what’s actually missing, messed up (gutters, vapour systems, vents etc) or can be upgraded.

    Even though the price of doing a bespoke interior can soon escalate, i’d buy one with everything else in great condition as priority - i’ve ended up working from the inside out as I made ‘discoveries’.


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  15. Terrordales

    Terrordales Nightshift

    Hello and Welcome from The Colonial Contingent :hattip:
     
  16. Welcome, good luck with the search! All good advice above :thumbsup:
     
  17. Thanks for all the replies, and the warm welcome. If I'm honest I'm still conflicted about getting a T2 over something like a T5/T6 (can I say that in here?). Much of the advice on T2s seem to be "it'll rust, break down, catch fire, and in a crash you'll lose your legs". The news ones don't have these problems, but most of them are as dull as dishwater. (with hideous grey interiors - grey seats, grey units, grey curtains...).

    We're off to look at a couple tomorrow at a dealer (a 1975 and a newer Brazilian) . Hopefully that might straighten some things out in my head.

    Ta

    Rob
     
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  18. Little Nellie

    Little Nellie Supporter

    Yeh, dull grey interiors. So camped in a beautiful dewy field frying your bacon and egg - one vision you look round and everything is tangible with your 70s cosy interior - and then you look round again and you’re sat in a dull grey office. Oh, shivers
     
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  19. Mr Apollo

    Mr Apollo Supporter

    Hello, from near the Swiss Alpes. I can't really add to the advice that's already been given, but we've chugged up and down some pretty big hills, albeit slowly. The trick is being confident in finding second gear when you need it. When you are rapidly slowing down due to the gradient, and getting a bit stressed, second gear just seems to disapear. A beautify solid oak interior with all mod cons will be great, but very heavy, and you can't beat gravity. The really big hills don't tend to be that steep, rarely going over 10%. It's the short steep hills that will catch you out. Descending a bunch of hairpin bends is fun, but you just need to give yourself more time to slow down and turn. Don't worry about all the cars behind you, they are all admiring your van and wishing they weren't in a BMW. There are often viewing points you can pull into to let them all by. Hopefully you'd be slowing down the great columns of German Harley riders we get over here, and they'll enjoy having something to grumble about when they arrive en masse at the restaurant on top of the pass.
     
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  20. Hey @LittleRob don’t stress, it’s a dilemma / decision we’v all gone through.

    Yes a t5/6 will be faster and safer. Yes they are all grey, dull boring and common. Yes, you will be mistaken for a plumber. Yes you will be charged as “trade waste” when you use it to take your hedge trimmings down to the council tip.

    Totally get where the risk-averse t5 guys are coming from, but remember a split, e arly and late bay are very different under the skin. A late bay with square section bumper has a big deformation panel hidden behind it to protect front seat occupants in a crash, which the earlier busses didn’t have. Also has big “Y” sections on the chassis at the front as a crumple zone (yes, a crumple zone on a ‘70’s vehicle! :)

    Although I use my bay a lot, it’s not blasting up and down motorways all the time, far nicer to go on scenic routes where speed is less relevant, enjoy the journey.. Also means *if* I have a crash I’m potentially going to be travelling a lot slower than those t5/6 I see whizzing past at 70-80 on m-ways, so who’s at greater risk?

    Every trip in my bus we get waves. Every trip is fun, a memory, even the ones where we break down. Kids enjoy these trips more I think lol

    Guess it comes down to what you want: a vehicle to get you somewhere or something that’s going to become part of the family, make you smile (and cry sometimes too)
     
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