My simple common sense guide before buying a Type 2 Van (camper)

It seems to that because of their age they've tended to have more owners which tends to mean more chances of neglect and then passing these bills on to the next owner and so on and so on. I'm after getting my first t2 bay . I need to get it inspected and want to see it for myself too so restricted distance wise. Not that many near Hitchin. A lot of them mention wax oil, but is this too little too late?

 

but most of us dont have common sense, the only guides ive ever known dont dib or dob. they had green shield stamps back in those days but they never got put in books , doesnt matter how many owners theyve had , just as long asthey have big tats init pop

 

Brillant stuff. I know that I was a little naive when I bought our van last year and to be honest didn't really even think about the maintenance side of things before I bought it. However it soon became apparent that learning to do it yourself saves a lot of money!

 

No offense meant to anyone, but a lot of problems arise from previous owners doing their own work. My bus came with a Haynes manual that was covered in oily finger prints. I had no end of trouble to start with.

I've heard so many times that they are easy to work on, but those guys who tell me this are always breaking down!

So perhaps a stamped service book or garage receipts may or may not prove better..?

 

When I maintained my first one many years ago I scimped on the maintainence.
I scimped because it was worth £1,500 (it was a good one) and I'd bought it because it was was quirky dry convenient camping fitted on the drive.
I scimped because I had a wife and small kids, a big (at the time) mortgage, a house to improve, another car to run, business to build and too little time. MOT repairs were all it ever got.
I scimped - I did 30,000 miles without checking the timing, points gap or valve clearances, though I did change the oil 3 times and the filter once.
I scimped because when the engine eventually leaked from everywhere and dropped a valve seat I got another 1700 T4 engine for £150 and bolted that in. In the rain. Those were the days.

There were literally heaps of cheap spares for these things, I remember buying a large box of T4 tinware - more than 2 of everything - for £20.

 

...and while I was doing that I was a newbie as they say. People were telling me how 20 years ago you could buy a splitty for a tenner and you couldn't give an oval away. Many of the really old beetles got crushed because I'm told they had cable brakes and people wanted hydraulics. The scrap man would pay more than the open market - nothing wrong with them, just nobody wanted them.

 

So history shows that in the reality world, they're crap, so to get back to the point, you buy with your heart and then take whatever happens as part of life's rich experience. It's sad that now we have to worry so much about them - will someone nick it? Will it blow up and cost a fortune to fix? Will it rot away before my eyes. Well it doesn't really matter - you'll have had an experience and have another tale to tell.

 

An interesting garden arrangement too.

 

Thanks, luckily my drive is out of site at the bottom of the garden behind a big tall gate.

 

Put it in an art gallery and you'll be laughing.

You could call it 'Eye sore, I came, I conquered' Highly classy.

 

How about a Scooby powered Bubble car?

 

Great write up and some very good points made,I'm a complete newbie to air cooled and can't wait to bag a project next year,I love getting my hands dirty and having a go,I'm going to be practicing my welding over the winter in preparation as my budget won't be big so I'm not expecting the best example would just prefer a complete bus!