New to the site, any advice gratefully received

Hi All,
I'm Jay, I've been dreaming of ownership of a Westfalia bay since I was teenager, which is half a lifetime ago now!
Long story short, after much looking, deliberating, talking ourselves in and out of it a number of times, we've decided to take the plunge. I've found what appears to be the perfect van, all things considered. It seems to be a very honest seller who has been completely upfront with issues that require sorting moving forward etc. But it's based the other end of the country and I don't know enough about these vans to be confident of knowing what I'm looking at if I drive there myself. I'm looking forward to learning the ropes and getting stuck in once I have one, hopefully with a decent enough van to get me going.
So, where I'm getting to, the cost of an RAC report on a classic vehicle is quite substantial to say the least. Has anybody had any experience of them? Are they worth the money to give me the peace of mind that I'm not unwittingly walking into the trap of buying something that's going to turn out to be a polished up rust bucket? I appreciate any peace of mind is limited to some degree with a 40 odd year old vehicle, but, having read through this forum and the potential horror stories people have had, I'm keen to avoid the fallout from the missus if I throw our life savings at a dud.
Thanks in advance for any advice given

 

Welcome along Jay. Where is the van? Someone may be able to have a look for you. We can also tell a lot from pictures. I don’t think someone like the RAC would be a lot of use tbh

 

Thanks! That was my worry regarding RAC inspection. It's SW London. I've been sent a lot of pictures of it to be fair, they've been really open with me, I just wasn't sure if it was the right thing to do for me to then post them on an open forum, of a van that I don't own, if that makes sense?

 

welcome aboard...
@Barry Haynes is in that London,
and likes to meet new friends...

 

How much you paying, is it a dealer or private sale, and does it really exist? The RAC will be of limited use, plenty of get out caveats in their report I expect. The main issue with these vans is to make sure you get a sound body. If you cant get to see it yourself why not wait until you find one closer to home.

 

Ps as regards the vehicle history and to see if there is any underlying theme make sure you check the MOT history which will give all past failures and advisories.

 

You may be better of getting inspected by someone who knows these vans , location of van and your location would be useful to see who nearby, The RAC reports are ok but you need a different kind of information than

I can probably help

 

Thanks all.
I can get down to see it, I'm just not confident of what I'm actually looking for if I do, so it seems a long way to go without having much idea. We'd budgeted in our mind about £1k per year, on top of usual running costs to keep a decent van in good condition, and it'll be dry stored all year round. Please let me know if that sounds like we're in cloud cuckoo land with that!
If it was closer to home there's mechanics I trust who I'd have been able to take along. The reason for this one is we've been looking for quite some time and nothing quite seemed right except for one which we'd committed to, only for the buyer to let us down again and again, until eventually we've gone back to the drawing board.
I've checked the MOT history and it has been regularly MOT'd and nothing untoward in terms of rust, or excessive underseal mentioned etc. I'll transfer the pictures I've got so I can post them on here for your thoughts.
Thanks again everyone!!

 

Also, I'm up in Liverpool, the van is down in the Richmond Park area

 

These are the pictures of the issues along with the engine bay and underneath

 

£15k. Which is considerably above our original budget of £10-£12k. The van we had previously agreed to buy was £10k, but it required a respray and we'd have overhauled the interior to put it back to something more like the original. This one has turned our eye and we've looked at spending a bit more because of the amount of original Westfalia interior etc which is the absolute ideal for us. I know that probably seems a bit overly driven by nostalgia, but then isn't that the reason anybody owns any of these vans haha

 

Yeah, I can see myself spending a lot of time on this site once I finally get a bus. It has been some considerable time already to be fair, I've talked myself out of so many for fear of spending all of our money on a horror story. The one we committed to we were happy that it was structurally and mechanically sound, despite looking a little sorry for itself, which we were happy enough with investing a lot of time and effort in the cosmetic side of things. This latest bus we've fallen for looks an absolute beaut inside and out from the listing pictures. The seller provided those picture I've posted to show the issues that require attention and of the underneath. But in my limited knowledge that underneath appeared good to me? I really have no idea though and that is the big worry and why I continually talk myself out of it. I don't want to become the person that that spends their life talking about buying one, but never actually doing it.

 

Not a chance I would buy that for £15k. There are likely to be some nasties lurking under the front windscreen seal, the rear corners may be rotten at the top under the gutter and the door and front wheel arch look ropey. You should be able to get something much better for what you're willing to pay.

 

them cocky knees are known for avin a larf when discussing prices....

 

Barry Haynes is in that East Grinstead

 

I did wonder if that could be indicative of what is lurking behind lovely shiny paint elsewhere