If it's rusting like that after 3 years it was a slap job and there's more trouble coming. I reckon I could put my hand through the rear arch one and rip half the arch off. I have experience of tearing off rusty bits with my bare hands. Hope it's not someone on here selling it - oops. Your budget would get you a very nice non-restored import from the USA.
Thank you everyone for your replies. The helpfulness of forums like this never fails to amaze me. I'm going to make a low offer on the bus, with your comments in mind. In the meantime, if anyone knows of a Devon Moonraker with the doubletop roof which doesn't need restoring... show me the way! Thanks again, Dan.
Glad to be of help dude However id say dont make an offer yet go back and take as many pictures of everything as your camera will hold and post them up on here Ive just got a bus that i thought was a good one back on the road after 6 years of turmoil and it now looks worse than when i bought it Go and have a read of the resto section of the forum and some of the pictures will make you put your wallet away quick time
Worth bearing in mind the cost of a respray after attending to all the repairs. As this will likely cost more than the repairs you'll want all the repairs done to a good standard first and the costs can spiral out of control as more problems reveal themselves during the prep - ask the wilmas - their's was all ready for paint and a fair few extra rusty bits popped up when it was prepped. You could easily spend more than £3k from the little I'm going off. It's not just holes. When they rust under good old 2-pac, they can bulge away for ages before it actually breaks through anywhere. I'm guessing you could run your hands over that bus and find many more areas that will come through shortly, but are already toast.
Danc, hold onto your 9k until you find the right one. The guys on here know their stuff and I can almost see them wincing at the thought of you spending your money on that. Go and see some more vans, see what joker has for sale. A 3 year old resto should not look like that. good luck with the search
Where are you located dude As i said earlier im willing to come and do an inspection of that bus for you for free if your close I hope malc doesent mind me saying but if he does im sure we will sort it out I once went and viewed a bus for someone that had done an misguided impule purchase I went to assess a few rust spots that needed doing for mot by the time i left the guy was nearly in tears and i felt awfull Hes been a champion and got the bus back on the road despite all odds Hes the exception to the rule though so have a look at poptops resto thread then go lok at busses for sale Sorry if im out of order malc but i dont want others to go through our struggle
Hi , that van looks worse than my van when i bought her , 18 months 3g and a lot of hard work later i finally got her back on the road , soz but they are usually worse than theyy look. take a real good look below before handing over 9g bud .
check my 2500 worth of vw rust dude they be an expensive toy / hobbie but there worth the effort! but as for the money dont think i d part with 9 large on anything but a brand spanker i would want photo proof and receipts of all the work done and by who : if i had to do it all again i would get a fairly solid og painted import from oz if theirs any left have we put you off yet
think 2k then double that , then expect to double that again , it would be chea per to buy some thing as rust free as possible from the likes of joker on here or some of the other importer it willl work out a lot cheaper in the long runn believe me owen nw
Hi guys. I've walked away. The owner lives abroad and wasn't aware of the extent of the rust, so I've sent him the pictures... he may reconsider his price he might not. The bus is stored at his friends house. I'm based down in Bournemouth.
that bus looked like it was all filler looooooooool esp them arches ...............pm joker for a bus ,when im in the money ,thats where im going ...and his bloody honest bloke (hope that gets me a discount when i buy another bus ~)
Good luck ,mate ,maybe widen your search ,the double top moonraker was onkly made for 1 yr so theres not that many ,think a westy would be ideal, double in the roof as well plus the passenger chair rotates round ,also the riviera has a double in the roof as well and is very pratical ,both of these models are normally imported and would be rust free in the main.
