Thats why I'm saying to post his location so somebody can have a look for him. Maybe be even get the price down more.
I think I'm going to sit on my cash for a while and see what comes up. I'm itching to get a bus ready for the summer, but would regret buying a dog. I don't mind maintaining anything, thats part of the experience. What I'm not prepared to do is part with money only to have the bus straight into the bodyshop. I want to buy it, enjoy it from day 1 and maintain it as and when required. Sorry, I did mention earlier I'm based in Bournemouth down south.
...or go over to earlybay where there are quite a few yanks selling buses who are very honest and good value. I spend my days fixing rotters from the uk, and I've had a few myself. I wouldn't want another one when for less money you can get a good one that the steering wheel is on the wrong side. Small price to pay. Fixing yourself is an option, but you'd be off the road for several years and kiss goodbye to ALL your free time for those years. If you have £9k budget you don't need this approach. I would advise you save some back for repairs - if you blow the whole budget and then the engine goes pop, you're stuck. I would also advise you spend every evening reading resto threads - take note of the first pics where the bus looks rather nice, then follow through the thread where the owner has found it's a rot box. You'll see the same parts being replaced on each thread - they all rot in the same places - you'll know what to look at then. Basically 1ft up and 1ft in, in line with the wheels is a good place to start. ...and don't buy a bus with ropey gutters. The yellow one could be a classic - underneath all the interior carpet stuck to the roof it could be rust and paper mache - or just rust. It's the kind of interior that's very difficult to remove so people don't and just restore what you can see.
I'm in bournemouth on saturday taking the mabelette back to uni. happy to take a look for what its worth - i'm not in the same league as paradox and zed and rickyrooo1 (i could name more) but looked at enough vans before picking up Kitty. I had the same sort of budget as you and picked her up for £6k but in the knowledge she needed £2k worth of immediate work plus the interior. however if the rust is as bad as it looks in the original post then i would say "no" even at £7.5k.
Happy to share my experience - hope Rick doesn't mind my sharing some details as he popped over and it gave me some perspective on UK versus US Import. My bus is a 74 Westy - owned by my dad from 1978 to 1984 - it cost me £7k and thus far it's needed £5k of welding and still needs the roof painting, some interior sorting and probably some further bodywork and a respray. The slider also needs re-skinning and there are some gutter issues to sort. All in it's cost me probably £13k - and the above issues remain (all of that is an easy £5k to sort). I absolutely understand that there is money to be saved with DIY - personally I work away too much and simply do not have the time to sort it - so huge admiration for the people that can do this, and agree there are cheaper ways to do this - but the headline is - restoration costs time and money. With a UK bus, unless you have a fully documented resto be VERY WARY of anything not in its original paint. Rick's bus cost him far less than that and is far more solid than mine - only downside is the steering wheel on the wrong side! If I were buying without the nostalgia - I'd buy an import bus or pay the extra and get a fully documented UK bus.
moons, you're mistaken, my steering wheel is on the correct side...... all vw's are german, germany drive on the left my bus is left hand drive, therefore i win.
