Rare doesn't necessarily equate to valuable in Bay's though.... If you aren't mechanically minded or at least know some old school body repair people that is going to cost an arm and a leg - the gutters/top vents rusting through like that is an expensive fix all on it's own. Its an intriguing story - but as I can attest a good story can cost you an arm and a leg and usually you only get to tell it the once to anyone interested. If you get it for free and know people in the trade then go for it, if you don't you could be staring down years of costs.
you know us... The engine is worth 500 pounds ,have you been to the cash machine yet? I bought my pickup from a farmer that had owned it all his life ,him and his sons went to markets etc in the pickup ,he save every bit of paperwork ,I did not care what the pickup looked like, I fell in love with the story.... Buy something else with 14 owners and welded to death you would be thinking what could have been....
"Underneath looks surprisingly solid..." I'd be surprised if there is anything but rot underneath looking at the state of the rest of it. Pay them £500 then buy my rust free Californian westy for 4k and transfer the bits over. Nice cheap solid bus them that doesn't need a single bit of welding
RHD interior into LHD bus doesn't work, and surprisingly neither does the pop-top. Buy it anyway then worry about it later.
Doesn't look to bad to me how much is it ? £500 for a bay these days is pipe dreams , that's £1500-2500 from those pictures
Id take it at £500 Its probably worth £100 in parts if its complete If your going to restore it and pay someone else to do the work your in for a big wait and an empty bank balance
Where are you and the bus located? If your up north and close enough to me ill happily look over it for you for the price of my fuel and a chippy dinner
Heart spends quicker than the head and rare means a premiun on bits. I,d let their lad do the work, he has the emotional attachment
whats the worst that can happen. 1.you buy it,fall in love with it(even with that hideous roof),spend a shedload of cash & time on it or pay someone else to,love it more & enjoy it. 2.you buy it & realise you`ve bitten off more than you can chew & that it`s actually a tinworm fest & list it on ebay for some other rose tinted glasses wearing sucker for a story to give you £1500 + for it 3.like option 2 except you break it & more than double your money.if the motor is a runner you`ll get £500 for that complete. 4.if it`s ugly but a runner it`s got potential..............................sally gunnell did quite well for herself
Thanks for the offer Para, I'm in Cambridge, a long way for chips, and you can't even get decent gravy!
Zed is near you ,he can probably sort your *new* bus out in a couple of weeks... Do not be tempted to send it further up north, it may never come back...
My motto is "Never buy a van with dodgy gutters" Another is "Full resto? No thanks." and I've already broken that this year.
If u can't use a welder forget it. It's rotten! It won't cost hundreds to have done properly it'll cost thousands! Walk away and save up for a less rotten one!
It used to be my motto ,also changed my opinion about converted panelvans... I see these less rusty options and the interior stripped out and headlights in boxes and front panels welded on wrong so you cannot fit the windscreen,the brakes have gone walkabout and I sold the speedo to a guy in Liverpool and the engine was working great, windows in boxes 3 rear and one middle,igntion key works all locks if you can find them etc etc no thankyou...
Are you saying there's more value in a whole untouched one? I'd agree there, but there are limits and if you'll be paying someone else this one won't be cheap from what we've been shown.
