Sold Fiat Ducato 2.8 for sale shortly

[Christine]

 A  friend has a  white T reg  Ducato van coming up for sale . He's owned it a good number of years , just for towing a racing car to meetings ...which it does with ease . Or it did,  but he's now given up motor racing due to retirement and sold the car ..

   It has massive grunt , but i don't think it's a turbo . We towed a 911 on a big Brian James trailer back from Dorset,  and even on a gradient it held 70 in 5th .. Always garaged, and well maintained ,  it's VERY  clean inside and out (.maybe a few Fox terrier hairs on the seats !! ) .The back is ply lined . Not all perfect though ... 2nd and 3rd syncros are shot , and have been since he bought it , probably 10 years ago   . Pretty common fault I believe. 

 

 Brand new mot though ,  no advisories as of last week .  Reg is T204 DRP  if you want to look . 90k   

 

Only pic i have of it at the moment !!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Six-cylinder]

I have a friend looking for a van to tow a race car!

 

Where is it located? 

[Christine]

Near Heathfield Sussex  

 

 

Not a racing Z28 Camaro like this ?   

 

( Meaning ,  he wouldn't be towing a car of that value with a shitty van would he...?) 

 

He'll probably stab me for putting this pic up ! 

 

 

 

[Six-cylinder]

No his is a Rover 216 R8

 

I was towing it with our Xantia, he has a C5 estate that he uses, but would like a van.

 

I have emailed him, but I don't expect to get a reply until the morning now.

[Christine]

It's not advertised elsewhere ..He just txt me earlier to ask if i knew where a good place to advertise it would be ?  .Obviously it's sold as seen,  with known faults declared , and he wouldn't entertain any come backs . blah blah  .. I haven't seen it for 6 months, but i doubt its much different . I think it might have a minor dent in the side door ...I can't really remember , as I was dribbling over the Camaro too much     

 

Engine is rated at only  87 bhp ? but It's got the torque of a bloody tractor , so there isn't much gear shifting and crunching once you're rolling !!

 Didn't appear to use very much diesel either , picking up the 911, unless it has a huge fuel tank..

[wuvvum]

Totacarcheck says non-turbo.  I had a 2.8D Ducato once - it's a low-revving slogger of an engine, not fast and cannot be thrashed but will pull a house down.  The 2.8 has sensible gearing too, so is quite refined on the motorway - unlike the similarly-BHP'd 1.9 TD I had afterwards which went like a scalded cat off the line but ran out of revs at 78.

 

Well worth a monkey with a full test - and no history of corrosion issues either, which is almost as rare on these as it is on Ford Kas.

[Six-cylinder]

I was dribbling over the Camaro to much 

 

I have a problem because I have always preferred the 2nd generation Z28 with Rally Sport front and my ability to admire cars has been called into question!

[Christine]

That blue car is fairly well known...

 

The Ducato isn't rusty , he looks after his vehicles..and like I said, it's use was just as a tow car   and was kept in a modern dry  barn  all the time he had it..

[Six-cylinder]

My friend is very interested, could you find a couple more photos of it please?

[Christine]

Yes, he's said he'll do some tomorrow..

[cobblers]

Yeah, my dad had one of these - a red high top. It was a good old bus, it would do 60mph through the side of conisborough castle and come out of the other side still doing 60mph. 

[Volksy]

They handle and brake pretty well these.. especially when a Lizard pops out of the dash vent....

 

~Dont ask me how i know..

[wuvvum]

They're not a bad steer for a van, although not as stable through bends as a Master / Movano.  They do have a good turning circle for a FWD van though.

[stephen01]

Ideal Camper conversion - chuck a matress and a sink in the back and ask for £4995, summer just around the corner and all that..

[Christine]

Yeah but 2nd and 3rd synchros are shot , which makes B road driving irritatingly  chrunchy  unless you double declutch and even then it still snitches a bit ....

 

Perfect for hauling racing cars  to circuits on A roads and motorways though in 4th an 5th for hours.. I agree though ,with  secondhand box in it  , it would be a fantastically  cheap weekend  away  van . Bigger and more height inside than a VW T4 and this one isn't rotten . Certainly better condition than my T4 ... 

[wuvvum]

Aye, good luck finding a decent secondhand 'box for one of these though...

 

I've always found them easy enough to drive if you take your time with gearchanges - changing down does require double declutching but the engine's torquey enough that you can normally just leave it in a high gear.  That's one thing I like about my Maxus - the gearshift may be horrible, but 4th is good for anything from <20 to 80 and 5th from 25 to 100 so I tend to just pick a gear which suits the road and leave it.

[Christine]

Yep , I was gobsmacked when I went in it . Even with a car and trailer hitched on, it was way more lively  than my T4 is solo !

[stephen01]

My boxer crunched from when i had it to when i sold it. never got any worse, or better. 

 

Great vans, if i were looking for a van @ £500 for this, even from that picture I'd have it. heck i fancy it anyway to lug the football crap around in for my sons team.. 

[Christine]

Friend John has sent some pics...and since no one tells lies about condition on here when a vehicle is sold , here's the nitty gritty he's told me. 1999 on a T . 

 

The clutch is sharp,  on or off , pulling away from rest ,but not high and doesn't slip.

 

 It's sat around a while since  the race car was sold , and when he took it for the mot  , upon starting , it chucked out a ton of black smoke. And he thought, " Fuck it"     ....(his words not mine ). Anyway , he took it to the commercial garage for the Mot and left it there for them to see what was up with it .They blanked off the EGR valve ,and then found  a split in a pipe from the airbox to the pump .Something like that anyway    They couldn't get a new pipe so they taped it up , and it then passed the emissions test . He said you can see the tape on which pipe they wrapped it with. Neither of us know much about diesels ..he said carburettor pipe ! Now it runs like it always did  again...

 

2nd &  3rd synchos are shot , get the revs right it will slip in reasonably quietly, has been like this since he bought it .

 

Dent in the sliding door ,

not as much ply lining as I thought ,

but it's straight and presentable enough for a 19 year old van . Minimal rust

 

 12 months mot    taxed to get you home .  I guess those who messaged me first get first second third etc  dibs,  just  to be fair , but you'll be dealing with the owner ultimately .

 

Location Deepest East Sussex .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Six-cylinder]

That looks great, I will chase my friend for a decision.

[Christine]

Ah forgot .. Has never used oil or water .

 

If I had a spare 550 , i'd have it !

[Six-cylinder]

Too late Now!

[Christine]

Its got electric windows,  and a radio too .. good luck , and  beware of the terrible terriers , don't let them out of  the gate !

[Lanciaman]

Wish this was less than 12 hours from Aberdeenshire.. .

[Christine]

Good to meet sixcylinder and his friend today . My friend, a non Autoshiter , sold his friend ,a non Autoshiter too , a Ducato van and they drove off a short while ago ,after talking motor racing touring car  bollox for ages...And me and sixcylinder talked shite car bollox .       ...

[Six-cylinder]

The Ducato is now safely home to my friend. 

 

M25 pit stop with C5 slave car.