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Motorhomes rock


smellmycheese

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Loving this thread, some cool stuff mentioned and pictured. That XC70 with roof tent excited my particulars a bit 😍 Very cool beans.

Of course what you really need to do if you want a motorhome/camper/whatever is this:

  • Get pissed off that there are no houses you want to buy within your budget
  • Look at camper base vehicles on ebay whilst a bit pissed
  • Show OH a cool* one you've found
  • Fall off chair when they suggest buying it to "live the dream" etc
  • Buy it blind
  • Drive fecking miles, hungover, to literally the other end of the country to get it
  • Drive it home in misery cos some twat fitted coilovers that were so badly adjusted that the only suspension on the front was basically the strut top mount rubber
  • Realise it does <20mpg but is also SLOW AF
  • Also realise although it has had some good work done, there is a fuckton more to do and it is really a bit tatty and unloved
  • Once home and consoled with hair of the dog (and more) see that whilst you were driving to the Scottish border from the south coast, an almost ideal* house has been listed for sale
  • Buy said house with only 1 parking space (FFS!)
  • Use base vehicle to move house with (bonus)
  • Use vehicle very little (despite expensive running costs) for 2 years cos you can't afford the money/time to fettle and convert it, nor do you have space to keep if off the road
  • Bitch about it on AS.

But I would totally recommend it, I have received great pleasure in planning what I will eventually do with ours and it has been a great utility vehicle so far, despite it's foibles/issues. Also, how many Volvo 740 Hearse campervans are there around? None that I know of. Here is the offender at Shitefest '19

UT7ALXZh.png

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7 hours ago, 808 Estate said:

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There’s a serial importer of American cars near me (a farmer I think) who imported a 56 caddy with motor home on its back. It wasn’t in the best shape the motorhome section and I see after a few years of not finding a buyer it has now become a 56 caddy pickup 

 image.thumb.jpeg.5fe40562d0af0cb32c92fb37b035fb42.jpeg
 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
8 hours ago, Conrad D. Conelrad said:

But it's not as good as this one: 

 

That's pretty similar to what I'd expect to happen in mine...The chassis of the underlying van is built like a proverbial brick outhouse...I suspect the van for the most part would simply stop dead, and the coachwork would proceed to decapitate me and end up spread over the next several hundred yards of road.  Sticking with the "take advantage of the additional visibility I have over most traffic, and assume everyone is going to try to kill me" approach of driving I think is the best plan!

A coachbuilt van is always going to pretty much disintegrate in any real impact...It's just a flimsy aluminium skin over a light plywood frame (except for the bits the previous owner replaced with what appears to be the hardest and densest wood known to man), so the end result is always going to be "a mess" in any impact.

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On 10/7/2020 at 9:49 PM, Zelandeth said:

That's pretty similar to what I'd expect to happen in mine...The chassis of the underlying van is built like a proverbial brick outhouse...I suspect the van for the most part would simply stop dead, and the coachwork would proceed to decapitate me and end up spread over the next several hundred yards of road.  Sticking with the "take advantage of the additional visibility I have over most traffic, and assume everyone is going to try to kill me" approach of driving I think is the best plan!

A coachbuilt van is always going to pretty much disintegrate in any real impact...It's just a flimsy aluminium skin over a light plywood frame (except for the bits the previous owner replaced with what appears to be the hardest and densest wood known to man), so the end result is always going to be "a mess" in any impact.

There's a microwave in a low down cupboard in mine

I can imagine the crash,

Bang

I'm alive

DING no you're not

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  • 1 month later...
10 hours ago, tul66 said:

Finally managed to do the deal on this today for the grand total of £4000. Well chuffed!

£4000 for that? What a bargain! I haven't seen one sell for under £10k privately. So even if you have to spend a few £k on welding, mechanicals etc... you'd still be massively in profit. 

Good work! Currently converting a similar age SWB Ducato, current spend is over what you've paid, so well done :)

Have you checked the chassis legs on it? They are quite common to rot out on these, especially when being sat for a while. Few other common areas that most seem to get welded up at, but nothing like a Transit of the same age.

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I know, I couldn't believe it myself. I did take a while to sort out issues with the V5 but that was eventually sorted last week.

It does need a little TLC but it does drive and the brakes aren't even binding! I've budgeted £1000 to bring it back up to scratch but even at that. it's a bargain.

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  • 11 months later...

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