Barn finds / discoveries.

[BigG]

Seen any original old vans lurking in a tumble down garage or crumbling away in a field somewhere. Heard any whispers of one sat for years on an elderly old couples drive at their remote cottage somewhere?
Dont know about you but I love all that so you can imagine my excitement when an elderly customer at my wifes shop commented how she once had an old VW van her and her husband went everywhere in.
"bet you wish you still had it " commented the wife.
"oh its still in the garden slowly rusting away" was the reply.
" is it for sale" asked the missus.
" no, I think hubby wants to fix it up someday"
Well that was the end of that. Until today when the lady comes in the shop and tells us that she has finally managed to convince her husband to sell the old thing and would I be interested. "Yes" was my plain and simple answer.
I have no idea what it is, how much, or how far gone it is, and I dont really want to know, I just love the excitement and anticipation :wink: Will keep you posted.
By the way, would love to see your discoveries.

 

[strongy]

il be keeping an eye on this one wibler :mrgreen: lucky bugger,

if it turns out for you like it would for me it will be an f reg ldv pilot :lol:

 

[cunning plan]

Seen any original old vans lurking in a tumble down garage or crumbling away in a field somewhere. Heard any whispers of one sat for years on an elderly old couples drive at their remote cottage somewhere?
Dont know about you but I love all that so you can imagine my excitement when an elderly customer at my wifes shop commented how she once had an old VW van her and her husband went everywhere in.
"bet you wish you still had it " commented the wife.
"oh its still in the garden slowly rusting away" was the reply.
" is it for sale" asked the missus.
" no, I think hubby wants to fix it up someday"
Well that was the end of that. Until today when the lady comes in the shop and tells us that she has finally managed to convince her husband to sell the old thing and would I be interested. "Yes" was my plain and simple answer.
I have no idea what it is, how much, or how far gone it is, and I dont really want to know, I just love the excitement and anticipation :wink: Will keep you posted.
By the way, would love to see your discoveries.

Nice story, bet its a good one, with unique one off parts that everyone wants that they sell to you for a turnip and a back rub........ haha :lol:

 

[Araon]

I did get an old mini cooper for a quid found deep in the rock of gibraltar, the garages previous owner (the father) had it there for about 15 years....

owned it for a month or so then left it parked where it shouldnt have been for a couple of weeks and it had been towed :x

the cost of the recovery was ridiculous so it stayed in the compound until they ditched it off the end of the rock into the straits....

Then there was the moggy traveler I couldnt quite prise from the farmers hands, I believe its still in the rotten barn (last time I passed about 5 years now) not moved and that was 20 years ago...

A pair of Suzuki A100s' for a fiver in 85 with a GT250 thrown in, they'd been abandoned for some time, nitros'd one for fun in the bike club and promptly piled it into an old brick wall...wall 1 bike 0 it was a solid victorian school so the bricks stood firm the bike crumpled badly

But no VWs

 

[BigG]

Well after several calls with no answer I finally got a reply only to hear the old guy was out till Friday. Had an address and just had to have a sneak look see what I was coming to see and saw this :shock:

Looks like an unmolested OG UK Devon of 71 vintage. Which probably means lots of rust

You never know though, might not be that bad, could be a decent project. My heart says save it, my head says buy it, break it and keep some of your fellow early bayers on the road.
Will know more Friday.

 

[AxlFoley]

either way you have to drag it out of where ever it is!! it cant stay there!!


I had a lead on a Mini Moke Kit car this week, abandoned in a lane, could be interesting

 

[Grazy]

Just take it off him Wibbler , i would get it somewhere to assess the damage and if its a viable option to resto it or if its just a breaker , Good luck son :wink:

 

[BigG]

Apparently had a new engine fitted before being taken of the road, do fancy a camper but have just booked the deluxe in for a ton of work including lowering so have to watch the pennies.
The Alpines cost me £300 for an mot I forgot was due so def gonna sell it this time

If the interiors good I could make a Devon sunroof Deluxe :mrgreen:

 

[Graham L]

Well heres the details according to DVLA, not beeon on the road since 2006

The enquiry is complete
The vehicle details for JRT 76K are:

Date of Liability ............................01 10 2006
Date of First Registration..............03 08 1971
Year of Manufacture......................Not Available
Cylinder Capacity (cc)....................1584CC
CO2 Emissions..............................Not Available
Fuel Type.......................................Petrol
Export Marker................................Not Applicable
Vehicle Status................................Unlicensed
Vehicle Colour................................YELLOW
Vehicle Type Approval....................null

Hope thats of some use?

 

[cunning plan]

Good find, keep us updated.

 

[BigG]

Cheers Graham, Defo not an LDV Pilot then :lol:

Might not be so bad if its only been off the road a couple of years.

 

[BigG]

Well finally got to see the old girl and 2 years under a tree didn't do her any favours
Front steps, sills, cab floor, top o the front panel are all as you would expect from a uk bus thats been neglected infact most panels have some issues. On the plus side the gutters are excellent, engine bay and battery tray are good, new engine wiith bills for £1500 and the Devon interior is all there and salvagable, and under the rotting belly pans is a pretty sound chassis.
The vans been hand painted in primer over the original yellowy orange paint (bottom half) and has what has to be the worst back bumper ever.
Still have to negotiate a price and figure out wether I want to get involved in such a project, especially after recently getting stuck in to the deluxe.
If its cheaper than a set of deluxe bumper trims i'll have it :mrgreen:

 

[mcvw]

Man, that rear bumper looks like it's held together with toothpaste :mrgreen:

It's always exciting when you find an old veedub - but don't let your heart rule your head. You can walk away from it and don't feel that it's your duty to save it.

You might even find that if you do walk away from it (and leave them your number) - that you might get a call in the future asking you to take it off their hands

 

[Graham L]

Looks quite rough but appears to be complete and as you say the couple of years under the tree haven't helped, let us know whether you acquire it or not but as MCVW has said don't feel you have to take it on if its not for you.

If it gets broken for parts I'd be interested in the towbar!! :mrgreen:

 

[BigOrangeMonkey]

That looks easy, BUY IT!

 

[sparkywig]

I've bought worse than that. Ask my wife. :mrgreen:
They start dissolving when you get the jetwash going.

 

[BigOrangeMonkey]

I've bought worse than that. Ask my wife. :mrgreen:
They start dissolving when you get the jetwash going.

Plink plink Fizzzzzzz :mrgreen:

 

[Htotheunit]

GIVE ME THE DASHBOARD, I NEED THE MOONRAKER STICKER! :lol:

 

[Loxy]

you have got to buy it, its even got a retro car pc install on the passenger side :wink:

 

[poprivetracer]

here is my latest find .its a 1970 model it was used by a shop as a delivery van up until 1982 when the owner parked it up and moved to Spain . it was only used for local deliveries and has only done 6239 miles from new. the owner came back to Ireland 3 weeks ago and we managed to contact him and bought it off him for 100 euros he said he would love to see her back on the road sometime . we got her home and got it running just had to clean the plugs change the points and add petrol a little bit of fiddling and away she went . its going to be my rat panel as it would cost an absolute fortune to restore . i picked up most of the parts for it at Vanfest .i have a few bits still to find and hopefully i will get it into the shed to start working on it soon .{but at the moment i have alot of other buses to finish for my mates} I know its VERY VERY RUSTY but there is just something about this van that i like