Bodges and really bad mods.

[Velgreeno]

Hey folks. Out of all the time you have been into buses, VW's etc, what are the worst if any bodges and modifications you have seen or think no definitely not for me ? Or you have restored a bus in the past or pottered around and have found something and gone what the bleep have they done here ? ha. .

 

[sparkywig]

Plenty, but what you have to remember is that these vehicle were basically scrap in the 80's & 90's. People didn't want to spend a lot to get through the next MOT, so riveted panels, paper, foam and filler repairs, etc were just a way of making them survive for another year.

 

[Clem]

Yeah, it’s another world now. I once fibreglassed metal plates into my beetle inner wheel arches to get though a mot. I didn’t have a welder , repair panels didn’t really exist and I was skint. A pot of underseal was everyone’s saviour.

 

[ozziedog]

As said above, chicken wire, papier-mâché and any type of blackjack could get you another years motoring. The alternative for the skintos was to buy another two hundred pound recent mot pass and drive that for a year or two where someone else had chewing gummed the rubbers to the rust and riveted baked bean cans over the muffler and thrown several old pairs of tights into the gearbox and the odd stocking in the diff. WD40 over all the leads come winter and fat self tappers with washers and all sorts for core plugs, and raw eggs in the waterworks.

Ozziedog,,,,,,,,,,, almost forgot about cable stretchers

 

[67panel]

As an MOT tester I have seen it all, best was a mini with badly beaten out repair panels stick welded on the inner and outer sills that prised off with a screw driver. He gave up coming back after 3 failed retests!!!
When I cut off the n/s sill on my panel I found it was patched over a big lump of welded together bits not attached to anything and the n/s chassis rail was twisted, well welded out of true.

 

[Clem]

I once bought a bay on eBay , late at night, last minute deal. Advertised as a just finished restoration.
Went collect and drive it home (about 100 miles) and honoured the deal realising it was a bit of a mess. The awful paint job, lashed up repairs and air gapped panels were one thing but driving it was another ….
Tightened all four wheels after a couple of miles (155/14 tyres all round were revving a bit too!). Got it home and all the beam bolts were finger tight, trailing arms grub screws missing, dampers loose … you get the drift. Belly pans underneath had been replaced by one massive sheet that went from sill to sill

Went through it , fixed it up, mot’d it and moved it on. It was a laugh but I do sometimes think how that drive home could have gone badly wrong.

 

[james_stan]

Plenty, but what you have to remember is that these vehicle were basically scrap in the 80's & 90's. People didn't want to spend a lot to get through the next MOT, so riveted panels, paper, foam and filler repairs, etc were just a way of making them survive for another year.

Indeed I do chuckle knowing that some of the scrap back then would now sell for £1000s. The no MoT rule has propped up this market too I fear. Take this PoS for example sold this week.

https://www.carandclassic.com/auctions/1973-volkswagen-t2-camper-late-bay-8xA9wg?

 

[Clem]

Indeed I do chuckle knowing that some of the scrap back then would now sell for £1000s. The no MoT rule has propped up this market too I fear. Take this PoS for example sold this week.

https://www.carandclassic.com/auctions/1973-volkswagen-t2-camper-late-bay-8xA9wg?

That’s made me quite nostalgic. Shows like Vanfest were full of vans like that. I know they are/were awful but I kind of liked those simpler time in some ways. People getting a cheap van and going on a bit of a journey* with it.

*Literally and metaphorically

 

[fallingoffalot]

Indeed I do chuckle knowing that some of the scrap back then would now sell for £1000s. The no MoT rule has propped up this market too I fear. Take this PoS for example sold this week.

https://www.carandclassic.com/auctions/1973-volkswagen-t2-camper-late-bay-8xA9wg?

You are right it is a PoS, but actually looks OK for the money I've seen a lot worse for sale... I guess it would depend on how much you'd need to spend on restoring it?