Brazillian Buses

[TJW1970]

HI,
I am new to Early Bay, so forgive my first post. I am going to look at a bus tomorrow and wanted to check if there were any Brazillian or Paraguan buses that I should be wary of. The bus is 'priced to sell', which always makes my ears prick up.

It is showing on the DVLA site as a 1971, white with 1585 engine, yet it is grey with a white roof and owner says it has a 1500 engine.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Trevor

 

[kevinhall]

Hi Trevor,

Welcome!

I am not aware of Brazilian buses of that age. There are lots of imported vans but RHD generally Australian or South African, and LHD from the US. Can be more solid than UK vans depending on what's​ been done.

It's not uncommon for the v5 details not to match, but it likely means work has been done. Mine shows as white, but was blue and cream when I got it and blue now. It had had a cheap repay over some poor bodywork. Ask to see photos of any work that was done, take a magnet to check for filler and crawl all over common rust points. If in doubt get an expert to check it out...I didn't and it's cost me a lot of time and money.

On the engine, again common to have a different engine, but 1585 is standard size. 1500 engine might originally be a beetle one I think but not an expert. If the van is solid and runs well, engines are generally less costly and easier to swap out at a later date if you wanted to.

Just my 2 pennies worth. Good luck with the viewing.
Kevin

 

[TJW1970]

Thanks Kevin. Good to know. I can't find anything about early bays from Brazil either, so maybe from SA. I'll ask before I go down to see it, although if it is clean, then I might go for it anyway, as the price is right.

It has been off the road a couple of times (no MOT's) and that ties in with description from seller. Colour is often wrong, so not a biggie. Comes up as not stolen, so that is always a positive. Bit puzzled why you would put a 1500 into a bay and seller says it is underpowered, so might have to invest in a 1600 to give it a bit more oopmph.

I'll check for rust and rot in usual places and see how it fares. I'll let you know later!

 

[vwed]

Buses were built in Brazil continously from the 50s onwards until December 2013.
Plenty for sale here:https://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/cat.php?id=5&sort=year
Note however that the body shape of the early 70s buses is more akin to a Split than a Bay.
Is the one you are looking at definitely a Bay shape?

 

[Clem]

Do you have a link to the advert?

*alarm bells*

 

[StuF]

I knew NOTHING when we viewed our first bus - took an experienced VW owner with me who had owned and restored several buses over the gears paying him a few quid for his time. Best money we have ever spent - bar none!

Dont buy without taking someone who knows what they are looking at if you havent got any experience in the finer points of classic bus ownership.
Its really really easy to get distracted with nice interiors and shiny bits whilst overlooking the chassis and underbody.

I cant stress this enough - buy with your head not your heart, its easy to fit nice wheels and and a decent interior but not so easy to sort bodged chassis repairs, rot and filler under fresh paint.

As Mike says above - link the advert and you will get an honest opinion of the your potential purchase/moneypit/heartache!

 

[TJW1970]

Hi all and thanks for the responses,
I started off with a 74 bay which I then had to have a lot of work done to. Lesson learned.
I then have had 7 splits, a T25 Doka and a 66 Beetle, including importing from the US. Not had another bad one since the bay.

So, went to see the bus today. It was a UK bus. It was in superb condition, not perfect, but as good as I have seen.
Bought it and drove it home.

Dead chuffed.
I'll start a thread for it when I get a chance and then you can let me know your thoughts.

Trevor

 

[StuF]

PICS

 

[kevinhall]

Nice one!

 

[TJW1970]

See 'New Adventure' thread. With pics.
Thanks Kevin.

 

[Guest]

didn't they do a version of the split screen in brazil up until the late seventies? i wasnt aware they were building bays there that early unless they were CKD kits?

 

[TJW1970]

That is what I had thought. I knew there were Brazillian Splits and later Bays, but I had never heard of a Brazillian Early Bay.

PS - Wife said it was ok for me to google Brazillians. Not sure if she was serious, but who cares.