Is it worth it?

[campermad]

Hello Ladies and Gents, having recently sold my late bay im after an early bay and ive come across this one which is currently advertised for 8k, the interior is home made (basic no kitchenette) its in A1 condition underneath and some minor blemishes on the panels and scratches. Just wanted opinions on if it was worth 8k as i'm looking to buy her, ive saved hard and im umming and arring.

Your opinions are greatly accepted.

Thanks

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[ozziedog]

I`m not the worlds greatest expert but that looks a very clean bus to me and a reasonable price. The interior is an easy thing to sort / personalise, it`s the body work and the chassis that are the time consuming (read money) things. You don`t get a lot of rhd busses looking that good. Is it from Seth Efrika ? or Oz, don`t look Oz to me but if it`s English, it`s in very good shape.

Ozziedog,,,,,,,, I`m liking it ! 8)

 

[ozziedog]

Or is it a twin slider left hooker ??

Ozziedog,,,,,,,,, :mrgreen: Get your eyes tested you old git ! :mrgreen:

 

[campermad]

thanks Ozzie, im new to the scene so any advise is greatly accepted, it was orginally from Italy used as a search and rescue vehicle, there are some small holes where cb's and sirens used to be, not too sure how to fill them (maybe get a cb aerial)

*its a twin slider

 

[ozziedog]

Well for what it`s worth, I like it. Twin sliders are very cool but a little limiting on wall space for units and ****. If you`re not too fussed about that, I reckon it`s a cool bus. Where the AA badge is, I can see a series of holes and I`m guessing that`s one of the places where something was bolted, I`d try and find out what it was and fit something along the same lines, if all else failed I`d fit a nice chrome search light or something, one that you could reach out the window and swing it round, that may have been the sort of thing that was there ?????

Ozziedog,,,,,,,,,,,,, I`m still liking it :lol: 8) :lol:

 

[Graham L]

My only comment would be that it looks like its been resprayed and how good was any repair work that was done, buses from southern Europe don't have a great reputation for being rust free so may be work checking if its had a respray or not and if so how long ago.

Doesn't look like an original colour although very close to Montana Red I'm not sure it actually is, hard to tell from the photos,

The Italian story checks out as it has the little repeaters on the B post which are fitted to italian buses, you need to factor in a headlining as well as looking at the shot through the front window there isn't one fitted.

 

[campermad]

cheers Graham, i spoke to you earlier about that other bus. The only areas that have been painted are the twin sliding doors where they were previously sign written (wish they hadnt removed it), underneath is solid. The guy that has owned it from import over 5 years ago has not completed any works on her, there are surface scratches and fading to the front. I know its hard to guess on a photo but in your expert opinion is it reasonibly priced?

 

[Graham L]

It certainly doesn't seem too bad, but I have to say the front looks too shiney for og paint especially a european bus and the lack of any dings etc makes me suspicious, its very hard to find a bus with no body damage at all.

If it is og paint then £8K is a good price if its got a full MOT on it, be careful though interiors can soon add up and by the time you have door cards, a rock and roll bed and get it covered etc you are into at least a grand and then a headlining (if it needs one) will set you back up to £500 -£600 fitted.

Its an odd spec though as a Kombi would not have had opening windows in the sliding doors, these are normally fixed glass on a kombi, have you looked at the m code plate and deciphered it to check what spec it left the factory with?

 

[ozziedog]

Graham,, I was thinking along those lines as well with the door windows, but is it possible that was the spec for the bus because of the fact it was search and rescue, for the the crew ? and possibly for anyone that got rescued ?

Ozziedog,,,,,,,,,,, just a thought :mrgreen:

 

[campermad]

i like the history of the bus but i also really like dubscum dropped bus. I will have cash this Saturday through the sale of my late bay. The misses wants the search and resuce, i would love dubscums bus, but not sure it will hang around until Saturday as its got alot of admirers

 

[Graham L]

Talk to ash ( Dubscum) and see what he says


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Danbury Doug]

That bus would almost derfinitely be an ex firebus. By that I mean it would have been a crew/support fire vehicle, probably in a factory complex. The paint would indeed most likely be original, because these vehicles spent most of their lives inside. Also, I would bet the mileage (kilometerage :mrgreen: ) would be low (and I mean very low!), because the only use these vehicles generally got was for the occasional excercises, or the very rare incident!
How do I know the above? Because I once owned a late bay firebus (a '74) and it was exactly the same spec. It too was a twin slider Kombi, which also had the same opening windows in the sliding doors. The 'M' plate that Graham mentions will indeed show the above, including the special firebus paint code. Mine too was Italian, and therefore had the repeaters that Graham also mentions.
The signwriting on the sliding doors would have had the name of the fire department, or the name of the town/village/factory etc. I agree, pity the signwriting was removed!

If I was looking for an early bay, I would certainly give that one serious consideration. My firebus had the equivilant of only 6k miles on the clock, so as you can imagine, not only did it look like new, it also drove like new, infact I tended to find myself driving it as if it was still running in!

Doug

 

[easy]

I agree with doug, ex service (especially fire) are generally good buses to get, they have little wear and low use (my friend has a 62 split fir truck an its mint, no rust atall apart from a bit in the floor where the fire hoses used to drip!! and in og paint all over.

My advise would be post up a rough location of where you are and see if anyone from here can go and have a nose with you. :mrgreen:

 

[campermad]

nice one thanks Doug/Easy, its got 62000k on the clock and the engine looks brand new, the paint is original bar the sign written part. I think once lowered with a new interior inside her will make my mind up.

 

[easy]

Slam it down and get on the case with its history would be nice to get some old italian service writing on it 8)

My mates is this, all orig but slammed to the floor and a rude interior

 

[Danbury Doug]

You're welcome, Campermad.

This was the cab of my firebus. I should imagine it's not much different in condition to that of the bus you're interested in!
Had mine been an early, I don't think I would have parted with it. As it is though, I still miss it!

Doug

 

[dubscum]

give me a bell tomorrow, we can have a chat mate.

07870 385656 Ash

 

[campermad]

doug have you got any more pics of your bus?

 

[Danbury Doug]

Hi Campermad, yes, here are some more pics for you.