Need to pick your very knowledgable early bay brains please

[Graydog]

Hi guys Ive been offered an 72 bay but I'm a bit concerned at the level of work that may be letting myself in for if I bite the bullet and buy it. Basically its mechanically sound and has 12months Mot but its the bodyworks that's putting me off. Here's a few pics of the bay in question, its had a few choice mods that I don't like, like central locking and the whole smoothed front end re located indicators etc! Basically what do you think its worth minus all the accessories and rough cost (I know difficult to say) of replacing the bottom 6inches. Any help would be very appreciated
Cheers graydog
Looks smart but has rust in a few places




I know its hard to price without actually seeing the bus but any advice would be great cheers

 

[Graham L]

Reinstating the grill and doing the bottom 6 inches could prove very costly, as if you see rust on the outside then normally what's underneath is worse and it's a job that is nearly impossible to cost until you start the work.

If you are doing the work yourself then it's worth it but for a commercial restorer to do it you could easily be looking at £5-£6k + without paint.

Provably not what you want to hear but you have to be realistic, bodywork is time consuming,

Hope that helps and I'm sure others will have an opinion :lol:

 

[radish]

don't know what its worth but that is a money pit, it may have a mot but the bodywork is going to cost you a fortune then it will need a respray. if you offer £4000 i think it would be to much but i expect the owner wants more. Get something from the states in og paint, you know where your at from the start. That bus could be hiding alot of filler

 

[Bigbear]

Looks like a dog! It'll probably bite you in the arse aswell. I'd walk away unless they're asking peanuts.?

 

[Graydog]

Thanks guys you just confirmed everything I already knew i just needed the voice of reason to stop me getting carried away. Cheers

 

[ozziedog]

Everything that they have said above ^^^ and I think that bus is hiding more than it`s showing, :shock:

Ozziedog,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, And It`s showing plenty :msn4:

 

[monkeyvanwestybike]

I would leave that!
unless you can get it for £1000. :msn4:

 

[BrotherNumberOne]

with all due respect to the owner(in case he reads this), I wouldn't touch it unless it's cheap. The rear arch and sliding door look all over the place. If you can see that on a white van in a resized photo, you know it'll be much worse in real life. I reckon it'd need a full resto and full respray. 7+K.

 

[Bigbear]

What's with the door handles aswell?

 

[Pirateringo]

I like the front end, my bay has indicators in bumper too .

 

[Whistler]

You need to be looking at the Bays for sale on here!

 

[Lyncho007]

I don't think it looks that bad to be honest as long as you're getting it for a reasonable price.

Mine was a lot worse that that looks and cost me £1800 for welding and £500 for parts at VW welding in Manchester incl front arches, cills, rear corners, battery trays, rear valance, front valance, top hats, jacking points etc.

Beware though some quotes I had were £4k plus and wouldn't give a fixed price.

 

[geordie]

I've got a uk bay there's not many about because
They have all rusted away.
and it's cost me A bloody fortune in parts and
labour. :evil: No been able to use it for
11 months 9 days. After that it's going to the
land of panel beaters then down the yellow
Brick road to the paint shop!

Get a import from California

 

[Graham L]

I don't think it looks that bad to be honest as long as you're getting it for a reasonable price.

Mine was a lot worse that that looks and cost me £1800 for welding and £500 for parts at VW welding in Manchester incl front arches, cills, rear corners, battery trays, rear valance, front valance, top hats, jacking points etc.

Beware though some quotes I had were £4k plus and wouldn't give a fixed price.

Not being funny but it's impossible to give a fixed price when working on classic cars, especially VWs, you cannot tell what condition the vehicle is in until you start to remove the outer panels due to water traps and concealed panels, the sill alone is made of 3 panels and on a lot of buses you can only see one of them so how do you know what's underneath?

 

[Lyncho007]

Fair point but if you're experienced enough to know what you want replaced, you can agree a price.

 

[geordie]

I got a fixed price and it doubled
Due to the extra work that had to be
Done :shock:

 

[sparkywig]

Fair point but if you're experienced enough to know what you want replaced, you can agree a price.

How about a £1k quote to replace a sill for example, would that be fair?
Probably not, but that's what it could cost after you cut the rotten outer sill off and the middle and inners have disappeared, and the ends of the outriggers/jacking points have rusted away taking the cargo floor with it. Along with the bottom of B post rotted, and the bottom of rear wheel tub also needs replacing.
So then the interior needs to be stripped and stored, and then replaced after the welding which adds to the labour costs.
Worst case perhaps, but to earn a living you'd have to quote for it unless the customer is willing to accept that the original quote to just replace the outer sill may increase.

 

[Lyncho007]

Sure there are are always some unforeseen problems but from my experience from doing previous buses, on my current resto, I agreed what needed doing and got a fixed price of £1800 for the labour.

You'd be nuts to drop it off at a garage without any idea of what the bill was gonna be....

 

[Clem]

Fair point but if you're experienced enough to know what you want replaced, you can agree a price.

How about a £1k quote to replace a sill for example, would that be fair?
Probably not, but that's what it could cost after you cut the rotten outer sill off and the middle and inners have disappeared, and the ends of the outriggers/jacking points have rusted away taking the cargo floor with it. Along with the bottom of B post rotted, and the bottom of rear wheel tub also needs replacing.
So then the interior needs to be stripped and stored, and then replaced after the welding which adds to the labour costs.
Worst case perhaps, but to earn a living you'd have to quote for it unless the customer is willing to accept that the original quote to just replace the outer sill may increase.

Yep! The chances of drilling off an outer sill and being able to replace it on a uk RHD bus are pretty much zero.

On the bus shown above you'd be looking at all panels around the bottom, all sills, new front clip and then all the custom rectification. At that point the cheapest of the imports available becomes a way better option.

 

[Shorty]

I'd make that pic the last you ever see of that bus... walk away and don't look back...