New to EarlyBay ? Say Hi here ...

[mike202]

Hi all, we stupidity sold our '73 late bay for a t5 a few years ago...now sold the 5t for a discovery 4 (so much nicer!) And decided it's time to plan for a bay again...an early this time, but will probably be a year or so before we get one! Getting very excited already!

Yes it is exciting ! It probably took me a year or so before I plucked up the courage to buy one. I had been reading camper and bus magazine for at least a year as well. Good luck with your purchase when you make it. [emoji3]


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

 

[ozziedog]

Hi all, we stupidity sold our '73 late bay for a t5 a few years ago...now sold the 5t for a discovery 4 (so much nicer!) And decided it's time to plan for a bay again...an early this time, but will probably be a year or so before we get one! Getting very excited already!

Go for it. Bays and most campers and vans of most descriptions are possibly at an all time high at the moment. I reckon after this summer and up until next summer the prices may drop as the eurohols brigade goes back to the sunnier climes of Europe then a tad more the year after. But, if you find a gem, then pay the peeps and forget what it cost then get on with having a great time :mrgreen:
P.S. Big Welcome to the Earlybay site tooo

Ozziedog,,,,,,,,much more smiles per hour :mrgreen:

 

[Mrc1978]

Evening all..

So I am 3 weeks into owning a 1971 Early Bay bus. Not been out on the road with her yet as were just getting her personalised to our tastes. Condition wise she's a nice one and were just getting up to speed about what owning one of these involves.
She does seem to have a strong fuel smell most of the time and last night noticed that the speedo isn't illuminated, so few things to play about with.
Love the drive and I can see me building up my muscles after driving her for a while.

 

[Coda]

Welcome.

Hopefully the speedo is just the bulb but be careful and deliberate when you pull the console out of the dash to change it. Make photos of all the connections, because some of them won't go back as you might expect (there are sections of the back plate with male spade connectors that look like they should be earths but they are on little insulated islands and are +12v. I found out the hard way).
My mother in law used to drive a splitty all over Europe with kids in the back during the 60's and 70's. Whenever I think about complaining I think of her and I shut up

 

[GlookingforaB]

Hi everyone,

I am Gert from the Netherlands and since a few months I am really stoked about buying an early for myself. So if got THAT virus definitely .

But for me the biggest challenge is to drive in them. Im a tall dutch guy but still I had enough headspace while test driving one of them. The problem is my long legs get cramped up whenever I use the clutch..

so I was wondering if its possible to put a automatic transmission in these?

Thanks for the advice!

 

[thejinx]

Welcome I’m sure someone will be along soon to answer that question. In the meantime let’s get some pics up.

 

[GlookingforaB]

Oh I haven’t bought one yet, sorry I didn’t mention that,
it was a rental (because of my height I thought that would be wise…).

So I am in the proces of it. Someone told me to look at the vanagons because the pedals are differently placed, but thats just not my cup of thea..
So hence the question, if the early is not an option I have to widen my search, won’t be easy

 

[Coda]

Some late bays were available with automatics, I'm not sure about earlies.

 

[ozziedog]

As said above ^^^ there were LateBay available with the automatic option. As far as I know, there is no automatics available as Earlybay however, I know of at least one person that has had one put in. There is someone on here that runs a Suburu engine already and has plans to take this out this winter and is replacing it with another possibly larger Suburu with an automatic transmission. This should be the first Auto Scooby conversion that I know of in the UK and possibly in the world. So if you are buying one to convert to Auto, then just concentrate on good bodywork and this may help your search or it just might put toooo many options in :mrgreen:

Ozziedog,,,,,,,,,always good to have options :mrgreen:

 

[GlookingforaB]

thanks for the help!
And yes that is an idea as well.

Offcourse it would be a lot easier if the early didn't look as good as it does..