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SOLD - For sale 1970 rhd walkthrough panel van

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stagger lee

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Jun 21, 2008
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Location
west yorkshire
for sale my 1970 old school panel van. i bought the van in 1997 off the guy who'd owned it since new, 1 previous keeper only. it'd had been on his drive some years and was in a sorry state. i then over time sorted it all out with lots of blood, sweat and tears. it's now, and has been for some years a totally solid, reliable, economical van. has taken me all over the country from festivals to a number of house moves. used as a daily driver from when i go it in 1997 to 2003, when i went abroad to work for a number of years. van went on my sisters drive, unfortunately under a jk cover, mistake i know. when i got back after 2.5 years, wasn't in prison, was on a remote research station inaccessible to the rest of the world most of the time. anyway, the bottom had suffered. the cover had retained moisture and rotted the arches and sills. with an oil change and a good battery, it fired up straight away once fuel got to the crabs after 2.5 years standing, drove home no problem, nothing seized. i then spent the summer of 2006 replacing one rear corner, the rear arches, sills; inner and outer, front arches and a rear near-side wheel tub. all work carried out by myself properly; panels internally primed with quality products etc. went through mot no problem at the garage it's been going to for over a decade. then took the van to cornwall for a couple of weeks, then it's sat in it's garage which i got after doing all that work on it, since late september 2006. never thought i'd ever sell this van, very attached to it. lots of good memories with this van, and bad ones in the early 'shakedown' days. but not used for years and my interests are elsewhere now really, plus life just seems to get in the way. so maybe time to pass it on. new owner will have a very solid reliable proper old school van, nice stance sitting on dropped spindles up front. linked with modified trailing arms to compensate for ball-joint travel and damped with standard beetle cofaps giving excellent ride, practically like stock. low and comfy. rear is 3 spline drop from memory and dog-legged spring-plates again made by me. you have to jack the plate down the get the rear wheel off. i have made a jack for this.
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paper work going back to 1997, old and last new document mot, the only fail sheets it generated, just simple faults.
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van lives and fits in a council garage. oily patch under donk is due to weepy flywheel oil seal. i have a handful of new seals, quality german ones too.
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engine is sweet. fires up on the button, crisp and responsive. 1600, new barrels and pistons prior to cornwall. t25 electronic distributor, pair of t3 solexes. returns excellent mpg, nocking on the door of 30mpg when empty and driven sensibly.
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nice unmolested dash. you can keep the working 8-track if you want, it's cool. speedo is unconnected, see spindles image and comments. rev counter was used to guage speed, but that has started playing up, it's only a cheap 'tim' unit that i was given.
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simple interior, spacious and not heavy, all you need. electrolux 2-way fridge (wired and plumbed in). could do with a regas/rotation as it's not been used for a while, but did work. simple rear seats that the backrest boards make up two single beds or re-configure to make a double. storage box upfront. big 100ah leisure under back seat with room for tools, spares, clatch etc.
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when i designed the interior, i was going for east-block chic; nice quality heavy vinyl covering thin ply panels.
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roof panel vinyl sags a bit in places. glue loses adhesion in extreme heat/hot weather.
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rear near-side corner has some damage, reversed in to a van. you can see all the panels that have been replaced, all work carried out properly.
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that stuff on the front that looks like dried sick is just wood mulch, i had a wasps nest in the garage, which i left alone as it was more trouble to try and get rid. kinda good thief deterrent over the summer i thought? plus they simply die off over winter. so it's the bits off it when it broke. see the wasp nest image, cool or what.
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3-bow roof rack included, off course.
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nice stance, not stupidly low and impractical. i have taken this van over all sorts of ground and never had hassles. handles speed bumps no sweat and i've also loaded it to the roof sometimes (house move) and it's o.k. but it does bottom out occasionally, mainly due to the softish ride.
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front floor tubbed mildly to handle the spindles etc. also door bottoms have been shaved, so they can close. look stock from outside, as you can see. front seats are now two passenger seats, as you can't get a driver seat to fit (adjuster knobs) due to the tubbing. seating is in stock position, not cramped inboard like on stupid vans.
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another picture of the engine, excellent engine, nothing fancy, just what works best.
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floor is solid. couple of new outriggers on the near-side and a little section of cross-member that can all be seen. new sills, complete inners and outer all fully primed internally with quality oxide paint before welding up. underside could do with a new coating of underseal, oil, wax whatever. but what is there is rock solid. slider runners/inners all solid too. slider does not drop and works nicely. and closed properly, which most people don't know how to do, is effortless. i had to put a little piece of floor section by the rear near-side inner tub, about the size of a4. all floors; cargo, engine is excellent.
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off-side under-floor is solid, only sills replaced
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near-side front end. van runs on home-made dropped spindles and modified trailing arms done ten years ago, when you just couldn't get them for bays. all work carried out by me properly, not interested in arm-chair mechanics/welders opinions. this van has done thousands of miles, loaded up with these mods. safe as houses
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off-side. spindles are pretty extreme giving maximum drop. due to this the speed cable cannot be mounted and it's close between the inner wheel rim and the bottom ball joint nut. i had to shave it quite a bit. not possible for joint to pop. i also had to space the wheel out about 5-10mm to help clear things internally. due to this i had some clearance issues on the front arches. they drag a bit when turning; van leaning and rubbing on the tyres, but not that bad, don't damage tyres. ideally needs a narrow beam or 15 inch wheels to help clear things up a bit, then the spacers can be removed in-boarding the wheel more clearing it from the arch. which i rebuilt before welding it in. the inner was removed, reduced in width and then welded back in to help wheel clearance. spindles are running later calipers and discs, so bits easy to get.
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van is not perfect, only rot is this bit
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and the screen bottom, which is the worst bit on the van. easy fix to replace the lower screen.
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wasp nest
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front panel smoothed. this was done when a couple of scouse druggy, thief morons reversed into me at glastonbury and dented the front right in. i had a new lower front panel kicking about, so i welded it in. not over the old one, old one minimally cut out. the original air vent is still there with a plate tacked over it, so it can easily be removed and taken back to stock. centre raised circle for badge on later panel has been cut out and a circular plate welded in and made flat. again indicator holes are there, just plate tacked over. i did all this knowing that someday i'd probably want to take it back to stock and wanted it to be easily achievable. but it's different to most as is? headlamps have standard indicator bulb mounts fitted into them. looks like it's sagging quite bad to one side. most of this is from the front near-side tyre. it has a slow leak, rest are good. it was flat when pictures were taken last sunday and i pumped it to what i could be bothered too, to get it out the garage. though the van probably does suffer a bit of 'drivers-sag'?
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not all, but most of these boxes contain spare parts, new and used.
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as do these
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and these, which are all inlcuded in the sale. oh, not the t4 cases/engines though.

i have lots of stuff to put on this van, which i never got round too. these are as follows from memory;
set of nice overriders with those quality new rubbers the guy sells on here
new gene berg proper rhd shifter, unlockable
new set of quality schofield rubbers; screen, doors, slider, rear
gearchange couplings
flywheel seal(s)
new door cards (hardboard) with all vinyl to match the interior (back)
i'm sure there's other stuff i've forgotten about.

used spares i have:
front bumper, undented
glass; front screen, rear screen, side too i think?
carburettors; spare twin solexes plus an assortment of others
distributors; 009 and stock ones
engine casings
complete 1600 engine, stood a long time, but i'm sure it's usable once dismantled
and as seen just boxes of all sorts that tantamount to a decade of collecting parts etc.

van is not perfect and there is certainly room for improvement and put your own mark on it, but totally reliable and usable. it does not at present have an mot, but i will be put one on, no bother and get the free tax. apart from the addition of the parts i have, my main jobs would have been to fit a link-pin narrowed beam with brazillian spindles to mount later discs. just to overcome the clearance issues. plus they're so easy to do nowerdays. on the rear adjustable spring-plates to remove the hassle of jacking the car up and jacking the plate down to remove the wheel if you got a flat type thing. i'd probably replace the rear headliner with a proper one. cab headliner is good, no rips etc.

see the youtube link below, hopefully it works, of the van + engine running etc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=039Mo38snhw" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

i'm looking for 4k5 ono for the whole lot. van is garaged in staffordhire and i live in south-west yorkshire, so it's a couple of hours away. plan is to get the van mot'd and up here to our house asap, so folks can come and view, take it round the block etc. which i'd strongly recommend. but if it's beneficial to view from staffs, then i'll drive down and meet you. but please only serious contenders. don't want a 4 hour round trip for some cock to nose around my van. again ideally viewing in south-west yorkshire. don't want to ebay this van, as there's too many pricks on there. oh, viewing at weekends only, as i work away from home in the week.

o.k, if seriously interested pm me for contact details etc.
thanks for looking.
 
i just wanted to add that originally the van had windows fitted. not vw ones, the guy, previous owner fitted these weird long but narrowish windows. looked like something from a barge or caravan? anyway they looked crap. so i removed them and welded in some sheet steel to take it back to a transporter, like it left the factory.

also replies that the youtube video isn't working, but it's working for me? is that because i submitted it? if any IT geeks can tell me why it might not be working, be much appreciated. i think the video is worth a look to see/hear it running properly etc.

ooh, and the weepy flywheel seal doesn't effect the clutch, it's just leaky and the back of the van gets spattered in oil on long journeys, but it's a simple seal change.

and i know it's got a monza, but it was given to me and i needed an exhaust, plus it's actually very good. nice and quite, though it's abit blowy now. and never constricted the engine, like everyone goes on about. probably those that have never seen a monza, let alone had one? but i think it'd benefit from a new exhaust. a std t1 silencer with a pair of modded t2 tailpipes works best and looks good.

i've fixed the youtube video now, it was private, not public.

cheers.
 
sold to a very nice guy.
sad day for me, but a good for the van.
back active on the scene instead of collecting cobwebs in storage.
let the good times roll for the new owner.
 
Good times wil roll indeed!! :mrgreen:
Thanks again for everything and i'll keep you updated with the progress ;)
 
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