cotswoldiver
Well-known member
First bus, 1969 bought via ebay off a trader who dealt mainly in buses from SA - (no longer trading he's adds very quickly) I didn't know enough and was seduced by the joy of buying my first bus for the family to enjoy, costs would have escalated to correct things so the bus could be used in europe which was always the plan, final straw front wheel planned its own escape when driving along the M5 in true keystone cops movie style - wife says its got to go. Me, I oblige and sell it on ... sad but realistic 
Second bus, strike lucky and spot a 1971 for sale on camper crazy website for £4k more than I sold the last bus for, but it looked really good so 50% increase in purchase cost had to be worth a risk. Turned out to be 99% stock and purchased very quickly ... I was learning, wife liked the colour, I caught the train down to Lewes and drove the bus back with the biggest smile on my face ever, wonderful uneventful first journey back up to the Cotswolds - naive still? yes, but I 'd learnt a little bit more so was more confident. Bus checked out, everyone amazed at the originality. Start planning trip to France. We go, engine packs up, we come home, bus comes home later, have a new engine fitted ... we smile again
Use bus in UK, win best camper award at Camperjam without even trying, magazine article - more smiles, confidence in bus grows .... plan another trip to France. Great trip, biblical rain, sunshine, great wine, sunshine - bus breaks down, spent 2 nights on garage forecourt next to skips waiting for it to be fixed ... doesn't work out, we come home, bus comes home later, whilst in yard in Dover some continental recovery driver backs into the rear corner .... now less than 99% original, but great repair job done for £3.5k (someone else pays the bill)
Shine falls away from bus, kids admit being afraid to use it as its stock and don't want to damage it, wife hints at selling it .... me, I reluctantly agree, and my pride and joy goes to another family who had their own bad luck story and I'm happy its gone to a good home. Another magazine article .... more people like it
Sold it for more than I paid for it, thanks to the market being in my favour .... decide to look for a RHD shell to get built from scratch .... find one 1972 so still historic status, someone else gets there first and buys it, doesn't start on it for a while, offer made to buy it from him and I now have an empty shell to project manager its re-birth. Decide to put aside75% of what I sold the last bus for to build the new. Wife OK as long as it will be blue and white
Lucky me it was originally Orient Blue and White so wife will be happy. Spent 9/10 months getting it ready with lots of help from some dam fine folk, virtually no expense spared as I decided I wanted a bus I had total confidence in for me and the family to use. Budget blown out of the window - way out, but really pleased with end result, the workmanship the whole lot, virtually anything that could have been changed underneath was replaced with new parts - it drives just like a new bus of the early 70's - result
First real trip - Ebi4, success we go to Belgium, we all come back from Belgium on the same eurotrain - major tick in the box. Covered some 2000 miles since it came out of the workshop, still a few project bits to finish but they can wait whilst we make good use of it during the summer - build it, use it was always the plan.
Today son in law Dan(co driver to EBi4) drives it down to Dorset for a week of family camping/birthday celebration/ holiday with his wife their 3 kids - again just what it was designed to be used for, I check they get off ok, positive txt message back.
Then my phone rings a few hours later, apparently pulling away from a roundabout about 2 miles from campsite they hear a big bang - instant thought someone has gone into the back of them and hit the unfinished westy trailer - luckily not the case, but bus just won't move. They get the company of a couple of police cars for an hour until a recovery truck eventually arrives an hour and a half later - it was in a bit of a tricky place to park up!
Where are they tonight? Parked up next to skips and so forth on the premises of a terrific VW company in Wareham who allow them to stay until they are able to look at it in the morning, even allow them the keys to one of their hire buses for extra beds as they can't all sleep in my bus. Great people in the Bus scene still.
But I can't help but feel, no matter how much money you throw at something to try to get it as close to perfect or worry free as you can, so thing always seems to go wrong ... sods law or what. Hope fully tomorrow morning will find a quick and easy solution, maybe one of the brand new drive shafts failed, may be a bolt just came loose after 2000 odd miles
But tonight I still feel sick, I know everyone is safe and that's a big plus, but the kids family holiday down at Eweleaze Farm has not gone to plan, more money is probably going to be spent to get the bus going again, but on the plus side my faith in VW people continues both in the commercial world with Kamper Kombi and a lovely couple that stopped and offered to help Dan by the roadside and even offered to take the family down to the campsite
I just hope my faith returns quickly to the new bus, up to now I never worried as everything was working just as it should there seemed so little that could go wrong, but now there is going to be that little doubt in the back of my mind each time I get in it, I'll hear every last knock and creak.
It's not a sad tale, it's not a rant just realism kicking in that no matter how much joy these great old buses give us, no matter how many NOS parts you build in, or modern parts you replace their ability to kick us in places where it hurts is never likely to be far away, just hoping the joy outweighs the pain in the months ahead as I don't know if I want to keep going through this ....
Second bus, strike lucky and spot a 1971 for sale on camper crazy website for £4k more than I sold the last bus for, but it looked really good so 50% increase in purchase cost had to be worth a risk. Turned out to be 99% stock and purchased very quickly ... I was learning, wife liked the colour, I caught the train down to Lewes and drove the bus back with the biggest smile on my face ever, wonderful uneventful first journey back up to the Cotswolds - naive still? yes, but I 'd learnt a little bit more so was more confident. Bus checked out, everyone amazed at the originality. Start planning trip to France. We go, engine packs up, we come home, bus comes home later, have a new engine fitted ... we smile again
Use bus in UK, win best camper award at Camperjam without even trying, magazine article - more smiles, confidence in bus grows .... plan another trip to France. Great trip, biblical rain, sunshine, great wine, sunshine - bus breaks down, spent 2 nights on garage forecourt next to skips waiting for it to be fixed ... doesn't work out, we come home, bus comes home later, whilst in yard in Dover some continental recovery driver backs into the rear corner .... now less than 99% original, but great repair job done for £3.5k (someone else pays the bill)
Shine falls away from bus, kids admit being afraid to use it as its stock and don't want to damage it, wife hints at selling it .... me, I reluctantly agree, and my pride and joy goes to another family who had their own bad luck story and I'm happy its gone to a good home. Another magazine article .... more people like it
Sold it for more than I paid for it, thanks to the market being in my favour .... decide to look for a RHD shell to get built from scratch .... find one 1972 so still historic status, someone else gets there first and buys it, doesn't start on it for a while, offer made to buy it from him and I now have an empty shell to project manager its re-birth. Decide to put aside75% of what I sold the last bus for to build the new. Wife OK as long as it will be blue and white
Lucky me it was originally Orient Blue and White so wife will be happy. Spent 9/10 months getting it ready with lots of help from some dam fine folk, virtually no expense spared as I decided I wanted a bus I had total confidence in for me and the family to use. Budget blown out of the window - way out, but really pleased with end result, the workmanship the whole lot, virtually anything that could have been changed underneath was replaced with new parts - it drives just like a new bus of the early 70's - result
First real trip - Ebi4, success we go to Belgium, we all come back from Belgium on the same eurotrain - major tick in the box. Covered some 2000 miles since it came out of the workshop, still a few project bits to finish but they can wait whilst we make good use of it during the summer - build it, use it was always the plan.
Today son in law Dan(co driver to EBi4) drives it down to Dorset for a week of family camping/birthday celebration/ holiday with his wife their 3 kids - again just what it was designed to be used for, I check they get off ok, positive txt message back.
Then my phone rings a few hours later, apparently pulling away from a roundabout about 2 miles from campsite they hear a big bang - instant thought someone has gone into the back of them and hit the unfinished westy trailer - luckily not the case, but bus just won't move. They get the company of a couple of police cars for an hour until a recovery truck eventually arrives an hour and a half later - it was in a bit of a tricky place to park up!
Where are they tonight? Parked up next to skips and so forth on the premises of a terrific VW company in Wareham who allow them to stay until they are able to look at it in the morning, even allow them the keys to one of their hire buses for extra beds as they can't all sleep in my bus. Great people in the Bus scene still.
But I can't help but feel, no matter how much money you throw at something to try to get it as close to perfect or worry free as you can, so thing always seems to go wrong ... sods law or what. Hope fully tomorrow morning will find a quick and easy solution, maybe one of the brand new drive shafts failed, may be a bolt just came loose after 2000 odd miles
But tonight I still feel sick, I know everyone is safe and that's a big plus, but the kids family holiday down at Eweleaze Farm has not gone to plan, more money is probably going to be spent to get the bus going again, but on the plus side my faith in VW people continues both in the commercial world with Kamper Kombi and a lovely couple that stopped and offered to help Dan by the roadside and even offered to take the family down to the campsite
I just hope my faith returns quickly to the new bus, up to now I never worried as everything was working just as it should there seemed so little that could go wrong, but now there is going to be that little doubt in the back of my mind each time I get in it, I'll hear every last knock and creak.
It's not a sad tale, it's not a rant just realism kicking in that no matter how much joy these great old buses give us, no matter how many NOS parts you build in, or modern parts you replace their ability to kick us in places where it hurts is never likely to be far away, just hoping the joy outweighs the pain in the months ahead as I don't know if I want to keep going through this ....
