1979 VW LT 'Advantura' motorhome

[VWDan]

Okaydokay. Been pretty quiet on the car front due to the weather and not having a garage to work in, so the Jetta's hiding under a cover in the side garden till a) the weather improves; b) we've finished welding and rebuilding my trailer and the drive is free again and c) i've regained my motivation to work on it again

So, being bored at work and dreaming of owning a camper and really missing having something old and slow to drive, I came across this on the great bay of goodness:





So to cut to the chase, basically I managed to win it and i'll be picking it up on thursday afternoon I didn't manage to go and see it on saturday, so just took a gamble and went for it ;D There's a shed load of history with it, and the bloke who owns it owns a garage and seems like a decent bloke. Its apparently done 48800 miles, has 12 months MoT (with stacks of old ones to go with it as well as all the manuals etc etc) and is complete, original and in full working order. I'm keeping my fingers crossed its gonna be a good 'un. If not I can always pass it on, but hopefully i'll be having lots of fun weekends away in it next year.

Its probably not to everyone's taste, and i've not really got any major plans for it style-wise, but i'll see what its like and form some plans from there. Here's hoping i've not jumped the gun and stuck this on here before i've picked it up and it turns out to be curse word! Wish me luck

[Samage]

Niiiiiice


LTs are the way forward!

[VWDan]

Considering there's hardly any like this about, should be a bit different. Had been thinking about importing a T25 Karmann Gypsy from Germany, but as this one's less than 50 miles from home i thought it'd be rude not to have a go ;D

I just hope its got the 75bhp 6 cylinder VW 2.4 diesel and not the 65bhp 4 cylinder 2.7 Perkins in it

[skoda_norman]

where are the engines in these?

looks great, (no offence), but it looks like a shed. just so square, and the camper bit looks over-sized.

saying that, i think its great. ideal for summer weekends of camping joy.

pics on collection required!

[bryn]

ACE. Good work, I'm glad people haven't cottoned on to the fact that for the same mileage you get out of a bay or T3, you can run an LT. Then at least you can stand up in it and all your mates can get in too... Done many miles in an LT, get some 4X4 running gear for extra props, ooh, next you'll want a 7.5tonne Iveco ;D

[mrj]

LTs are great.... dreaming of a LT car transporter, would make things much easier ;D Kick out the diesel engine and throw in an Audi 5cylinder, it fits....

[gotwood]

That looks excellent mate A few years back there was a nice green westfalia lt at vanfest and it really stood out amongst the smaller dubs.
I did see a pic of a slammed and scalloped flat bed version once in vw-speed magazine a while back...I'll have to see if I can find it

[VWDan]

Cheers guys - i'm looking forward to having lots of fun in it. Hopefully it should be up to towing the trailer with the Jetta on it - race car transporter anyone ;D

VRS - the engine is up front - between the seats! Like i said, hoping its the 2.4 six cylinder VW diesel engine (non-turbo at this age though) It's certainly square - i purposely didn't put up the side-on pic coz its a bit of a wierd shape - i'll take my own pics at the weekend which should make it look better!!! Also i'll have a better idea about who did the conversion etc etc.

mrj - already got a Transporter with the 2.5i 5 cylinder Audi engine in it which shifts quite well, even if it does sup petrol. Once we've sorted the dodgy LPG conversion out it should be ok again

[qwerty]

You sooooo need to attatch some huge bulls horns like they do in texas to the front of that!!

[dollywobbler]

The five cylinder diesel is quite nice too - fitted to T4s. Non-turbo gutless again though!

I like that. Best of all, no beige or that horrible minty green that you see so often on motorhomes and caravans!

[greaz]

thats sweeet mate, bet it'll be a total curse word to work on the engine though, get some stack exhausts and chrome wheels ftw-10 - 4 good buddy

[VWDan]

Well, its home, or at least it should be as i'm still at work and left dad to drive the remainder of the way home without me following in the van! He couldn't take it over 40mph as the wheels were out of balance but apart from that it ran fine although the clutch needs adjusting as its right at the top before it bites.

Confirmed-original 48800 miles from new (not bad for 28 years) and it does have the 6 cylinder VW diesel engine - hooray - 75bhp of pure diesel power ;D

I think i'll spend tonight going through all the history and paperwork as there was a folder full.

The burgandy stripe on the sides is covering the original light brown and is peeling a little in places. I'm thinking eventually respray the stripe in an off white/cream perhaps? Little bit of rust on the bottom of the doors and passenger step, but the seams are perfect and overall its in very good condition considering the age - i'm a very happy bunny - think i've got a bargain

Pics will come at the weekend once i've given it a bit of a clean.

[dollywobbler]

Well, there had to be some light brown somewhere! Glad you got it home.

[VWDan]

Quick update.

Had a quick scoot around it when I got home (in the dark) and its in pretty good nick allround really - very original even down to the Blaupunkt radio. Its also chuffin basic in the cab - its great!

Motorhome interior is in very good original condition with hardly any wear or damage anywhere.

Only negative is that the mechanic at the garage obviously hasn't got a clue, either that or he's a bare faced liar, as its fitted with a 2.0l Perkins diesel engine and not a 2.4l 6 cylinder VW diesel - so that'd be 65bhp and a maximum speed of around 100km/h And fuel consumption in the low 20's.........oh well, can't have everything

Oops, nearly forgot, its actually an Advantura - found the following on the internet earlier:

Advantura motorhomes were made by European Motor Caravans Ltd a division of A-line Caravans. They were made in Kingston upon Hull from the mid 70's to the early 80's. The company was sold out to Carlton Motor Bodies Ltd who had ceased trading by 1985. The bodies were built on various chassis including Bedford CF, Ford Transit, VWLT and even Leyland Sherpa. The original bodies were quite angular and corrugated looking often brown or green but the final version produced from 1980 onwards was more rounded and painted in white, buff yellow and brown.

Found plenty of Bedford versions and a Transit one, but no LT's - it might be the only one !!!

[briandamaged]

Think that Perkins is a 4.165 then (4 being the number of cylinders and 165 being the engine's capacity in cubic inches), which makes it about 2.7 litres.

[VWDan]

Well, i did a Wikepedia search and that said the original Perkins engines that were fitted were 2.7 4-cylinder, but the logbook says 19**cc and there is also a note book from one of the original owners with mileage/petrol fill-ups/maintenance documented, and that says on the front 2l Perkins engine. Original VW instruction manual that came with it also says 2.0l diesel, so i'm proper confused now!

Whatever engine is in it, its definately a 4-cylinder as had a quick look last night And whatever 4-cylinder it is, its gonna be slow!!!

I'll do some proper digging at the weekend, oh, and take the obligatory pictures.

[briandamaged]

It hasn't had a Perkins Prima retro-fitted has it??? The 2-litre Prima was fitted in the Maestro/Montego/Sherpa and came in turbo and non-turbo versions....it's a pretty popular conversion in Land Rover circles as well, cracking lump.
If it has, it should look like this....

[dollywobbler]

Gutted about the engine - a six cylinder LT makes a great noise.

[Adam]

If its a Maestro / Montego engine.... I can feel a turbo conversion coming on.

Adam

[VWDan]

I'll take some pics of the engine over the christmas break when i get chance, and try and find some more details too.

Few pics:

















Got a few things inside i'd like to fix, bits of trim and so on, but nothing major. Also close to finishing welding the trailer, so that can be put back together and shifted out of the drive. Dad hard at work:



Unfortunately as i was writing this, dad limped back in the Transporter with some sort of engine problem.



So no doubt that'll be the next pile of !$&* to sit in the drive requiring attention!!!