18 Months ago me and the wife decided for our honeymoon we would do two weeks in cornwall in a tent and the mini. I got made redundant shortly after this so we decided to hell with being sensible and saving the money, lets get a camper for the honeymoon instead of tenting it. We had some friends with a VW LT minibus they had converted and having spent a few nights in it on their driveway at parties we could see the attraction.
So eBay came calling and I started looking for a late Bay for about £2K. THe plan was to get a runner that would last the summer that we could then do a rolling resto on from that point onwards. Well eBay campers are tre expensive and I realised I wasn't going to find anything suitable with the budget we had on there so I turned to VW forums etc and it quickly became apparent that any bay for £2K wouldn't last a trip to our local Tesco's let alone a 500 mile round trip of the west country.
Back to tents seemed the only option but I kept my eye on the classifieds on vzi just in case something popped up. Low and behold about 2 days later I spotted an add for a T3 Transporter. It really didn't fit the bill as it was ust an empty panel van (ex builders van) that had a slider with a window fitted. We decided to go and have a look as it was localish and it would give us a good idea of what a T3 was like over a Bay. Armed with a load of research on what to look out for on T3's we went to go and have look. 3 hrs and £900 later it was parked outside our flat.
This is what she looked like when we got her:-
Not entirely stock as she had the window slider, Merc Penta wheels, Front dors with quarter lights and Captains seats up front. There was also a rather manky mattress in the back that went straight to the tip. Other than that she was an empty panel van and the history seems to show she was leased to a building firm for 3 years by VW when new. SHe had 75,000 miles on the clock, fullish service history, 10 months MOT and 10 months Tax. She was very tidy with only a few tiny scabs of rust.
So there we were with an empty van and 8 weeks till the honeymoon. Operation "Build campervan" commenced with a trip to B&Q to buy a lot of wood and some tools. By the time we went on honeymoon I had made a folding bed/sofa, a cupboard and a stand for a gas cooker I'd bought off eBay. I'd also bought and fitted a leisure battery, a splitt charge system and fitted some lighting in the back. While this interior was functional it was badly made (by me!) and looked bloomin rubbish. That said it last a year and I was quite proud of it as I had never done anything like that before.
Here are some snaps from the honeymoon, including my home made sun shade and the home tinted rear lights:-
THis one was at a didje festival we stopped at on our way home
We did a few more trips in her during the rest of 06 to mostly mini and VW shows. Over the winter we had severe money problems and she was stashed at my folks with no MOT or Tax.
07 and with summer fast approaching it was time I got her back on the road for summer usage and our weeks holiday for our 1st wedding anni. To do this I had to sell my beloved MKII Golf Gti 8v.
I also came into a small amount of money through re doing some of my loans to a better deal. With this extra cash there was only one thing to do. Hit her with the lowering stick and fit a better exhaust. After a few attempts and rather a lot of small problems I had her taxed and tested and back on the road. As I still had some money left I decided to try refurbing the wheels myself as they were starting to look mighty aweful. I also managed to pick up a home built (but much better than mine) interior for her for not much cash. So below are the pics as she is today:-
Future plans are to finish the interior by boarding it all up properly with insulation etc. Exteria wise the winter at my parents took it's toll and the seams need attention, I'm hoping to strip it back after the summer and repair the body work and then next spring repaint her the same colour with Rustoleom. My neighbour has an identicle van in white and he is also doing his bodywork the same way which is great as we can help and learn from each other.
Right that's enough waffle from me, I've gotta skip of fhome in a bit to go and pack the old girl as we're off to Harlyn for a week in her in the early hours of tomorrow morning.
Nick
So eBay came calling and I started looking for a late Bay for about £2K. THe plan was to get a runner that would last the summer that we could then do a rolling resto on from that point onwards. Well eBay campers are tre expensive and I realised I wasn't going to find anything suitable with the budget we had on there so I turned to VW forums etc and it quickly became apparent that any bay for £2K wouldn't last a trip to our local Tesco's let alone a 500 mile round trip of the west country.
Back to tents seemed the only option but I kept my eye on the classifieds on vzi just in case something popped up. Low and behold about 2 days later I spotted an add for a T3 Transporter. It really didn't fit the bill as it was ust an empty panel van (ex builders van) that had a slider with a window fitted. We decided to go and have a look as it was localish and it would give us a good idea of what a T3 was like over a Bay. Armed with a load of research on what to look out for on T3's we went to go and have look. 3 hrs and £900 later it was parked outside our flat.
This is what she looked like when we got her:-
Not entirely stock as she had the window slider, Merc Penta wheels, Front dors with quarter lights and Captains seats up front. There was also a rather manky mattress in the back that went straight to the tip. Other than that she was an empty panel van and the history seems to show she was leased to a building firm for 3 years by VW when new. SHe had 75,000 miles on the clock, fullish service history, 10 months MOT and 10 months Tax. She was very tidy with only a few tiny scabs of rust.
So there we were with an empty van and 8 weeks till the honeymoon. Operation "Build campervan" commenced with a trip to B&Q to buy a lot of wood and some tools. By the time we went on honeymoon I had made a folding bed/sofa, a cupboard and a stand for a gas cooker I'd bought off eBay. I'd also bought and fitted a leisure battery, a splitt charge system and fitted some lighting in the back. While this interior was functional it was badly made (by me!) and looked bloomin rubbish. That said it last a year and I was quite proud of it as I had never done anything like that before.
Here are some snaps from the honeymoon, including my home made sun shade and the home tinted rear lights:-
THis one was at a didje festival we stopped at on our way home
We did a few more trips in her during the rest of 06 to mostly mini and VW shows. Over the winter we had severe money problems and she was stashed at my folks with no MOT or Tax.
07 and with summer fast approaching it was time I got her back on the road for summer usage and our weeks holiday for our 1st wedding anni. To do this I had to sell my beloved MKII Golf Gti 8v.
I also came into a small amount of money through re doing some of my loans to a better deal. With this extra cash there was only one thing to do. Hit her with the lowering stick and fit a better exhaust. After a few attempts and rather a lot of small problems I had her taxed and tested and back on the road. As I still had some money left I decided to try refurbing the wheels myself as they were starting to look mighty aweful. I also managed to pick up a home built (but much better than mine) interior for her for not much cash. So below are the pics as she is today:-
Future plans are to finish the interior by boarding it all up properly with insulation etc. Exteria wise the winter at my parents took it's toll and the seams need attention, I'm hoping to strip it back after the summer and repair the body work and then next spring repaint her the same colour with Rustoleom. My neighbour has an identicle van in white and he is also doing his bodywork the same way which is great as we can help and learn from each other.
Right that's enough waffle from me, I've gotta skip of fhome in a bit to go and pack the old girl as we're off to Harlyn for a week in her in the early hours of tomorrow morning.
Nick
