1974 Bedford CF deluxe - food van! (Succulent Catering Co.)

[RobinOliver]

This is my most recent financial mistake.
I peeled a piece of paint off the outer sill, and a two foot long half inch thick shard of filler came off. Its so rusty that the sun visors fell off.

BUT
It runs, and moves, and stops.

With any luck, I'll make it to the gathering, and you'll all be throwing your money at me in exchange for meaty buns (vegetarian option also available) served from the back door.

I'm going to document the progress on here for anyone else interested in restoration on a budget and catering conversions. Many things I will install will also be relevant to the campervan world too.


Mission statement : turn absolute toss into less rubbish van. Follow correct legal procedures for converting, cooking, and selling food. Keep the van low budget and recycle absolutely everything possible, to allow for much lower cost food. Complete the van by the time it becomes MOT exempt. Don't acquire tetanus or asbestos poisoning

Budget : £6000

Van : £1000
Transport £300

[peteh1969]

Looks like it will be a good project bookmarked.

I hope that's Petrol in those bottles?

[mylittletony]

Feb 14, 2018 12:35:56 GMT RobinOliver said:

meaty buns

Dripping with sauce?

I'm intrigued to see this progress...

[RobinOliver]

Feb 14, 2018 12:45:38 GMT peteh1969 said:

Looks like it will be a good project bookmarked.

I hope that's Petrol in those bottles?

Very very old and separated petrol. Promise...

Feb 14, 2018 13:03:58 GMT mylittletony said:

Feb 14, 2018 12:35:56 GMT RobinOliver said:

meaty buns

Dripping with sauce?

Ｍｏｉｓｔ

[SmokeEm]

Bookmarked for the ride.

[VW]

Cool!!!
I hope you can make panels 😁
Plenty of cut up bedford pics in my build thread.

[austinpowers]

A bit of a change from the old Volvo. will be following this with interest, ummmm moist buns.

[RobinOliver]

Feb 14, 2018 21:44:28 GMT VW said:

Cool!!!
I hope you can make panels 😁
Plenty of cut up bedford pics in my build thread.

Thank you so much, those are some very useful pictures. Especially the roof guttering part.
You had a rusty corner, my entire roof needs replacing! The roof guttering around 90 percent of the back is pure filler, it's absolutely unbelievable.
The front around the windscreen is the worst - the sun visors and panel they attach to have fallen off!!

[SmokinWaffle]

I did wonder why you were asking around on Facebook about food the other day...looking foward to seeing what it turns out like! Bookmarked.

[RobinOliver]

First update of the day :



And this is just the start of a very long and rocky road to recovery.

Going shopping today and shall be stripping the rest of the curse word out, jetwashing things, and generally making everything just a little more comfortable to work on.

Today, I'll also take photos of the rust and you'll see just how brave a job this is.
I'm absolutely terrified, as although I know how to weld, there's more welding on this van that I ever imagined even being possible on any vehicle...

[steveg]

As others have said, a bit different to the Volvo ! My old Transit needed quite a lot of work but this sounds like it't going to be quite involved.
Did they ever do complete high roofs for CF's like the glass fibre Transit ones ? Just wondering if you could delete the gutters and fit a new roof straight onto the sides.
My Dad had one years ago and I still have the tappet adjusting tool somewhere but you have enough to get on with already anyway by the looks of things.

[MatsudaJakku]

Pretty sure all CF's roofs are close to falling off.
Had a camper body one in the garage before Christmas, there was a finger sized gap between the roof & the doors/windscreen!
We got it through an MOT so I'm sure you'll be fine

[Deleted]

Great stuff. Very fond of the Bedford CF. You do have your work cut out... replacement panels are non-existent and some fairly humdrum parts are so rare you'll be paying supercar prices for them.

But I'm sure you know this already, and they're great vans so well worth the effort. Have you acquainted yourself with Adrian Bailey yet?

www.roverland.eu/bedford.html

if not, treat him nicely and he'll sort you out. He gets a lot of flack from the Bedford community because he does charge a pretty penny and he's quite an eccentric character to deal with.

#Bookmarked.

PS: I look forward to buying a burger off you at Goodwood, but don't be offended if I don't actually eat it, unless your van has undergone a radical transformation by then. =)

[RobinOliver]

Thanks everyone,

Yes have have a quick mooch at that site before, shall bookmark.

I think the easiest option is going to be to delete the rain guttering entirely as is done on minis and such, then just uprated the door seals and put a few bits of weather strip around various gaps and trims. This will also allow me the opportunity to possibly raise the roof very slightly, but that may be too much work without a jig and more experience.

Today I've been out to Halfords, machine mart, paint supply store, b&q and homebase. My wallet is significantly lighter, but we have all the means necessary to strip paint off in large quantities very quickly, treat rust and bare metal, and paint over any primer'd bits that will be open to the elements. All mostly just consumables, but important things such as a mask suitable for protection from asbestos, paint that is most likely lead based, and general curse word and dust and mould spores. Knee pads and overalls too, red oxide, and lots of flap wheels and sanding belts.

Updated my last post as image wasn't working, many useful panels purchased.

Will update again this evening with todays progress!

[gazzab1978]

hi, following this with interest, many moons ago i built a fish and chip van and found some bits from caravans much cheaper than actual catering van stuff like fridges which can run lpg/12v or 240v also if you can fit a little freezer in there they normally stay frozen inside for upto 24h after unplugging if you don't open the door too often so you can keep stuff frozen during a days work without hooking up to electric.
are you planning to start up a business with it or just using for shows ect.
good luck
gary

[RobinOliver]

Feb 15, 2018 18:28:00 GMT gazzab1978 said:

hi, following this with interest, many moons ago i built a fish and chip van and found some bits from caravans much cheaper than actual catering van stuff like fridges which can run lpg/12v or 240v also if you can fit a little freezer in there they normally stay frozen inside for upto 24h after unplugging if you don't open the door too often so you can keep stuff frozen during a days work without hooking up to electric.
are you planning to start up a business with it or just using for shows ect.
good luck
gary

Thanks for that, I will bare that in mind especially as I'm considering options for power. At the moment I think my best option is to have the van running mostly lpg, then a leisure battery charged from the alternator, but I will carry a small generator for emergencies.
For now, just a thing to take to a few shows and see how it goes. I only need to profit £900 or so a month to just about survive so if I make more than that in a month on a regular basis then it will become a full time business. That's the plan!

[RobinOliver]

Progress today! Although it is technically progress, it felt like a few steps back.
It's a typical case of bad previous repairs, but they're just absolutely dreadful in this case.

£200 spent on supplies:
Overalls, respirators, gloves, rust eater, red oxide, some paint, flap wheels, wire wheels, a belt sander with belts, and much more.

Warning NSFW rust pictures. All holes will be filled.

[rblote]

I thought for a second that I saw a spot without rust...but, nope I was wrong. It's rusty too.


You are a brave man. Good luck and if you don't mind i'll check in so now and then.

cheers

[austinpowers]

I’d imagine that if you were to slam the brakes on, the chassis would stop and the body would just carry on going down the road in a shower of sparks.
Good job your not building an ice cream van. Stop me & buy one, fat chance.🍦😁
I really really hope one day I will be able to get a big greasy burger from you in this van.

[retrolegends]

Couldn't think of a better Gathering hangover cure than having a burger from a CF, good luck!