Two years ago, I was in the process of converting a VW T4 work van into a bespoke campervan that said something about me. I'd never done anything like it before, and had a whale of a time doing it, despite all the drawbacks, the biggest being the engine blowing on it's first trip out !
Sadly last year I had to sell it, not quite finished, and have regretted it ever since.
Which brings me to a year of saying to Jen, "I want...... I wish....... If only we had...... I WANT !" :P. Over that year I've been thinking about what sort of van would I want to convert next. The VW was nice, easy to drive, easy to park, but the space is so limited inside. I do shows where I set up a marquee and photograph pets. When I had the marquee and all the rest of the stuff I needed to get me through the day loaded up, it left little room for anything else, couldnt really take a couple of our dogs, or even one, plus if we were to use it for camping the night before a show, we'd have to dump everything outside the van to sleep in it.
So what we decided would be a nice base to get, one day, in the distant future, was a bigger type van like a Sprinter, Transit, Master. Something you could stand up in at least, preferably a LWB. Looking around we noticed there were alot of Renault Master ex Ambulances around, they even do special Ambulance auctions in Merthyr Tydfil. These seem to be ideal for a camper project because of what is normally fitted to them, ie windows, insulated, roof vent, lined walls etc. So our 'intention', was to save up and buy one 'one day', which of course never seems to happen.
Well, I think that I complained so much about wanting a new project, that Jen must have gotten really fed up, because 'one day' she emailed me a link to an auction for said Renault Master Ambulance, that was both a good price, and local ! Just for something to do, the night before the auction finished, we rang the people selling it and arranged to go and have a look at the TWO ambulances they had listed. We liked them both but I preferred the slightly newer one with the better engine, unfortunately, this one had it's air suspension removed, but it was still the better van.
In a moment of madness the next day in the last few seconds, Jen put a bid in over the starting price of £800. Her bid won it at £870 ! Oops. :P.
The people selling selling it delivered it the next day on the back of a trailer (as it had no suspension on the back), this was on a Friday !
Well that's how we ended up with it, not really looking to buy one, but it was such a bargain it really did seem silly not to !
The day it was delivered, Jen rang the NHS and asked who she could talk to regarding it's servicing. They told her to ring their Fleet Servicing. The lady Jen spoke to was very helpful and promptly emailed us the past 6 years of it's service and repair history, which detailed everything down to a lightbulb replacement. It made very good reading, so much has been done, including completely new rear brakes, a recent cam belt change, a new battery etc. We had most probably seen it driving around, it had been based around 4 miles from where we live for the past 6 years. Originally in service in Bristol from new.
So we knew we had bought a good one :).
This is the original eBay photo ......
Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:Gloucester
No comments:
Post a Comment