does anyone actually know someone who has paid silly money for a van?..or is it all a game…a bit like house prices.
there is that bay on the site elsewhere for £15,000!!! :mellow:
to a sertain point you get what you pay for :rolleyes:
the bay mentioned above is an immaculate example of an early bay. if you want to see silly prices then i reckon you should check out vanfest. last year there was a rolling samba shell. no gearbox, engine, etc. no glass, rubbers or interior. that was bein pimped at £18000!
What someone is asking for and what people are prepared to pay are two entirely different things. I tend to think that prices will drop next year for bays due to the numbers being imported and with people being more skint trying to pay their mortgages, but might be wrong.
if you are willing to shop around and are not in a hurry for a van and are not scared to do a bit to it youre self there are vans out there for every budget you just have to look B)
i think you’ll no see a drop in bay prices but a defo drop in mexican beetles :lol: :lol: :lol:
i hate to say it buit i agree with keith!
the amount of bays that are being imported especially left hookers will flood the market once people get to the stage that the novelty has worn of, prices for those should drop but will it mean the prices of good right hand drive models come down also ?? i guess we shall see.
no way , it will cost so much to convert them to right hookers and body work still needs sorted so prices will not suddenly drop you may pick up a left hooker for cheaper but they suck to drive here in the uk and who wants to make driving a bay any harder than it already is …
though i have heard the price of baby blue bugs is hitting rock bottom…oh nooooo…
jigs - 2007-09-02 3:18 PM
i hate to say it buit i agree with keith!
the amount of bays that are being imported especially left hookers will flood the market once people get to the stage that the novelty has worn of, prices for those should drop but will it mean the prices of good right hand drive models come down also ?? i guess we shall see.
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
[QUOTE]mkid - 2007-09-02 3:23 PM
no way , it will cost so much to convert them to right hookers and body work still needs sorted so prices will not suddenly drop you may pick up a left hooker for cheaper but they suck to drive here in the uk and who wants to make driving a bay any harder than it already is …
who mentioned converting them ???
though i have heard the price of baby blue bugs is hitting rock bottom…oh nooooo…
i dont know any for sale so thats fine.
:rasp
if you can do most of the work then you will get a cheap split or a bay .ive had 3 splits and were all under £2500 to buy my latest one came from California cost me £2500 and is 95%rust free . vanfest is just a rip off for buying .
I hope the prices don’t drop just yet. I’ve still got one an Aussie import bay to sell.
I probably paid too much for my Syncro but it’s a beast and very well put together. I paid the cash because I wanted to get in and enjoy it not spend a mass of time restoring it (one too many of those projects in the garage). Since I bought 12 months ago I must of easily shelled out another grand keeping it on the road. Sometimes I wish I had a cheaper hobby like knitting but then again knitting isn’t so cool.
jigs - 2007-09-02 3:18 PM
i hate to say it buit i agree with keith!
the amount of bays that are being imported especially left hookers will flood the market once people get to the stage that the novelty has worn of, prices for those should drop but will it mean the prices of good right hand drive models come down also ?? i guess we shall see.
An insult masquerading as a compliment, cheer Jigs.
Anyone who thinks that prices will always go up and never come down are kidding themselves. Its all about desirability versus supply. Over the last few years more folk than ever have fancied the idea of going camping in a camper. But there will be a large proportion of them who realise that there is a downside, ie the cost and hassle of owning and reparing what is an old vehicle. If you are a total enthusiast you will put up with the hassle, we do. But much of the recent demand has been from folk who fancy the lifestyle but not the hassle. When you consider the cost of a 2 week holiday somewhere sunny is less than the cost of running an old van, it doesn’t take much to decide that you’ve had enough and sell it on. Get a lot of folk doing this and prices will drop. The point about the crap summer above is a good one. That could have a large effect next year and over the winter.
Paid £6.5k for our LHD German 76 Bay in May, and we were told that good ones are getting harder to find. Now that could be a line, but there are less and less GB RHD vans all the time, and I don’t think that there is such a huge import business that prices will crash.
I hope and expect to still have our van in 10 years, it’s been excellent as a weekend van and copes well enough with daily use. It is our only vehicle, and it’s as reliable as anything else out there.
I know we may have a rise in demand just now because there’s lots of people like us who want more than a daily drudge mobile, but even with lots of imports prices show no sign of dropping yet, people will have been dropping in and out of the market over the years without crashes. People now want ‘experiences’ more than material things, and can you beat a van for that? Budget holidays in a van cannot be beaten in my opinion.
As far as maintenance and cost are concerned my view is this: a car will lose you £100 a month in depreciation, + over a year it might cost you another £20-50-100 a month for garage bills depending on how lucky you are.
Maintenance of a decent old van might well just cost you £100-£200 - the same as a car. Unlucky and your weekend hotel might just go up in price a bit, but to a bearable level.
I’ll take that risk, and let others do the same, and I’ll keep my eyes open for the drop out market to pick up a bargain at a quitters expense.
Jeez I hope I don’t regret what I’ve just said, especially the use of the word ‘reliable’.
i bought a splitscreen van in 1983 for £500…(the one in the lothians club bridge photo) and ran it for 7 years ,loved it…but for some reason my wife kept having children…so i sold the van for the fair price of £1000…i wish i still had the van ( dont have the wife now) such is life…lol…thinking about a t4…tdi and converting to a 2 berth …hitch a trailer and tow my harley with me, how cool is that? allways go for value for your money, dont pay a silly price.
That should teach us a lesson to us all.
Always listen to the van needs first, for it will never ask you for a divorce and leave you with half your fortune.
Priorities.
Cheers,
SdL
Prices don’t really come into it for me. My Bays not a desirable Westfalia just a rusty old Danbury. I intend to keep the van and pass it onto my Son (so he keeps telling me!!) I bought the van as I’ve always wanted one, got it reasonably cheap and will probably spend loads more on it. It was bought to serve a purpose and i enjoy working on it and use it as often as possible,I dont own it to let it sit on the drive. All the mag super resto vans are nice but thats not what its about for me, though I appreciate the work and effort put into them. Bob’s Van was an excellent example of an Early Bay and deserved the price tag and i hope he recieved it. Most of these fads are cyclic so it will go out of fashion again soon and I will still have my van. 
just back from vanfest and the prices of vans was not as ridiculous as last year. a few daftys but nothin like split shell for 18k. it seems that there people are droppin their prices as its now easy and economically feasible to import a rust free van. the amount of left hookers that were on display and for sale was incredible. lots of nice vans, lots of foreign vans and very little beetles. although mkid, there was an awesome split van rod. yes you heard. a split van with a chopped :axe front end, phat back tyres, mahoosive 2.4 engine, no engine bay lid and no shame. i repeat, no shame. got a pic but am too tired and wasted to transfer from phone to pc. you can wait. will start a vanfest banter thread if noone else beats me too it.
also, rob, sorry bout the table. and jamie, sorry for (instigating and ssein through) movin you, mid slumber, to the back of that building i’m due you a beer?
right scudbooks, i’m away for a toastie and a brew.
cheers
alan