80s campervan, FB marketplace edition
Discussion
Hi all,
Had a horribly impulse moment last week when I agreed to go thirds with some friends on a 1984 VW T25(T3) high top campervan.
My friend found it on FB marketplace, a bright yellow (probably hand painted) water-cooled 1.9 with only "35,000" on it. Although the owner rightly doesntt believe that.
It needs attention, mainly in the interior, and has no MOT. However, get it through this one and as its 40 years old, it may well be its last.
Underneath it looks solid in my opinion. Has clearly been mostly cared for and the chassis is in very good condition. It starts, moves, stops and steers well with a hilariously vague gearbox. It's had a new clutch and flywheel too.
At only £2000 (£666 for my third) I think it's worth a shot. Good ones of these go for anything upwards of £7000.
Next steps is to pick it up this week, attempt to drive it 30 miles to an MOT and then let the renovation commence.
Vague plan so far is to give it a full service, a deep clean and do all the reliability items (brakes, cooling etc) then do up the interior with slightly different layout, improve the electrics, add solar panels.
Long term will to be paint it but we'd just like to get it usable over winter and enjoy it in summer 2025.
My personal plan is to get it to Le Mans in '25. Let's see how far it gets.
Updates to follow.
Had a horribly impulse moment last week when I agreed to go thirds with some friends on a 1984 VW T25(T3) high top campervan.
My friend found it on FB marketplace, a bright yellow (probably hand painted) water-cooled 1.9 with only "35,000" on it. Although the owner rightly doesntt believe that.
It needs attention, mainly in the interior, and has no MOT. However, get it through this one and as its 40 years old, it may well be its last.
Underneath it looks solid in my opinion. Has clearly been mostly cared for and the chassis is in very good condition. It starts, moves, stops and steers well with a hilariously vague gearbox. It's had a new clutch and flywheel too.
At only £2000 (£666 for my third) I think it's worth a shot. Good ones of these go for anything upwards of £7000.
Next steps is to pick it up this week, attempt to drive it 30 miles to an MOT and then let the renovation commence.
Vague plan so far is to give it a full service, a deep clean and do all the reliability items (brakes, cooling etc) then do up the interior with slightly different layout, improve the electrics, add solar panels.
Long term will to be paint it but we'd just like to get it usable over winter and enjoy it in summer 2025.
My personal plan is to get it to Le Mans in '25. Let's see how far it gets.
Updates to follow.
Friday was pickup day!
My friends and I drove down to collect it. The first issue was that it was a wet day and the wipers weren't working. We were due to pick up some service bits from Just Kampers down the road so swung by to try and get parts to fix the wipers, but no luck!
First glimpse of our potential mistake..
The first drive was interesting as it hadn't been driven in 2 years, drove out onto the road and it died. Struggled to restart but maybe it was just cold. Once we got going though it was much better and drove really well. Pulls better than I thought (it either has 55hp or 80hp) and rides very well. The brakes need work and there's a big oil leak, but we'll get that to that.
First job was to clean it...
The roof is caked with moss and green which is very stubborn and the paint is very bad. It's been handed paint badly.
The plan now is to get it MOT ready, clean the interior and generally do a big service
My friends and I drove down to collect it. The first issue was that it was a wet day and the wipers weren't working. We were due to pick up some service bits from Just Kampers down the road so swung by to try and get parts to fix the wipers, but no luck!
First glimpse of our potential mistake..
The first drive was interesting as it hadn't been driven in 2 years, drove out onto the road and it died. Struggled to restart but maybe it was just cold. Once we got going though it was much better and drove really well. Pulls better than I thought (it either has 55hp or 80hp) and rides very well. The brakes need work and there's a big oil leak, but we'll get that to that.
First job was to clean it...
The roof is caked with moss and green which is very stubborn and the paint is very bad. It's been handed paint badly.
The plan now is to get it MOT ready, clean the interior and generally do a big service
This has money pit and waiting for the AA by the side of a motorway written all over it. 
I wish you good luck. To be fair from what I remember the t3's have much more "character" than the newer models and also a much nicer place to sit in when in camp mode due to the large windows and more airy feel.
I wish you good luck. To be fair from what I remember the t3's have much more "character" than the newer models and also a much nicer place to sit in when in camp mode due to the large windows and more airy feel.
Tim Cognito said:
This has money pit and waiting for the AA by the side of a motorway written all over it.
I wish you good luck. To be fair from what I remember the t3's have much more "character" than the newer models and also a much nicer place to sit in when in camp mode due to the large windows and more airy feel.
Haha it does have the potential for it, but due to the price we've taken risk. Yeah it's airy inside for sure!I wish you good luck. To be fair from what I remember the t3's have much more "character" than the newer models and also a much nicer place to sit in when in camp mode due to the large windows and more airy feel.
Cambs_Stuart said:
That looks like a potential bargain. And it's also much better for a wash. How is the body for rust?
The body actually seems okay, there's a few patches for sure, but after seeing Autoalex's video where he bought a similar one, it's much better than that one from having a good poke about. Chassis seems decent too.We think it was cheap as it pretty much needs a new interior. My friend is between jobs and pretty handy so will be doing all the work over winter.
That looks like a bargain, that will be a lot fun tinkering/titivating; a whole world of fun awaits you.
Sloppy gearbox, they’re all like that Sir, a little asthmatic, its carting a house around, what do expect.
Paint job, V-dub parlance ‘patina’ sorted. Looking forward to updates, thank you for sharing.
Sloppy gearbox, they’re all like that Sir, a little asthmatic, its carting a house around, what do expect.
Paint job, V-dub parlance ‘patina’ sorted. Looking forward to updates, thank you for sharing.
littlebasher said:
Wonder what's hiding under that paint
Nice to see they took the time to mask / remove the badges first
Yeah it's a very poor job, and could be a nightmare. Theres definitely bad things hiding. But as its a toy that will be rarely used, as long as its useable, we'll be happy.Nice to see they took the time to mask / remove the badges first
daqinggregg said:
That looks like a bargain, that will be a lot fun tinkering/titivating; a whole world of fun awaits you.
Sloppy gearbox, they’re all like that Sir, a little asthmatic, its carting a house around, what do expect.
Paint job, V-dub parlance ‘patina’ sorted. Looking forward to updates, thank you for sharing.
Yeah that's what we hope! No problemSloppy gearbox, they’re all like that Sir, a little asthmatic, its carting a house around, what do expect.
Paint job, V-dub parlance ‘patina’ sorted. Looking forward to updates, thank you for sharing.
Hi all,
Thanks for the interest! And yeah, maybe the bubble has burst in the 'dub scene 😞
Haven't had much time to work on it due to work commitments however we've been doing lots of research on how to fix the wipers and horn and have joined the very helpful T25 'club 80-90' forum.
For the oil leak, we've bought a few new bits to try and cure that. A pipe from the breather tower was all bent and twisting and could have been the culprit as it was caked in oil at one end so have replaced that and time will tell.
One big win last night was this..." what does this lever do?"
It's got a spinny chair!
Thanks for the interest! And yeah, maybe the bubble has burst in the 'dub scene 😞
Haven't had much time to work on it due to work commitments however we've been doing lots of research on how to fix the wipers and horn and have joined the very helpful T25 'club 80-90' forum.
For the oil leak, we've bought a few new bits to try and cure that. A pipe from the breather tower was all bent and twisting and could have been the culprit as it was caked in oil at one end so have replaced that and time will tell.
One big win last night was this..." what does this lever do?"
It's got a spinny chair!
Very good luck, OP. We paid a fair bit more for one that is a fair bit more s
t. Ours also has crap paint applied by hand. Hammerite, to be precise. In case anyone was wondering if Hammerite is a good paint for your car's bodywork, it isn't. It's st.
Our one's roof leaks too. It has rusted through where the gutter meets the fibreglass roof.
And the throttle cable is frayed, so once you press the accelerator, it stays pressed. Think of it as a rudimentary form of cruise control that tries to kill you.
The speedo is comically bad. And the fuel gauge doesn't work. And the idle control unit has been disconnected from the engine by cutting through all its wires. And the headlights are useless.
Once our barn is finally repaired (18 months in), I'll have somewhere dry to park the T25 and I'm going to start fixing the bloody thing. Or I may set fire to it.
We had a few good, short trips in the bloody thing before the recent hiatus. I'm prepared to have a go at repairing it ... I think ... or there may be a fire
t. Ours also has crap paint applied by hand. Hammerite, to be precise. In case anyone was wondering if Hammerite is a good paint for your car's bodywork, it isn't. It's st. Our one's roof leaks too. It has rusted through where the gutter meets the fibreglass roof.
And the throttle cable is frayed, so once you press the accelerator, it stays pressed. Think of it as a rudimentary form of cruise control that tries to kill you.
The speedo is comically bad. And the fuel gauge doesn't work. And the idle control unit has been disconnected from the engine by cutting through all its wires. And the headlights are useless.
Once our barn is finally repaired (18 months in), I'll have somewhere dry to park the T25 and I'm going to start fixing the bloody thing. Or I may set fire to it.
We had a few good, short trips in the bloody thing before the recent hiatus. I'm prepared to have a go at repairing it ... I think ... or there may be a fire
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