My Vans

I'm always on the lookout for more Bedford Rascal vans in particular - see here.

E50TKE - 1987 Bedford Bambi Camper Van

Updates:

• Fitting new carpet
• Camping for the first time
• Welding the cab for MOT
• More welding - driver's wheelarch replacement
• Dash replacement - interior colour change to grey

To do list:

• Weld new wheel arches in - Driver's side done
• Replace interior furniture with new wood
• Install new hob and sink units
• Rip out all the camper wiring and start again (properly this time!!)
• Respray the entire thing
• Install bigger engine (G16B 1.6 litre the same as my Suzuki Carry van)

I bought this little camper from the mainland unseen from Ebay. The seller had been messed around by other "buyers" so I finally got it for a very good price. I had it picked up and delivered by a local firm - I bought it on the Monday and it was over here on Thursday. It's very rough around the edges but nothing I haven't seen before. It's solid in all the right places so it's really just cosmetic work that it needs. Someone has even painted the front grille and didn't bother to pain the BEDFORD writing in white.

The list of silly niggly things seems endless - the front wheels weren't even balanced at all (no weights whatsoever), radio switches off when you indicate, it did have a bullbar at some stage but someone has just cut it off with a grinder, no fridge, no cooker, water pump doesn't work.... etc etc... but nothing I can't fix!

All in all though, I'm very pleased with it - although it's a bit rough round the edges it means that we can decorate it and tidy it up to our specification rather than buy one done to someone else's tastes.

It arrived on the truck like this... very sooty and sweep esque... takes up the space of one car (although it's slightly taller!)

Inside it looks like this:

The main problem areas that needs resolved are;

The front wheelarches (as usual):

Because the wheelarches have been VERY badly repaired in the past the doors are twisted and don't close properly. It'll also need a set of replacement doors which I have in my shed. You can see in the image below just how far out they sit at the bottom!

And finally, at some stage someone thought it was a wise idea to try and paint the original brown dashboard. They didn't use any kind of plastic primer etc so it's flaking off all over the place. Looks a right mess. I have a grey dashboard in my shed that I'll be installing in it's place. I will also be replacing the door cards and seats with later grey alternatives to tidy up the interior.

More to come....