1st van, 18 months, twas a 1977 monza 1400S, bought in a state for £195, rewired (12 and 240) /gassed new carpet/wallcovering, sold it for £350, only sold then because a friend was selling a newer van.
bout this for £300, an '88 musketeer, re-wired/modernised this sold for £350 18months on, again found another van at the right price/right time.
now have a swift challenger, have re-sealed this, and intend to keep it for a while untill the kids grow out of the beds/we can afford one of those triple side bunk jobbies.
New to caravanning and have an Adria 542 Uk (New2008), though about second hand vans and looked at loads which for our price scale was 6 - 8K so therefore 2 - 5yrs old. Thought long and hard about it the age of vans vs a new one and decided we could not afford a new one just yet and an older one might have some inherent problems, which we would have to throw good money at to repair etc. . So gave up on the idea of having a van. (we had a TT) at the time so though would give that another go. Nipped into Campbells Preston on the way back from Stuart Longton - Blackpool after seeing a Lunar Chateaux (it was a big possibility).
Stuck my head in the Adria and after some haggling came away with a new Altea 542 uk for £8K (list £10,200) , Job Done. Well its been two years now and loved every minute of it, and still not managed to find a replacement (if we were looking) of similar design layout and strengths, so looks like keeping the van for a few more years yet to come.
Thanks for all the replies, it is interesting to see that it is so varied and that lots of people have changed their vans quickly if they have found a better layout...definitely food for thought!
Got my first one - an ABI Starlet as an upgrade to my old Conway Challenger as a tryout to see if vaning was as I remembered it from my childhood.
This year upgraded to my 97 Elddis Jetstream 300EX - love it!
We bought an ABI Monza in 1992 and it's still going strong. Most of our friends bought posher vans and they have all fallen to bits long ago. The fridge packed in last year so we just bought a cheap small domestic fridge from Currys and that fits the slot perfectly.
We had a freedom bought in 2002, kept it 2 years as we we're finding it a bit small, then we had mum and dads old 88 globetrotter which they had from brand new, kept it 3 3 years, then in 07 bought a br brand new swift charisma, then last year traded in the charisma for fixed bunk beds Geist we have now, Although we are waiting for geist to come back in touch about adding an additional bunk over the dinette or that is gonna have to be changed once the baby arrives in september as we have run out of beds with our son, the 2 foster girls us and the 3 dogs,.
I think you do change as you get used to the different layouts, If thre layout you have isn't working then you have to change (thats what happened with our swift) and then you think you have the layout you want and then see something else by this time you have bought and used the one you changed for in the first place., Its a blooomin nightmare but all fun.
------------- Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway.
Oh goodness i can only re=itterate what has already been said. you see a layout and then another,,,,we kept the first about a year, the second a year, now on the third, finally think a fixed bed is for us !!!
------------- wishing everyone,,,,what you would wish for yourselves x
Quote: Originally posted by secret squirrel on 08/6/2010
We wouldn't have changed this one, but I've had 6 ops in 12 years and, eventually, making/taking down the bed and climbing over said Mr Squirrel in the middle of the night got the better of me and we bought our Sancerre last year. We will (we WILL) keep this van for a long, long time and I have banned Mr Squirrel from looking at any new vans...
The Sancerre is a great van though isn't it Mrs S. If we were to change ours, I really don't know what else I would change it for.
Funnily enough, when we first looked at it, we thought it too dark!! Mr Squirrel said only last week, 'Funny I don't think it's dark at all!' We can't really fault it!
Bought our first tourer in 1985 for £250 - it was a 1960 Sprite Alpine. It had a double bed with a 4" thick sprung mattress, which folded down from the back wall. The forerunner of the fixed bed!!
We kept it for two years, during which time we handpainted the awful green outside white. We gave it to our local Hospice when we bought a newer one. They got a volunteer coachbuilder to paint it with their logo and used it for fundraising at summer fairs.
Amazing family weekend with old steam engines, classic car displays, market stalls, and full catering and bar. And camping on site - Save £25 by booking in advance.
Topic: How long did you keep your first van?
