OT Restoration although with some Porsche content...

Ongoing and archived Porsche (and other marques) restoration threads from DDK members

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Darren65
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Re: OT Restoration although with some Porsche content...

Post by Darren65 »

Thanks for all the nice comments guys :)
964RS wrote:Darren, loved this thread. Great skills all round and cool finished product.

I have to ask though - how much is something like this finished actually worth?

And how much do you spend in getting it to this standard?

All through it I have thought this must cost way more to do than it's worth.....but I only have vintage Porsche experience and if you are not doing it yourself we all know how big those bills can get!! :shock: :shock:
To answer your question properly Jason (just in case there's any potential punters reading :wink: ) I'll soon be launching our new website which will see the official introduction of 'Swindon Car & Van Classic Collection' and will be offering original unrestored 2CV based vans for around £3,000-£4,000 + VAT or fully restored examples for between £12,000-£14,000 + VAT depending on model and specification :shock:

Obviously quite a price although if I were to work out true cost on a commercial basis for mechanical/paint at £45/£35 per hour then I expect I'd be making a loss. But then this isn't really for profit, just tremendous fun and the restorations are great fill-in work that break up general day to day stuff. I could sell the vans for much less by cutting back on detail and parts and by using liberal amounts of filler but then that's not my style.

The plan is to market the vans to business users mainly for promotional purposes although hope they'll also be used as a proper workhorse. Considering all the attention this van received in Bath on Friday for a business it's a tiny marketing cost and will remain a valueable asset.

I only plan to sell one or two vans a year and i'm looking forward to see what interest there is - if worst case scenario I don't find any buyers at least I'll have some interesting new vans for the hire fleet! :wink:

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Re: OT Restoration although with some Porsche content...

Post by Bruce M »

:thumbright: :salute:
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Re: OT Restoration although with some Porsche content...

Post by Barry »

Looks fabulous: the new owner must be over the moon 8) . Really does look very special.

Love the colour BTW.
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Re: OT Restoration although with some Porsche content...

Post by ger »

Fabulous restoration !!!
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Re: OT Restoration although with some Porsche content...

Post by squirdan »

been out and about in Battersea a bit in the last week and these 2 caught my eye Darren

I like the landrover style light cages on the 2cv van...

its clearly not just a Bath thing !

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Megane R26R
Discovery Sport
Defender 110
BMW R9T
Trek Superfly
but sadly no Porsches any more
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Re: OT Restoration although with some Porsche content...

Post by Darren65 »

Cheers Dan,

Alan Lloyd who supplied me with my first 2CV van operates H Van World http://hvanworld.co.uk/ and he sells a lot of H Vans to the catering trade mainly in the London area, they certainly stand out 8) - part of the inspiration behind my latest venture :wink:

The 2CV you've pictured is another late AK400 the same as this restoration although it's had a plate welded over the side probably as they nearly all have side windows.

If anyone is interested, the chap who sold me the bulk of my vans is selling his own 1965 mint original unrestored AZU. He's owned it for a number of years, it's UK registered and I believe has a genuine 37,000 Klms on the clock! :shock:
A gorgeous hardly used van that would just need basic recommissioning to get it back on the road, beautiful and unrepeatable, I believe he's looking for offers in the region of £8000 - PM me for contact details:

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Re: OT Restoration although with some Porsche content...

Post by squirdan »

but can it carry a farmer and basket of eggs over a ploughed field without any of them breaking?
Megane R26R
Discovery Sport
Defender 110
BMW R9T
Trek Superfly
but sadly no Porsches any more
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Re: OT Restoration although with some Porsche content...

Post by Darren65 »

squirdan wrote:but can it carry a farmer and basket of eggs over a ploughed field without any of them breaking?
Oh yes, and whizz over speed bumps as though they're not even there! :P
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Re: OT Restoration although with some Porsche content...

Post by Darren65 »

Reading back through this seven year old thread recently made me smile so thought I'd update things.

The featured AK400 went on to lead a glamorous life in Bath (potentially now for sale, PM me for details)......

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....whereas the several other acquired vehicles languished untouched (but not unloved) for many, many years.....

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....partly due to our Lambretta hoarding, project loving mechanic leaving us although mainly due to getting busy and WORK getting in the way! :?

....but then I had a lucky break :P .....
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Re: OT Restoration although with some Porsche content...

Post by Darren65 »

....the lucky break came when an English chap living in Belgium found an old sales advert for one of the vans, a 1964 AK350, and asked if he could send over his chap to take a look?....

....that chap happened to be Rick Pembro, an early Citroen gearbox and steering rack Guru and general mobile 2CV legend mechanic who spends his days travelling far and wide to help his fellow 2CV clan....I asked if he could help with a couple of mine and the rest, as they say, is history! :cheers: .....

....we finally got around to building the AK350 promotional vehicle I had long planned....

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...which after the full treatment did turn out rather nice.....

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....although whilst growing impatient for this one to get finished and needing an early Citroen to drive Rick did highlight this splendid AK250 as a stop gap.....

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....an older restoration that had hardly been used, this van was fully recommissioned and has been lovingly used for the past couple of years.....this one is definitely for sale..... https://swindoncarandvan.co.uk/vans-for ... 250-model/

....
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Re: OT Restoration although with some Porsche content...

Post by Darren65 »

...Rick and I have become good friends....he often comes and stays over for a couple of days, works late into the evening and then likes a sherbet or four in the pub (even on a school night :drunken: ) where we natter about old cars in general but mainly about old Citroen's :) ...

....during one of drunken conversations I asked what we should do with one of the ratty old AZU's and he suggested buying this.....

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.....
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Re: OT Restoration although with some Porsche content...

Post by Darren65 »

....as well as the vans I did buy an old car but only for a few pounds to be used for spares....rotten to start with, life outside for several years wasn't kind to the car....

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.....some time later I discovered that this old wreck was a desirable 1980 drum brake Charlston and one of only seven imported that year in Burgandy and Black so I applied for, and recieved, a V5.......now if you planned to restore an early 2CV then this is a good model to start with....but then I've always loved this photo and dream of open roof driving in the Alps, albeit slowly!....

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....well after a couple of nice summers and strong inspiration the Charlston is getting a new lease of life....although in a Porsche colour to add a little speed :) ....

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...the chassis had collapsed in the middle but luckily I found a NOS steel one, these help the car drive so much better than galvanized....

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...again it's having the full treatment with a slightly warmed 652cc engine...

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....
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Re: OT Restoration although with some Porsche content...

Post by Darren65 »

...but by far the most fun project has come from Rick's drunken discussion about BMW racers 8) ....

...a tired and worn out AZU had it's old heart put by for safe keeping.....

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...a new strengthed chassis was commissioned....

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....new floors, bulkhead and sills grafted onto the worn out body....

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.....Rich in the bodyshop did a great job of blending new paint with the old....

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....the chassis has received uprated cans with stiffer suspension, uprated brakes etc...

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.....along with a 90HP BMW 1100RT engine....

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....exhaust has been fabricated by a local Lomax driving drinking buddy....

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...Rick wanted me to have wider banded wheels however I wanted the van to look as stock as possible with narrow wheels but did conceed to buying new items .....brand new wheels (far left) would have obviously looked wrong so Rich made the new look old :) .....

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....I also conceeded to fitting wider 135 rubber ......

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....
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Re: OT Restoration although with some Porsche content...

Post by Darren65 »

...the rat van is now largely finished with just a couple of items needed for MOT and registration....

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.....the van is pretty quick and surprsingly drivable....Bonkers but fun, I think I might shock a few people! :lol:

https://youtu.be/kTB1l6naQuA

https://youtu.be/NqpX-ezYwY4

....which pretty much brings me up to speed....two crusty old vans left, one of which Rick is having for his efforts and the last I'll probably turn into a coffee vans. But that's for another day! :?

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Re: OT Restoration although with some Porsche content...

Post by Bootsy »

Top stuff!
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