I think I am about to 'take the plunge' again....

[Paul240480]

..... and get back into caravanning . I had to sell my old Swift Challenger 490SE Lux once I re-registered my cars here in France. Getting an older UK spec' van registered to meet French legislation is nigh on impossible......
So 5 years on I think I have found a French registered van that fits the bill!
Went for a look at it yesterday, it appears to be a 'minter'. One owner from new 1996. Reckon it'll look the part behind my 850.
I shall post some pics later. 10 points to whoever can guess the marque lol.

[lyron]

good luck with the purchase paul, looking forward to the pics.

[Paul240480]

Well here are a few pics of my intended purchase :



Still crossing the i's and dotting the t's with the seller chap

[The Hooded Claw]

10 points to whoever can guess the marque

I'll bet its an AXXOR 430 CDA Moorea with a Pull out Awning.. & what looks like old Astra GTE wheel Trims!!! (but it only has ONE!!!!) Observant Aren't I ???


Do I get EXTRA Points fer the Awning ????? & A Prize fer noticing the wheel trims ????


Nice one Paul .. looks in GREAT NIK does that mate


Keith

[Paul240480]

Spot on THC, after the pics made it easy for yer lol. yeh one trim has gone AWOL . And yes could well be old astra ones now you come to mention it.

Yeh the pull out jobby was fitted four years back. Comes with full awning and a porch one too. The only weird thing looking from an English spec van point of view, is lack of oven, just two hobs. And no hot water heater seems to be common here for the vans to be much lower spec than what we are used to. Does have tyres only one year old and an Alko stabiliser though

Tis on 13 pin electrics too, quite ahead of its time for a 1996 model. Ooh current owner is the first and only owner. I think he is a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to looking after this van, as I said it appears to be minty mint

[gpl1968]

I got the impression that French vans are built for much fairer weather than ours.
In the 70's/early 80's my family had a 16' caravan built in 1966 which had a crazy awning that could withstand hurricanes.
We holidayed in France a few times and on one occasion n the Dordogne there was a terrible storm in the night and in the morning, ours was the only awning still standing. I had slept in the awning, in a sleeping compartment, and didn't meven get wet.
That said, our van didn't have an oven, fridge, hot water and the cold tap was fed by a foot pump.

[moncman]

I'm not going to guess at the make or model as that's been done but I would guess at the asking price of about 6,500 Euros. I would offer 6K then after some hard bargaining meet at around 6,150 - 6,200

[Paul240480]

Well, he originally pit it up at 6.5k and I sort of dismissed it. Kept an eye out and he reduced it. I now have first refusal until next Sat' at an agreed 6k
Like 2nd hand cars here, 2nd hand vans are quite pricey when compared to UK.

[JimDay]

Well done Paul so when do you collect it then

How many berths Paul 2 & see it has a toilet compartment cassette or porta loo obviously no shower though
Looks very simalar to some of the 90's Swifts etc strange how so many vans of that era looked alike

On the oven & hot water issues not a lot of the smaller vans in the UK had these fitted as std this sort of equipment seemed to be reserved for the larger higher spec vans we have owned quite a few 80's & 90's vans and all were missing these items only ever owned 2 vans with oven & hot water one was a 93 Eldis & the one in my siggy picture good thing with the lower spec vans is you have more payload for your gear you take with you. In all honesty Paul it don't take long to boil a kettle & you can always take a micro wave oven/grill as for blown air heating use a blanket LOL

[gillberry]

We don't have hot water but in a 1967 Cheltenham caravan what do you expect . We looked at new vans recently very nice but we soon realised we also have all the mod cons ; air con , open the window and the skylight ; hot water , boil a kettle ; heater , make yourself a cup of tea/coffee (warms up the caravan as well as you) ; en suite , yep we have a sink and a toilet in the caravan . What more do you need for a nice relaxing break away from it all . Oh and on our van we have 2 doors for continentnal touring . Anyway good luck with your purchase have fun .