MMM – September 2019

196 outandaboutlive.co.ukSeptember 2019

Vintage

’

vans

Expert advice on buying andrunning an older motorhome

I

t’s time to focuson the ‘average’ sums being

achieved by sellers. hemost si gnii cant

risesappear tobe with the Bedford CA

Dormobile campervansof the 1960s,with

values rising sharpl y in recent months. h ese

pretty, sliding cab door examples epitomise

British ca mping in the swinging sixties.

Demandis b eginning to outstrip supply,

to the point where well-restoredmodels

are escalating in value. hat they are now

both MoT androad tax exemptprobably

adds to the appeal, and you canexpect to

pay upwards of £12,000 for aready-to-use

Bedford CA Romany/De Luxe or Deauville

converted in the Folkestone factory. It is

the pop-top campervansthat are most in

demand, with prices rising accordingly.

he Rootes/Chrysle r Commercontinues

to increa se in value; prices are very similar to

the previously mentionedDormobile. 1960s

and 70smodels by the likes of Auto-Sleepers

(seen above), Car-Campers, Dormobile,

Haylett and many others, are indemand

and carry a current value in the order of

£12-£15,000;extremely rare and original

examples are somewhat hi gher.

As with the Bedford Dormobile, ri sing-

roof models top the popularity char t, though

some more ‘luxurious’ coachbui lts, such as

the Jennings Roadranger and Paralanian can

give the pop-tops a run fortheir money, with

£15kbeing the average.

Lagging slightly is the Mk1 andMk2 Ford

Transit, butagain there areexceptions: a MkI

Here is areader contribution this month

from GeoffPope, who has not one,but

two classicAuto-Sleeper examples in

the family...

After owning about nine motorhomes

(including two new ones) I got disillusioned

with constant faults, so

I bought a 4x4 towcar

andwent back to a

caravan. I hadforgotten

the hard work this entailed:water barrels,

mirrors,wastewater, etc, and, to be quite

honest, I didn’t enjoy towing anymore. So,

where did I go from there?

I eventually decided on anAuto-Sleeper

with the monocoque body and aFord

Transit diesel engine; pretty bombproof! I

know that they are a bit long in the tooth,

but at least they are repairablebyanyone

a bit handy with the spanners.

Afterwebought it, our daughter saw it

andfell in love with it. So, after a bit of a

search, Ifound another and it didn’t take

any convincingfor her to buy it. As you can

seebythe photos, they are a beautiful pair.

Classic corner

...lives and breathes classic

motorhomes. He currently has

a VW T4 that needs work

(it was a bargain buy) and

has been motorhoming, man

and boy, since the 1960s

Martin Wats...

THIS MONTH Martin explores the up and downs (mostly up) of classic values

Tell everyone about your vintage ’van: post to MMM

Vintage at the address on the Next Month page or email [email protected]

SHOW OFFYOUR CLASSIC!