All serious offers considered
Please scroll down for more pics!
Let me introduce you to 'Maisy' the Merc. She' s only lived with me for about 6 months but in this time she's transformed herself from a Plain Jane panel van into a nice bit of eye candy that you'd be happy for your mates to see you with! So, what did she do to turn herself around? She didn't subscribe to any fad diet, or sign up to a cheap makeover that plasters on the glam just to look good for the photos... instead she placed her trust in someone who wanted to transform her from within and let her inner beauty shine through...
OK, that 's enough of the Barbara Cartland / Mills & Boon novel. Let's take a look at the van...
I bought her in December 2010 from a firm selling electric wheelchairs (first owner from new) who had her on a main dealer servicing scheme. I took her with a view to converting her into a surf bus, and that's exactly what I did.
Unfortunately, my long term plans fell foul of a lack of foresight... my intention was to to have her ready for the summer as I'm moving to Cyprus. She would have been the perfect mobile hideaway as I escaped from the wife and kids and went kitesurfing around the island. However, just as I neared completion of the project I started making enquiries about shipping her overseas and registering her in Cyprus.
This is where it all started to unravel as the Cypriot Highway Robberies Agency (alternatively known at the Dept of Transport) informed me that I wouldn't get much change from £2500 just to register her and get her through customs! Added to this is the cost of shipping (potentially another £1000) and I had a mental image of me burning £20 notes and throwing them down the drain! Now, as a tight ar$ed Yorkshireman, this was too much to bear. So, here she is, very reluctantly up for sale!
The first thing I did when I bought her was bang her through a service, give her some nice new tyres to sit on her S-Class alloys and a brand new stainless exhaust. Then I turned my attention inside and fully insulated the rear using space blanket with a built-in vapour barrier. The walls, ceiling and floor were all insulated to increase thermal efficiency and reduce road noise. Next she was plylined and carpeted in a deep blue to give a nice cosy feeling. A non-slip vinyl floor was added for ease of cleaning and making the van more practicle.
Next came the furniture. A wardrobe and kitchen unit complete with Smev 9222 cooker/sink combi were fitted along with an MOT compliant rock'n'roll bed complete with 2 inertia reel 3-point seat belts.
The internal lighting was connected to a 110Ah leisure battery (fitted with voltage sensing relay to ensure the battery gets a good top-up as you're driving), and a 16inch flip down screen fitted to the ceiling to keep the kids entertained on those long journeys to the beach. The screen is connected to the dash-mounted flip-out DVD player so you can control what is being watched from the front seats. A credit card remote control means you can control the player from the comfort of your bed too.
Add some cab divider curtains, a skim board table with patented low profile floor mount (much nicer than drilling a big hole in the floor of the van), and the must-have rear view camera and she was almost finished. Finally, some super sexy limo tint windows were fitted along with a leather bonnet bra, and the unique, custom designed graphics were applied to the outside. All in all, she looks as cool as a penguin's pink bits!
I did have a pair of roof bars, ideal for transporting a surfboard or tying unruly kids to, but it spoilt the clean lines of the van so it was removed and stored. These will be included with the sale.
Mechanically she's sound. She starts first time, every time with none of the black belchy smoke clouds that would suggest she smokes 60 a day. She's pretty reasonable to take out too... being a diesel drinker she gives 37-40mpg. It costs about £100 to fill her to the gills (it used to be £90ish but our friend the Chancellor thought that was far too cheap) and she'll return 600 miles on a run. I tend to cruise about 50- 60mph and find that getting to my destination is a lot more chillaxed and not too much time lost. There are no rust spots or patches (apart from a rust speckled passenger door mirror glass - I didn't know glass could rust)! The odd stone chip I have encountered have been touched up as soon as I see them to keep her looking good and preventing rust. That said, she isn't brand new so there is the odd light surface scratch here and there consummate with age.
She is still registered as a van at the moment. I have the photos and paperwork ready to send off to DVLA to get her reclassified as a camper, I've just avoided this at it is potentially cheaper to register in Cyprus as a commercial vehicle. This is my backup plan if she doesn't sell on here. Apart from that, all I need to do is finish off the plumbing (an afternoon's work for me) and she's good to go.
To summarise, here's what you get for your hard earned pennies:
