VW Man Starter info please
 

hi, my first post and i am hoping the start of something great. I am a VW enthusiast of many many years and vehicles. I would like now to build my own overland vehicle. I like the look of these trucks and have read around the pros and cons on this site and others - there are a few for sale through german dealers (ex military) on low KM's but prices seem strong at 12K ish. Does anyone have any tips for getting hold of something cheaper? Also probably a silly question but clearly mpg is going to be limited - i am assuming that outside of europe diesel is relatively cheap?

I have plenty of skills to build a capable living space but mechanically i am a beginner so want a simple base vehicle to work on. Thought and advice please. especially from 8.136/8.150 onwers in the uk? or even south east (kent?) cheers jes

Quite a project i can say - now 2 overland trucks further. From my experience these are long haul projects taking at least 1 - 2 years to complete on max throttle. Not everyone has the energy and time to pull this through.

To find the right vehicle - look around, ask around. In rare occasions a cheaper one its a good vehicle, but there are more searching like you do. Low millage is not always a guarantee for trouble free projects. I'd rather buy a used truck with a good service record than one with low millage which has done nothing most of the time. In the trucking world, a truck parked for years and years usually means trouble ahead when suddenly taking it on a 200K journey.

I can recommend to look for +100k/200K millage vehicles (pref. private ownership) - also ones already converted to an overland vehicle. Importing your own vehicle might just get you the one you want - the process is not so difficult, just takes a bit of reading,time and sometimes import tax.

The project can get far easier with a head-start (in time and money) like having a living unit with some equipment from a previous owner. As many already have found out the real costs comes with the conversion itself- to get a living unit equipped is a lengthy and expensive affair. Of-course it heavily depends on what you require, but here is where the real money goes when you try to get stuff right.

And last but not least - how do you think your journey will look like? An overland vehicle project takes many compromises - the perfect overland truck doesn't exist IMHO. In case you want off-road capabilities to the extreme, it generally means having to drive around 99% of the time on the road (with all the offroad stuff) when it comes to crossing large distances on overland journeys.

Good luck with finding your overland truck!

Cheers!
Arno

Mobile.de is a good source for what you are after eg VW/MAN 8.135/150
with and without rear bodywork . A insulated eg fridge type rear body would be a good starting point to build your own living quarters, as these are quite ruggedly built eg
MAN 8.150 Kühlkoffer Thermo King LBW as Refrigerator body in Duisburg

obviously the lower the mileage the better , but this can be balanced against what you can do by way of overhaul in your budget You can also sell things like tailift that you dont need . HTSH