Having just sold my 1972 camper I,m on the lookout for a new van ideally Blue metallic LWB fairly low mileage under 40K got a budget of around 25k to either spend on a panel van and convert with pop top to sleep 3 or buy one already done.
So which dealers should i be looking at possible conversion specialists in the North West unto Carlisle!

I’ve had personal experience of getting a T5 converted by Van Bodies in Morecambe and they were very good. Although everyone else I’ve ever met with a converted Transporter seems to have used Vamoose just outside Sheffield.

If you want low mileage and be sure of its history then main dealer is the only way to go really, just scour the used section of the VW site, took me around 8 months to find the right base van, LWB should be easier to come by as they don’t get converted very often.

Bob at Van Bodies did mine too, very happy with it, there are things I would change but that’s down to the way we use it and personal preference more than anything.

A friend used Teahupoo in Rawtenstall. Good guys, will source the van for you and did an ace job of the conversion. Your problem is probably going to be the colour preference, harder to find I think, white seems to be plentiful.

have seen a few blue ones at the VW dealers thanks for the links so far!

I with your (now not so) little ‘un you’ll need to budget about £2k for the rear bed / seat. Good to see there is now a bit of choice for systems that have been tested in a bodyshell (At least RIB, Bebb and Bedrock). Using the right fitting kits / brackets is also just as important as the seat (walk away from any converter that suggests otherwise).

Rich have a look at imperial car centre website it’s in scunthorpe I think that’s where I had my van from 🙂 http://www.imperialcarcentre.co.uk/showroom

Rich, have you got contact details for Mike from our lot (thered on this forum). He’s abeen a VW car dood for a while now and has contacts in the van side. He was happy to do some leg work for me (although didn’t need him to do much in the end) and has en eye out for another one from our lot who’s on a budget.

You’ve got a bit more to spend so options may open up even more. Drop me a line if you don’t have his details.

A mate bought his T5 from http://www.leightoncars.co.uk/ and was happy with them. They did a kombi conversion on a panel van they had in stock for him.

I’ve had personal experience of getting a T5 converted by Van Bodies in Morecambe and they were very good. Although everyone else I’ve ever met with a converted Transporter seems to have used Vamoose just outside Sheffield.

I used both – lining, windows, RIBA bed at Vanbodies, roof at Vamoose.
This fella does lovely work – sources the vans and converts.

While we’re doing reccommendations, I we got ours through Alpine Campers near Bingley. Mark there is a top guy.

Another guy who has done work on my van recently mentioned one of the places above in a conversation I had with him. The rise in popularity has meant a lot of people jumping on the bandwagon so there whilst there are places new to the van thing that are wholly reliable, there are some that aren’t quite so.

I’d also avoid anywhere that seemingly just buys up standard vans and chucks Sportline-esque bumpers and wheels etc and charges a premium.

Personally i’d be looking at VW used. Mine came from them via Mark @ Alpine but has FVWSH and was actually owned by VW themselves as a parts runner so has never had bags of sand and stuff shoved in the back.

T5 threads are also useless without pics:

[url=https://flic.kr/p/qTxZgk]DSC_0743[/url] by DaveyBoyWonder, on Flickr