These are the first pictures as it arrived home from Southern Germany, finding a suitable chassis that was in good order was not easy and with this one we definetly struck lucky.
We used the internet to search for suitable chassis to view. The best site we found was mobile.de This site is widley used in Germany as well as the rest of Europe and was invaluable. After 12 months of hunting we found this vehicle for sale at Tübingen near Stuttgart. It was originaly a special purpose vehicle with a removable body constructed from aluminium and fitted out with electronic equipment to sample air quality. Dekra had two units built, one for the north and the other for the south of the country. As the body was left at the roadside to sample air quality the chassis spent most of its life standing still. From new in 1991 till 1999 it covered only 90,000 Km and after this was layed up until bought by a local man in mid 2007 to go to Africa.
This trip did not come of and was put up for sale in mid 2008. The photographs show it as it arrived home. The only major thing we did before bringing it home to the UK was to fit 6 new Michelin 9,5 R 17,5 XZY tyres as well as the obvious checking of oil levels and happily came home without any problems.
Importing was easy enough to do, I was fortunate in that the seller spoke good English and was very helpfull. He organised the paperwork transfer and number plates for export, to do it for the first time without help would not have been easy, especially with my limited German language.
Interestingly the export plates that are valid for a set number of days, in our case 3 days, are not legal for use in the UK to drive from point of entry to destination. The export plates provide third party insurance across all mainland Europe, but cannot be used in UK, odd I know as we are all ment to be part of the EU. After contacting VOSA we were advised not to drive it, but to transport it.
On recommendation we used Commercial Deliverys Europe Ltd of Swallownest, Sheffield who provided an excelent service at a competative rate.
At first glance the chassis looks in an awfull condition, but it is actually only surface rust and is in very good order. The problem areas are the rubber components that have suffered with standing.
Once the body was removed servicing the chassis was the first job, replacing rubber bushes, servicing brakes, changing all the oils ect. A big thanks has to go to a pal who runs a local coach company who put it through his garage, thank you Graham for all you help and advice Woofs of Sedbergh
