We are back in the flock (1 Viewer)

Sundowners

LIFE MEMBER
Oct 30, 2007
3,289
3,571
Suffolk/Central Portugal
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744
MH
A class
Exp
37 years
After having to sell our Niesmann Flair earlier this year, we can now say we are motorhomers again.

As we are now residents of Portugal we were unable to matriculate our motorhome here without a lot of grief. We have to exchange our English driving licences to Portuguese and as such lose our ‘grandads rights’. Which means we cannot drive anything over 3500kg. Also I am over 70 which was also a problem. Anyway to stay on the side of the law without too much hassle, we decided to sell the Flair and get something portuguese registered. The prices here are staggering, for our budget we would end up with an old one.

She is old, but lovely and solid, in excellent condition for a 1991, and everything works. The layout is superb, something which we didn’t want to compromise on, we have been looking for a long time, but nothing ever seemed suitable or there was a problem with them. This one is just down the road from us. Underneath is like new, not a speck of rust. Can’t get her yet, the owner is waiting for the papers to be put in his name as he has just got it, took it in on a trade-in. We are so excited, can’t wait to get away in it, even if only for a couple of days. We don’t have the urge to travel like we used to, but want to explore more of Portugal and spend more time along the Galicia coast. We have just sold our chickens and coop in readiness for going away.

Nothing could replace our Dodge and fifth wheel/camper, nor the Niesmann, it’s a new beginning. So what if it’s front wheel drive and on a Fiat, plenty about so they must be alright, can’t it?😄😄

Here is picture of her. Not pretty but functional.
EE39A824-EC86-47DA-A04B-56F68F2A4130.jpeg
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Last edited:
Feb 21, 2016
4,926
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Oh my,you’re going to have some great times exploring in her. Enjoy! :giggle:
 
Aug 18, 2011
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derbys
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since 2007.Tugger before since 1970
Looks a great van,,Get out and enjoy it..BUSBY.
 

Carol

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Oct 2, 2007
14,057
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519
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18 years s Motorhome (33years caravans)
Look forward to reading about your New travels exploring more of Portugal, look's like a Great van to me.
Happy travels
 
Jul 6, 2016
1,547
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West Sussex
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Carthago Chic A clas
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Since 1990
Van looks great. Who is the motorhome manufacturer ?

The Fiat cab zone tended to suffer from rust worm but if it's been used predominately in Portugal away from the coast, it's probably not a problem.
 

movan

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Dec 2, 2009
21,492
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She looks lovely.... perfect to make me some delicious cream cheese tarts in.

Enjoy. :)

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Sundowners

Sundowners

LIFE MEMBER
Oct 30, 2007
3,289
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Suffolk/Central Portugal
Funster No
744
MH
A class
Exp
37 years
Van looks great. Who is the motorhome manufacturer ?

The Fiat cab zone tended to suffer from rust worm but if it's been used predominately in Portugal away from the coast, it's probably not a problem.
It's made in Portugal the make is Andrade, a lot of their older ones were made of fibreglass monocoque bodies, so eliminates that problem. So many of the ones we looked at had water ingress. This one hasn't and has no rust.
 
Oct 12, 2009
10,768
23,858
SW London, Poland and all Europe
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8,876
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A Class N+B Arto 69GL
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Since 2009
After having to sell our Niesmann Flair earlier this year, we can now say we are motorhomers again.

As we are now residents of Portugal we were unable to matriculate our motorhome here without a lot of grief. We have to exchange our English driving licences to Portuguese and as such lose our ‘grandads rights’. Which means we cannot drive anything over 3500kg. Also I am over 70 which was also a problem. Anyway to stay on the side of the law without too much hassle, we decided to sell the Flair and get something portuguese registered. The prices here are staggering, for our budget we would end up with an old one.

We have a similar choice looming if we cannot resolve a re-registration problem, but less the loss of C1 which we can retain in Poland.

It is not a comfortable thought.

Were you able to get an equally staggering price for your Flair?

Geoff
 
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Sundowners

Sundowners

LIFE MEMBER
Oct 30, 2007
3,289
3,571
Suffolk/Central Portugal
Funster No
744
MH
A class
Exp
37 years
We have a similar choice looming if we cannot resolve a re-registration problem, but less the loss of C1 which we can retain in Poland.

It is not a comfortable thought.

Were you able to get an equally staggering price for your Flair?

Geoff

It really was a wrench having to sell the Flair, it had everything we wanted, it took us a while to accept the Flair after driving our Dodge Ram, but the Flair excelled all our expectations. We did reduce the price a little from our initial asking price, but very happy with what we sold it for. They do hold their prices well.

Hope you are able to keep yours. We can’t be doing with stress at our time of life and took the easier option. We had and still have the urge to do a self build but the rules and regs. here to be able to convert also could create a lot of stress. It’s a possibility we might do it when we have more time in the future, but for now we can get away at a moments notice, there is still so much of Portugal we want to see, and you never know we might venture north to Sweden once more, see how this motorhome is mechanically and if we have the confidence to take it that far, only time will tell.
 
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Sundowners

Sundowners

LIFE MEMBER
Oct 30, 2007
3,289
3,571
Suffolk/Central Portugal
Funster No
744
MH
A class
Exp
37 years
Looks like a lively moho, especially at 3.5t. Any interior pics?

Here’s a few, remember it is 29 years old. Not sure if we are tech savvy enough to work the radio/satnav though. The front seats swivel and there is also an overcab bed which we will probably use for storage.
ACB117AE-45AD-4FC3-BC7E-CCBD3B4E898F.png
1641D6F8-BFAC-4ACE-B66B-4B11635E13A3.png
E4E0678C-2687-41C0-9EB2-F1D20F6490CB.png
4F403FB2-1B82-43DA-B66A-EF3CCF3064B5.png
D496F275-221F-4CE3-8540-55199F75507F.png

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flatpackchicken

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Jun 27, 2010
1,278
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BICESTER OXFORDSHIRE
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12,314
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A Class Frankia I8000
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Since nov 2009
Aug 18, 2014
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32,898
MH
Transit PVC
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16 years since restarting
Looks like a lively moho, especially at 3.5t. Any interior pics?
Certainly looks a great van. I'd definitely check the weight plate though to see what weight it actually is as many here are built on chassis from 1,8T down to 1Tonne & the corresponding maximum gross weight is from 3,5T down to 2,35Tonnes. & yes that is for coach builts. That would definitely be a higher weight one though.
 
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Sundowners

Sundowners

LIFE MEMBER
Oct 30, 2007
3,289
3,571
Suffolk/Central Portugal
Funster No
744
MH
A class
Exp
37 years
. See you saved the batteries !!!!!!! Lol lol :) :)
They come with it. You’d love the solar system we have just installed. 8x280 watt panels, 4x230 amp German gel batteries and a 3000 watt inverter. It works a treat.

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