Buying An Old Elddis (1 Viewer)

[Roger NE]

Hi . . . I'm a first-time Motorhome buyer, looking to buy a cheap old Motorhome that I can do up myself. I do all my own car repairs and maintenance, including some bodywork, and am pretty good at DIY too.
I'm looking to spend under £6,000, so thinking of one of the Talbot Elddis vehicles, as they look quite straightforward . . . plus thousands of vans use the same engine & gearboxes, so would be easy to replace with a s/h one if ever required.
Having said that, many of these Motorhomes have done less than 100,000 miles, despite being as old as 1985 !
I figure that as long as the chassis is sound, one of these would be a resonable bet.
Any comments/advice would be appreciated !
Roger

 

[f6c]

Welcome aboard

 

[mikebeaches]

If you're OK with the mechanical side of things, then damp - possibly not immediately obvious - is your biggest risk.

But good luck!

Oh and !!

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[wigster]

 

[Grummyb]

Hello and welcome from Corby
I would make sure you go and test drive 1 before you buy it because it's 35 year old technology which means everything is bloody hard work, noisy and slow

 

[TheBig1]

the old talbots rot for fun and spare parts are getting rarer by the year. Particular rust points to check are around the windscreen and the inner wings. Not a DIY welding project, that's for sure.

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[rolosroller]

 

[stevewagner]

Easy to maintain but suffer from very bad chassis rust. I also understand gearbox parts are hard to come by.

 

[HugoBNB]

Welcome

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[gus-lopez]

 

[Figaro]

 

[Snoopy]

Hi and welcome

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[ambulancekidd]

 

[AndyPK]

Welcome from Ciren!

Rust, damp and a pain to drive - just about covers it!!!

 

[Mountain man]

Hi welcome from the Highlands of Scotland

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[Vipar]

Greetings peeps welcome from Bexley

 

[peterc10]

Aside the mechanical side there are two main things to watch for. The first is rust, as will all metal vehicles, and I guess you will be able to deal with that.

The second is damp leading to rot in the structural woodwork, which is something you will not have come across in a car (unless you own a Morgan). It can be very expensive and/or time consuming to deal with and sometimes means a complete strip out of the internals and external walls. Search for damp problems in this forum and you will see some horror stories.

Given that the prices of motorhomes have shot up in the last year I doubt you will be able to find a dry one for £6k unless you are very lucky

 

[Despicable]

Welcome!
Here's a Fiat Ducato based Elddis; smidgen over your budget, looks clean and claims no damp. No power steering, which may make tight manoeuvring on a hot summer's day a bit sweaty.
Broken Link Removed

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[Grummyb]

I just looked at the mot history because I'm a nosey git and the Speedo appears to be going backwards

 

[GirlyVanGirly]

and