Honest John in The Telegraph today

Must admit to feeling that Honest John's advice today was more than a little off the mark, when someone wrote in saying they were thinking of buying a Brazilian Bay, especially as they said they had owned campers before.

Buying any vehicle as an investment is always a risk, there are very few vehicles that appreciate in value unless kept pristine for a long period of time.

I guess the statement is at least the truth (the bit about Euro standards) but nothing some underseal and Waxoyl can't address.

How can you take a 2 sentence response seriously?

It's a bit like someone saying 'I need some fun in my life. Where should I go?'

Answer: Disneyland

Good advice Tim
Honest john hasn't answered the question
I agree they aren't the the best to drive. Are they a sensible investment. What price do you put on fun.
Probably about five grand at Disneyland. In which case probably yes a good investment.

But the point about the drive is irrelevant, as the guy has had two already, so knows what they're like to drive

Have to say I do agree with Honest about rust. Our VW is about 18 months old and has more rust than our 10 year old Subaru which has never been garaged, and does all the dirty winter work. We have the first bits of rust around the guttering, and a few other tiny spots. Took the van to our local bodywork/paint experts. They were complimentary about the "Danbury" colour; green in our case, but were far from happy with the white stuff.
As we hope to be in for the long run, we are going to let them do a proper job on it which will be guaranteed, but will cost. Have to say that this does cloud our view of Danbury. Yes Matt is always very helpful and the service is fine, but for the money we pay, we would have expected that they would have done something to tackle this obvious weakness.
We think our van is great, we enjoy driving it, but we are not impressed by even a touch of rust at this age.

Rebeldog wrote:

Have to say I do agree with Honest about rust. Our VW is about 18 months old and has more rust than our 10 year old Subaru which has never been garaged, and does all the dirty winter work. We have the first bits of rust around the guttering, and a few other tiny spots. Took the van to our local bodywork/paint experts. They were complimentary about the "Danbury" colour; green in our case, but were far from happy with the white stuff.
As we hope to be in for the long run, we are going to let them do a proper job on it which will be guaranteed, but will cost. Have to say that this does cloud our view of Danbury. Yes Matt is always very helpful and the service is fine, but for the money we pay, we would have expected that they would have done something to tackle this obvious weakness.
We think our van is great, we enjoy driving it, but we are not impressed by even a touch of rust at this age.

How much preventative work have you done to protect your Kombi Rebeldog?  Have you thoroughly waxed the roof/guttering during ownership?  When you say rust, is it real rust or just discolouration?  It's common knowledge that the Brazilian paint is 'thin' and therefore as the top halves of the Danbury converted Kombis are as delivered from the factory, if the folks in Yate had to repaint that section, it would have to be paid for somewhere.  Auto paint is expensive.  

I'm not letting Danbury off the hook here, simply reaffirming that we all know the discolouration can happen and owners need to be proactive to stop it occurring.

Hi All,

Quick and easy hint...

Go to your local autofactors and buy some G3, its a mild compound that will remove surface rust. This is great for gutters and freshening up the white paint.

Ian VWK

Ianvwk wrote:

Hi All,

Quick and easy hint...

Go to your local autofactors and buy some G3, its a mild compound that will remove surface rust. This is great for gutters and freshening up the white paint.

Ian VWK

Don't rub too hard as the paint will come off .... and then wax over the top please to lock the surface.   

It is probably more pre-rust discolouration at this stage than real rust. Having looked at it all very carefully, we are probably more worried by the lack of paint for the long term. I have polished it, although I'm sure many of you do so more frequently and thoroughly. Too much enthusiasm, and I could see you going through the white paint.
Apologies for being a bit negative, but that is how we feel about it at the moment. It is reasonably wet out here, no one has garages, and we hope to solve for the long term.

Rebeldog wrote:

It is probably more pre-rust discolouration at this stage than real rust. Having looked at it all very carefully, we are probably more worried by the lack of paint for the long term. I have polished it, although I'm sure many of you do so more frequently and thoroughly. Too much enthusiasm, and I could see you going through the white paint.
Apologies for being a bit negative, but that is how we feel about it at the moment. It is reasonably wet out here, no one has garages, and we hope to solve for the long term.

I'm sure your Kombi will have you smiling through whatever the weather in the near future.

Rebeldog wrote:

It is probably more pre-rust discolouration at this stage than real rust. Having looked at it all very carefully, we are probably more worried by the lack of paint for the long term. I have polished it, although I'm sure many of you do so more frequently and thoroughly. Too much enthusiasm, and I could see you going through the white paint.
Apologies for being a bit negative, but that is how we feel about it at the moment. It is reasonably wet out here, no one has garages, and we hope to solve for the long term.

I think you get used to having to treat your pride and joy to regular TLC - after all you just need to read the posts and realise we are all in the same boat. Although you may have a relatively new vehicle it is a classic and requires the same sort of consideration. We have a 2012 plate and we spotted surface rust on some points of the gutters - we treated with rust cure and touch up paint . Hopefully we plan to have a re-spray this year adding more paint to the lower half and re-spray the top half (the same white).We plan to have Feliz for a long time so taking care of the bodywork will be a good investment.

Feliz wrote:

Hopefully we plan to have a re-spray this year adding more paint to the lower half and re-spray the top half (the same white).We plan to have Feliz for a long time so taking care of the bodywork will be a good investment.

Another respray - changing colour or sticking with what you've got?

Danbury isn't the only T2 with a rust problem, but it doesn't seem to put anyone off investing £££'s in their precious rust buckets! If I wanted an easy life I would have bought one of those monstrous modern motor homes  (no offence)  or a modern house. One buys into a lifestyle, with all the inconvenience that goes with it. Inexplicable human nature.....  

TimV wrote:

Feliz wrote:

Hopefully we plan to have a re-spray this year adding more paint to the lower half and re-spray the top half (the same white).We plan to have Feliz for a long time so taking care of the bodywork will be a good investment.

Another respray - changing colour or sticking with what you've got?

- yep another re-spray we will probably keep the same colour but get miore clear top coat this time to protect against stone chips - obviously we are concerned about maintaining the bodywork and keeping it in pristine condition.

Kaz wrote:

Danbury isn't the only T2 with a rust problem, but it doesn't seem to put anyone off investing £££'s in their precious rust buckets! If I wanted an easy life I would have bought one of those monstrous modern motor homes  (no offence)  or a modern house. One buys into a lifestyle, with all the inconvenience that goes with it. Inexplicable human nature.....  

Indeed human nature - I think we all like a challenge ,it gives us something to talk about