heading to oz

[chrismk2]

hello lads, havent been on here in a while
anyways im heading to australia in 2 weeks and im intent on findind a mk1 van outside there!!
can anyone steer me in the right direction or give me a contact?
any help greatly appreciated
cheers

[FredTransit]

Best of luck mate! Nothing like crossing to the other side of the world to get what you want! Depending on where you are going, try Sundowner, he's on Oz and so are a few others.

[chrismk2]

thanks mate, hopefully ill be able to find something, ill be out theere for 12 months , were heading to melbourne so hopefully basing somewhre around melbourne/sydney/brisbane
but id have no bother travelling

[FredTransit]

Was that a deliberate attempt to make us all envious or did you do it by accident?

[chrismk2]

nah lad sorry!!
i was jealous enough of all my buddies until i decided to head out there myself, only ill be ringing a container home with me hopefully!!

[Sundowner]

If your going to be here for a while then you will need to keep a weekend clear around the start of january for the summernats

[chrismk2]

whats the summernats?
my birthday is the 26th of january, is that some special day in oz i was told?

[transitgeoff]

after 12 months you will be pineing to get back here mark my words

[Sundowner]

whats the summernats?
my birthday is the 26th of january, is that some special day in oz i was told?

its australias biggest car festival, look it up on youtube

Its a cool 17 deg c today should be a little warmer by jan, around 30-35ish

[OzzyVan]

Plenty of old vans over here, you can buy them from desperate backpackers who are heading home and need to get rid of them so that they can afford the flight, just ask around the local hostels etc.
You will have to get a road worthy (MOT) but that lasts until you sell it unless its knackered and you get pulled over then it will have to get it fixed and have another roadworthy.
Sydney or Brizvagas are best for back packer vans because thats where all the tourists go.
Visit Melbourne in the summer and get over to Tazzy, we have the best beaches, no crocks and fewer stingy bitey things.
Check out the Trading post or Gumtree websites for vans.

Have fun on your holiday.

JD

[chrismk2]

thanks for your help lad!1
i like the sound of giving some poor young lad pittance for a van
ill be on to all of ye when im out there
cheers!!

[Hydraulic Bloke]

Ozzyvan forgot to tell you Tas has the same miserable weather you have, if you want to get your skin burnt off come over my way, it only gets to 47c in the shade for a couple of weeks straight after that it hovers @ 35 for summer. Perfect for repairing transit vans especially mk1s and 2s and 3s and 4s and 5s, they do tend to boil a lot. Look for an 80s van with factory 6 in cos they come with the big oz radiator . Good luck

[chrismk2]

thanks mate, are there manyvans out there?
would it be relatively easy to pick one up?

[Hydraulic Bloke]

Sorry I didnt get back sooner But I work away sometimes. Cant say I have seen many and I travel over most SE Aust then again I mostly travel at night,may be more in Melb, try online www.tradingpost.com.au select Victoria or whole country scan,or get up google.au and search for transt. Be aware that there are long distances between towns check map mileage before,over here if they say just round the corner it could be 400k away.Hope That helps

[carnut1100]

Hey, there's another Tasmaniac on here
What part of Tassie are you at Mr Ozzyvan? I'm in the Hobart area.

Definately come to Tasmania, although the summer is probably the best time to do it. Lovely place here.

Jan 26th is Australia Day, which is the anniversary of the landing of the First Fleet in 1788 with all the convicts. Big barbeque parties and lots of beer drinking!

Summernats is the big hotrod and street machine show in Canberra. Thousands of people there and everything from dyno shootouts to burnout comps to show 'n' shine.

Mk1s and 2s are getting hard to find even here, but you should be able to pick up something. Make it a factory six and take it home to make the boys jealous!
If you get a Mk1 six though you turf the motor quick. They have a low compression 3.3 litre in them so you hoy it out and drop in a high compression 4.1 from a Falcon, identical apart from the stroker crank. You can tell them by the red rocker cover instead of blue, but you can keep the blue one for a stealth install....
A lot of the Mk2s had the crossflow 4.1 standard. Lots of them are autos though....