THIS is Betty

OK I think I've got the photo-loading process sussed now. Though they are getting smaller and smaller.... (unlike our vans)

Great van you two!
This is our Henry [img][You must be registered and logged in to see this image.][/img]

That look strangely like the Marjal in Spain Mark     

Yes & that looks strangely like you're Buffy next to it Bob   

LindaandNicole wrote:

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She's a cracker  

Why Thank You kind Sirs. She is. A Cracker, a Whopper, a Beauty. All true. Mark - Betty is the bar version too, also with rear lounge so Henry's doppelganger. :-)

If you need any help or advice I will endeavour to try.
you might be interested in this link I created over a year ago

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Wow. That's impressive! You do look after Henry well don't you :-) - we're very lucky, the previous owners kept Betty very well too; since we have had her we have added a sub-woofer (so that I don't burst the existing speakers trying to hear above the engine noise - I'm used to the engine being at the BACK of the bus!) a drinking water filter, put in the motorhome WIFI aerial & mifi (and subscribed to FON at home to be able to use it free in Europe) and put in some additional LED lighting in strips. Well, we haven't done it ourselves exactly, we've employed the lovely Chris to do it for us. Other than that she's pretty much 'as original' inside :-)

You can replace the sound deadening material under the bay by the engine, should make her a bit quieter..just a thought?.

Actually, it's mostly coming from underneath the dashboard. I rather fancy one of those leather covers for the internal engine housing you can get (we've just got the original vinyl piece) - I've no idea where one would get one from though! :-)

If you look in Yellow Pages for car restorers near to you, they may be able to help or may be able to advise where you could go to get it done.  They seem to be a very close knit community who offer work to each other.

Welcome to the forum by the way and love Betty  

Quicksam wrote:

LindaandNicole wrote:

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She's a cracker  

And the motorhome is very nice as well, super looking van   

and mine is sort of looking as good


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LindaandNicole wrote:

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Am I doing something wrong here as I can't see any pictures, the one above is only visible using the quote function.
Cal

When I see these older vans, especially the old Hymer's, they do have some real character to them, and as much as it pains me to say this, they are generally put together better than English made ones. I watched a Youtube video earlier of a Swift factory tour, where they were assembling caravans. The work force were on Piece-work and they were throwing them together, I was quite shocked and disgusted when you think of the price of a new unit, be it caravan or motorhome. Betty is certainly looking good and a credit to Linda and Nicole.

debbielectric wrote:

When I see these older vans, especially the old Hymer's, they do have some real character to them, and as much as it pains me to say this, they are generally put together better than English made ones. I watched a Youtube video earlier of a Swift factory tour, where they were assembling caravans. The work force were on Piece-work and they were throwing them together, I was quite shocked and disgusted when you think of the price of a new unit, be it caravan or motorhome. Betty is certainly looking good and a credit to Linda and Nicole.

Hey Debbie, what's wrong with "Buffy" it has loads of character especially when I am in it, seriously Debbie "Betty" and Marks "Henry" are really nice m/hs I have been in Mark n Julie's and I fell for the layout as soon as I saw it, but hey ho we love ours as well. One thing we have in common with "Betty" is the noise from the engine when we are "giving it some" which is not very often but she does have a rather loud Turbo.

Turbo! you have a turbo, some of us don't, I'm not jealous though. I remember when I used to drive Setra double deck coach's to Spain, Mercedes V8 with TWO turbo's, very nice, and there is nothing at all wrong with Buffy. I seem to remember sitting in absolute luxury enjoying a cup of tea with you both, at a time when I thought I would never camp again.

debbielectric wrote:

Turbo! you have a turbo, some of us don't, I'm not jealous though. I remember when I used to drive Setra double deck coach's to Spain, Mercedes V8 with TWO turbo's, very nice, and there is nothing at all wrong with Buffy. I seem to remember sitting in absolute luxury enjoying a cup of tea with you both, at a time when I thought I would never camp again.

Yes Debbie we also remember the time and a very unhappy period it was with the loss of your dear Robert, we are so pleased you have returned to motorhoming as your skills and advice are greatly appreciated and it will be great to see you soon.

Barb n Bob

Bob I think it's an "A Class" sort of noise with all the extra space around the engine & gearbox bellowing the noise also I believe the Mercedes engines are a bit more noisey anyway than the fiat unit.
Just my knowledgeable thoughts   

I agree Mark, the engine is practically under the seats and does make a fair noise, we have gotten use to it now but going down to Spain in January I did a section of camcording with the camcorder fixed on the dashboard, we recorded the journey from the Santander docks to Cabarceno and when we watched it we realised we could not have the sound on we are recording as the noise is loud and the creaking of the big lumbering body did not help, so we never did another.

Its pity really as we came home through Spain via the National Roads (little or none on motorways) and the mountain sections where fabulous and some of the towns and villages where stunning.

debbielectric wrote:

I watched a Youtube video earlier of a Swift factory tour, where they were assembling caravans. The work force were on Piece-work and they were throwing them together, I was quite shocked and disgusted when you think of the price of a new unit, be it caravan or motorhome.

A group of us from another Motorhome forum were invited to tour the Swift factory some years ago and were shocked the work force couldn't even look up to see us touring the premises.  We all felt sorry for the workers because they were working more like robots.

dogman wrote:

LindaandNicole wrote:

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Am I doing something wrong here as I can't see any pictures, the one above is only visible using the quote function.
Cal

I can now see the pictures?????????????

dogman wrote:

dogman wrote:

LindaandNicole wrote:

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Am I doing something wrong here as I can't see any pictures, the one above is only visible using the quote function.
Cal

I can now see the pictures?????????????

And now I can't, I give up.

I can see them OK Cal, are you on a slow connection or a mobile device by any chance?

KSH wrote:

I can see them OK Cal, are you on a slow connection or a mobile device by any chance?

Now I can see them, and no I am on my PC with a good connection, this is very strange, never experienced this before.

It happens with me sometimes on my mobile, page times out before all images have loaded

KSH wrote:

It happens with me sometimes on my mobile, page times out before all images have loaded

It might be the case here Ken, funny but when I clicked on the notification link and it opened the page the image would momentarily flash up then disappear leaving the post blank.
Cal

LindaandNicole wrote:

Wow. That's impressive! You do look after Henry well don't you :-) - we're very lucky, the previous owners kept Betty very well too; since we have had her we have added a sub-woofer (so that I don't burst the existing speakers trying to hear above the engine noise - I'm used to the engine being at the BACK of the bus!) a drinking water filter, put in the motorhome WIFI aerial & mifi (and subscribed to FON at home to be able to use it free in Europe) and put in some additional LED lighting in strips. Well, we haven't done it ourselves exactly, we've employed the lovely Chris to do it for us. Other than that she's pretty much 'as original' inside :-)

Lovely van girls wish you happy travels lot bigger than the lovely orange VW .....Marie