not an A/S but Dormobile

by frederic Sun Dec 13, 2015 11:04 am

Seen on a transporter, in sw Scotland, covered in green moss a very old Dormobile Landcruiser.
When in Kent in the early '80's we almost bought one of these fibreglass bodied motorvans.
Not sure if they were out before the a/s ones?
Hope it can be saved!
frederic
See Bedford-cf.co.UK

by burlingtonboaby Sun Dec 13, 2015 11:52 am

A couple who lived in the next village to us in Fife in the 80's had a Bedford Debonair , we had a S reg Bedford CF dormobile with a stripped side elevating roof.
Much more comfortable then the old Dubs, it had a 2.3 Vauxhall Ventoura engine with overdrive, it went like the clappers up the rest and be thankful .
Sold it for a VW LT28 Compass Autostratus with the Audi 5 cylinder engine.
Its nice to see the old vans again Ric, hope your mouldy one gets a good home.
Boaby

by frederic Sun Dec 13, 2015 12:36 pm

We did get for our first motorvan a mk I Ford side elevating roof Dormobile then saw a LHD A/S CB 22 almost new down at a garage near Dungeness Kent
Beyond our reach though
The Dorm was a rustbucket though and was followed by a CI motorhomes Sherpa with Sleeping Giant? elevating roof. Ann could just stand up in the middle with the roof down! We had a tow bar fitted and had the best of both worlds and towed our 11ft Hollivan 4 berth but no toilet room!
This did us fine till we traded the Sherpa in at Cotswolds for a Dorm Deauville
With an ally skin this did not like the salt on the roads so traded it for an AS Renault RV 50 which did trojan service for about 8 years inc a new 1400cc engine the original having secumbed to over stressing transporting of the boys and friends
On BB trips.
frederic

by biffobear Tue Feb 02, 2016 8:12 am

Just a technical point about the Bedford CF. It was never fitted with the Vauxhall Ventura Engine. It really would have gone well if it had been

by biffobear Tue Feb 02, 2016 8:22 am

Part of that post missing? Anyway the Ventura (sorry spell check insists

by boxerman Tue Feb 02, 2016 9:42 am

If you're going to nit-pick old posts, do it properly.
The model name was Ventora, not Ventura and it had a 3.3ltr ohv straight six [still got the workshop manual somewhere]
The 2.3ltr was from the Victor or VX490 and was a slant 4 belt driven ohc motor. There was also a 1.8ltr version of this engine. they were both derived from the earlier 1.6ltr & 2.0ltr which were later stroked to give the larger capacities. I believe they were the first belt driven ohc engines to be made in this country.
Rumor has it that they were originally meant to be V8s and looking at the castings, you could see that this would have been possible.

OK?

Frank

by Mayfield Tue Feb 02, 2016 12:00 pm

Drove a CF pick up for a short time in 1976. It had a good engine but seem to remember the points were a pig to replace and could only manage 20 mpg. Brian.

by frederic Tue Feb 02, 2016 12:22 pm

Yes our Bedford Deauville was a 2.3 as Boxerman said and in 1982 it cost me 50p every time I started it to move it on our drive! smile!

but it did pull well and if the RV50 (1.4l) which replaced it in our family had the bigger engine perhaps I would not have overstressed it, though in fairness to Frank at Cotswolds from where we got it, he warned us that it was a little underpowered, mind you on getting it home and looked at by our Renault Garage it was found to be down on compression in a couple of cylinders and after a top overhaul (covered by Frank) went well for 7 years as a 'troop' transporter as well as a family holiday vehicle.
frederic

not an A/S but Dormobile

not an A/S but Dormobile

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