Bedford /vauxhall rascal

[Blobber]

Thanks for your experiences opinions and anecdotes so far guys ,

May go for a viewing if it's still available ,

Better take my phone number your gonna need it

 

[GRW]

I drove one quite a lot maybe 30 years ago.
There's sod-all in front of you. If I recall, the back of the headlamp was protruding into the footwell in front of the throttle pedal .

I was a lead-footed loon back then, & regularly stepped off motorbikes pushing over the limit.... but driving that tin can made me think twice about my squishy organic construction!

 

[500e]

Have a look here a look here mainly Daihatsu

Micro Van Owners

Daihatsu Hijet forum, Suzuki Carry, Bedford Rascal, Kai.

hijet.forumotion.com

Mate has a camper been to Spain a couple of times also there is a workshop library on the site last time I looked

 

[Mikey D]

Are u a motor factors or specialist ? @Blobber

 

[Blobber]

Vauxhall/Opel/Bedford obsolete parts supplier covering the 1960s to 2010ish

 

[Pond frog]

There’s a dealer near me that specialises in micro vans , Japanese imports. I like the look of the 4x4 ones http://newacrecars.com/vehicle/rese...50cc-petrol-63000-miles-stock-number-w45-385/

 

[Shedendman]

On them,the word rot is a sure case to keep on walking away

 

[Mikey D]

Yea but it's a welding forum after all
Who doesn't enjoy welding paper thin rust ?? (Oh yea me)

 

[Bobupndown]

Saw a Rascal with camper body a few months back. My 16 year old son who's about 6'²" thought it was the most hilarious vehicle he'd ever seen. Said if he was sleeping in it he'd have to leave the back door open for his feet to hang out

 

[500e]

The Dhaiatsus suffer from overheating!! ( head, rads and caps and the octopus metal pipe) and poor head lamps that are virtually unobtainable in right hand drive, even if you find one sit down for the price.
With the camper body there was a weird spring helper system that did not seem to work on mates, we got HD springs and added 1 leaf out of the old ones, stripped down new ground the spring ends with a radius and polished all sliding surfaces.
It sits level and rides nice, there is a grease nipple in the center of the steering system that gets missed.
Fuel tanks prone to leaks.
Saying all that, my mates owned his for 10 years with few problems 1 alternator, 3 batteries, springs, ( could have left them) head lamps, some interior trim as the stuff started to loose its hair, & general service bits.
It is a 50 Mph vehicle not a racer but he took it to the south of France twice, Cornwall every year and UP north.
Don't know why he had no over heat problems other than a very steady driver, it was a reoccurring theme on the Micro van site
It was a friendly site

 

[Blobber]

On them,the word rot is a sure case to keep on walking away

No worse than any other commercial of that age, if it was a transit you'd be collecting it with a dustpan and brush

 

[redlig]

The Bedford Rascal is a "Kei-class" van, similar to the Honda "Acty" ( of which I have two ). It has a front-mounted 4-cylinder 970cc petrol engine. Description and photos of an exceptionally nice one here:

Bedford Rascal Van

Probably the best existing Bedford Rascal Van with just 15,525 miles from new.

www.kgfclassiccars.co.uk

[ The Acty is powered by one-half of the Honda Gold Wing GL1100 flat-four motorcycle engine, mid-mounted under the rear floor. Not a lot of people know that.]

Ref Acty van. Three of us were told to 'evaluate' an Acty when they first came out that had been fitted with a neat camper conversion. One drove and 2 sat in back just behind the driver. As we negotiated Chiswick high street i decided to move to the back of the van to take a look at the kitchen layout. next second a scream from the driver that the front wheels were no longer touching the road.
Next guy turned up with a tipper conversion he hoped to sell to jobbing builders . looked neat until we loaded the max load of sand ,still looked good but only just covered the floor to a depth of 10mm. We then decided to load it to what a reasonable builder would think a useful load would be ,at which point it promptly folded in half . I must admit it did cause a degree of hilarity.
I always thought that a couple of holes cut in the front would increase the leg room for the driver to put his Toes through.
They also needed a rev limited as you had no rev counter and couldn't hear the engine as you screamed the guts out of it to go anywhere. We had loads of warranty engine failures because of this.

 

[500e]

The heating problem was an ongoing thing from an early age, agree on the transit rust, mates D seems to be fairly rust free but have seen Horrors about, the campers were on a pick up chassis.
The Diesel seemed to be a NoNo even slower expensive when it went wrong, Lombadini I think

 

[bricol]

Certainly a risk of turning over if driven by a young person.

But pretty easy to pick back up again . . especially if you happen to have been driving one off-road around the "Flappit" a bit too vigorously . . .

 

[bricol]

Very useful as an axle donor (maybe even the gearbox) for one of these:

 

[eddie49]

Very useful as an axle donor (maybe even the gearbox) for one of these:

The DVLA website says that R23BEE is a "Liége", and Wikipedia explains that it has a fibreglass body with a bonded-in floor, 16-inch cast aluminium wheels, a Reliant Robin engine, and, yes, a Suzuki Carry back axle.

 

[redlig]

Very useful as an axle donor (maybe even the gearbox) for one of these:

View attachment 423650

Club member?

 

[Shedendman]

@Mikey D
What year is it?

 

[Shedendman]

No worse than any other commercial of that age, if it was a transit you'd be collecting it with a dustpan and brush

My 99 smiley is still intact

 

[Mikey D]

@Shedendman its a K reg 1993 I guess .