Just looking to start a bit of a brain fart and seek opinions. What triggered this was a thread saying that a stolen T25 'was on the way to the docks' (not questioning the poster, or taking them to task - just explaining what set my train of thought off). As I understand it - the UK seems to be the only customer base for old VW's - there are classic enthusiasts in other countries of course - but none have a market anywhere near the size of ours, or the inherent price premiums. My evidence is older VW's seem to be imported with far less purchase prices - van's dug out of hedges and ponds here are simply crushed elsewhere. Am I correct in this? (appreciate stuff like oval bugs and samba splits are world wide entities and buck the trend) i.e. would the market in this country drive theft inside out borders, and perhaps, drive it in other countries (am not saying there is anything we can do about this btw, or if its actually anyone's fault per se). My current thinking is - unlike classic jags, mercs etc - we are the place to which old VW's are shipped to - not our stolen vans taken and shipped elsewhere.
Yeah, I too often find myself thinking 'where do they go?'. Surely they all can't be broken up? Even if they were, that'd be a very risky business. I bet there's a lot of us here who could easily identfy, by sight, our stripped doors, glass, panels, bumpers, interior fittings, wheels, the lot. I know I could. And surely a good suspicion that something was ours would be enough to get the Police to investigate?
I often wondered where they go too. always thought Egypt would be a good place, they run these buses as taxi cars in Cairo, and are probably in need of parts. I know people who buy and export old MAN trucks to Kenya, and if that's profitable.. who knows. but i guess it's a far fetched theory.
Someone told me in Germany vans are fetching the same prices as here? ??? To be honest though its not a hard job to re-paint and change the vin numbers, most are only rivetted on. How many people actually know there van is lagit? US buses maybe