After trying, and failing, to buy an old house in Sweden for 3 months in the middle of a Northern Swedish winter we began to get itchy feet. Suddenly the idea of having a home base was something that could wait for a different time. Instead we decided to shift our attention to buying a van that we could convert into a tiny home on wheels, and travel around Europe in.
Although we had purchased, and ultimately sold, an L3H2 (170″ wheelbase, high roof) Mercedes Sprinter in the USA, I was still not convinced about travelling with three dogs in such a small space. Part of me was still longing for the space that a Skoolie could provide, but in a more compact size for exploring the narrow roads of Europe. We eventually discovered the Mercedes Vario after finding the build series videos from Wandering Home on YouTube. I was immediately taken in by the sense of space, even though the whole van was only about 30cm longer than the Sprinter we had owned in the USA.
Part 1 – The 1985 Dutch Bus
Pictures on the internet are both accurate and truthful, whilst never being deceiving. These words are probably unlikely to be spoken by any individual who has had the fortune, or misfortune to step into the World Wide Web. Nonetheless believing in the basic good nature of the human race I jumped on a flight to the Netherlands, warm and content in the knowledge that the pictures looked absolutely tickety boo, and that this trip, unlike its numerous predecessors, (a story for another time) would take the cake, and be a spiffing success.
Can something be an adventure if everything goes as planned? I suspect not, and so my dear astute readers you will probably already suspect that my warm and fuzzy feeling was not to last. Bright eyed, and bushy tailed, I’ve never been entirely sure what the latter part is supposed to mean, but I digress, I left my hotel in the Netherlands, and went to look at my first Vario.
I was incredibly excited about this bus, charmed by the more rounded design of the front of the bus, as compared to the post 1985 Vario’s which became more angular. It didn’t disappoint in person, and upon first inspection my excitement seemed to be justified. The gold and yellow paint job was delightfully reminiscent of colourful jumpsuits from the 70’s, all it needed was a moustache, and the effect would have been complete. Stepping inside the bus, the large panorama windows let in huge amounts of light, and gave a sense of luxury. The inside width of the bus was more than sufficient for us to install a properly sized bed, and sleep side ways, yet the length was still very manageable at just over 7m in total exterior length.
Naturally at this juncture you are all expecting the ‘but’ to rear its ugly head, and I do hate to disappoint so without further ado here it is, but, standing inside the bus I only just had enough headroom to slide my fingers between the top of my head, and the ceiling. When looking at the top of the under mount storage bins, it seemed the floor of the bus was already at its lowest level, so this amount of interior height would have to suffice. Nevertheless, fate favours the brave, and so I took the bus for a spin around the Dutch countryside, which disappointed with it’s distinct paucity of windmills, the 80’s truck gearbox took some getting used to, as did the air brakes which managed to require both a light, and a firm touch at the same time. Nonetheless, the huge windscreen provided a great view, and the giant thin rimmed steering wheel fulfilled every expectation of what driving a lorry would be like. Unfortunately the drive highlighted the importance of taking any prospective vehicle for a test drive. Despite having one of the larger engines available in the Vario’s with 140hp, the bus felt truly gutless, and the drivers seat was about as comfortable as a Fakir’s bed.
After the drive I proceeded to look around the bus in greater detail, and noticed significant amounts of rust, the sheet metal was bulging in places which suggested that the entire panel would have to be replaced. The amount of rust was significant, and it seemed to be in every nook that I peered into, sadly not what I had hoped for from the pictures. Throughout the process the seller was very friendly, and explained that the bus had been the foundation of his party bus fleet, which now consisted of a fair amount of Mercedes Sprinters that he had kitted out with the obligatory ear melting sound system, dancing poles, and easily cleaned seats. Despite the friendliness, and hospitality of coffee and cake, I walked away with a gut feeling that this was not the bus for us.
Part 2 – The 1996 German Bus
Despite feeling a little bit dejected, as the Dutch bus had been my top choice, I jumped in my rental car, and made a run for the border. The next bus on our list was in Essen, Germany which was only about one and a half hours away from where I was. After enduring the non-existent border crossing I arrived at the dealership, which turned out to be a bit of a corner lot affair. I have to confess I am rarely a fan of these sorts of dealers, as despite admiring their entrepreneurship I always get the sense that they are trying to sell me a donkey disguised as a horse. Nevertheless I endured, and found the proverbial man in charge, who paused long enough to light a cigarette, and inform me that it was at their other lot, but he would take me there. Fate favours the blind, and in for a penny in for a pound, we got in his car and drove two minutes across the road to their other lot.
At last the bus was visible in the drizzle, sitting at the back of an empty lot that was nestled between buildings, and half grown over with weeds. After chatting to his colleague, another chain smoker, they found the key for the bus, and I proceeded to inspect it. Unfortunately it was not love at first, and with a sinking feeling my first thought was that the ground clearance was quite low. Nevertheless it looked to be less rusty than the Dutch Vario, so I persevered and toured the inside, which was in surprisingly good condition. They were asking a little over 20,000 Euros, which seemed fairly steep for a 1996 model year with almost 200,000km. Despite my gentle prodding about the price, the dealer did not offer any comforting words, instead insisting that it was in great condition, and explaining how he had paid a lot for it at auction.
Somewhat disheartened, but determined to give this bus a fair shot, I asked if we could start it. This turned out to be easier said than done, the battery had gone dead, and after a few phone calls to his other colleagues, they couldn’t find a charger. Instead they got some jumper cables, and managed to drive a Ford Transit Connect up to the bus door, so that they could reach the batteries under the driver’s seat. At this point there were three sales people working on the sale. After a few minutes it became apparent that nothing was happening, this is because the Vario’s are essentially a truck, and therefore their electrical system is 24v, compared to a regular car which is 12v. This meant the 12v Transit had no chance of boosting the battery. Not to fear, more phone calls were made, and more sales people came out of the woodwork. The ultimate solution was to move the vehicles that were parked in front of the Vario, and bring a second car up to the bus, this time by the driver’s window. With this somewhat ingenious setup they were able to connect one vehicle to each of the batteries in the bus (in this particular case 24v was made up of two 12v batteries).
After only a little while the Diesel engine roared to life. Unfortunately for the flock of sales people, if that is the correct term when talking about a multiple of used car salesmen. Perhaps a murder as with crows? During the above proceedings I had been inspecting the nooks, and crannies of the bus for rust, and my search was not in vain. There was plenty of rust to be found in areas where remediation would be extremely difficult. Relieved to finally be done with the circus, and tired after a long day of Vario shopping, I bid the flock goodbye, and returned to my rental car. This time I was not offered a lift.
Naturally at this point most people would have returned home, and licked their wounds, but to quote the bravest of heroes, Bertie Wooster “we Wooster’s are made of sterner stuff”.
Part 3 – The 2006 Danish Cargo Van
There was one more Vario, an 814D, on the list that was within our budget, in fact it was quite cheap for a 2006 model. This particular Vario was a cargo van, but that wasn’t of any great concern, as we would be removing the interior anyways. Naturally that all sounded fairly good, but I was still in the Netherlands, and the van was in Denmark. After some back and forth messaging on Facebook I was able to phone the owner, and get a sense of the condition of the van, and with some light tutoring he was able to turn on video calling so I could take a look at the bus. Everything looked fairly good from the outside, it was by no means a beauty queen but there was nothing obviously wrong. This was the last Vario on our list, so I decided that a roadtrip to Odense, Denmark was exactly what the proverbial Doctor had ordered.
The next morning I set off, and with a long detour to Amsterdam airport to switch rental cars I began the 8 hour drive to Denmark. I arrived late at night, and with no restaurants open, I made a quick stop at the supermarket to grab some Greek yoghurt, and granola for dinner. The next morning I drove the 50 minutes to the van, and was immediately struck by how big it looked parked in this little Danish town. Nevertheless size was hardly a big drawback, considering we’d be travelling with our three dogs, a little extra space would go down nicely. I had bought a small flashlight on my way through Germany so once again I began to inspect every nook and cranny of the van. The owner had used it for going to Moto-Cross tournaments with his son, but in a two punch combo the pandemic hit, and then his son broke one of his legs. Ultimately they simply weren’t using it enough to keep it around. To save on accommodation costs the owner had divided the cargo space into two areas, a sleeping area at the front, and a cargo area in the rear for the motorbike.
As per usual for an older Vario there was a fair amount of rust on the undercarriage and exterior, even the interior of the cargo area had rust issues. I was also informed that the van had a slight thirst for oil, and would need to be topped up regularly, this was no secret as the owner had told me about it on the phone. Walking around the van, and looking inside it I got the sense that this van had been more of a useful tool than a pampered camper, and had only been giving enough attention to be basically functional. It wasn’t a great feeling, but given the low price it wasn’t enough to deter me, so I took it for a test drive around the countryside. I immediately felt that it drove much better than the Dutch bus I had first looked at. Upon returning from the test drive, the owner invited me into his workshop for a beer, and after chatting for a bit I let him know that we were interested in the van, but would need to have it mechanically inspected first. He didn’t object to that in particular, but did stress that it was an ‘as is’ deal, and that it was by no means perfect. After some logistical planning, since he started work at 6am his wife would meet me, we agreed that I would come by the next morning, and take it to a mechanic to be inspected.
The next morning I drove back to the van, and took it to a mechanic I had chatted with the day before. Unfortunately when I arrived they were unable to look at it, as one of their mechanics had called in sick. I spent the next hour sitting in the parking lot at the mechanics calling every single other place I could find on Google maps that looked like they could fit an eight ton van. Alas our search was in vain, none of the mechanics I called had time to look at the van for at least another two days. I had already been gone a week at this point, and given my previous sense of the van, I wasn’t confident that this was the van for us. It all began to feel like a sign, I simply wasn’t comfortable buying this particular van without having a better understanding of its mechanical condition. This combined with the nagging feeling I had that this wasn’t the right bus for us, proved to be the final nail in the coffin. I returned the van, thanked the owner, and once again began the drive back to the hotel feeling deflated that the third Vario had fallen through. Luckily I remembered that I was in Denmark, so I quickly navigated to the nearest bakery, and after a coffee and cheeky pastry, I began to feel a lot better.
Part 4 – The 1993 Retired German Police Officer
The search was beginning to look bleak, I had exhausted almost every Vario option for sale in Europe, and the hotel bills were beginning to stack up. There was one last hope, a 1993 Mercedes 711D (specifically a T2N, which was the predecessor to the Vario) formerly in service with the German Police. I knew of the 711D from an excellent German blog whose author had purchased one, and documented in great detail the maintenance, and repairs he had done to it. It was listed for sale on Facebook but we hadn’t been able to get a response from the seller. We messaged him one last time, and this time he responded. The angels sang, and a ray of sunshine lit up my face, well it might have if it wasn’t already dark, as I read that the van was still available. The angels definitely sang though, at least metaphorically. This van was located back in the Netherlands, which worked out as I needed to return the rental car to Amsterdam anyway.
The next day I left my home country, but not before treating myself to a pastry or two, and a bottle of Cocio, which for the uninitiated is the best chocolate milk in the world. Full of anticipation I spent the day driving back to the Netherlands, ready to see the Green machine the next day.
True to form it was another wet and drizzly day, but that didn’t stop me from being excited about this van. I met the owner at his workshop in the Dutch countryside, which is perhaps a glamorous way to describe a converted cow barn, but it was nonetheless a great little set up with space for three tall vehicles, and a separate heated area that he had turned into a cosy little break room. As it transpired he had begun doing van conversions during the Covid pandemic, after his regular job was eliminated due to travel restrictions.
Our future van was hard to miss with its distinctive green colour, and muscular stance. Holding my breath I began to do my usual rust inspection, and for the first time during my trip I was not disappointed. Being a 30 year old Mercedes, there were obviously some rust spots, but the frame was in excellent condition, and none of the rust was in critical or detrimental areas. With the visual inspection done, we took the van for a test drive. Despite having a smaller engine than the Danish van it drove a lot better. Another huge benefit of this van was that it didn’t have an air brake system, which not only made it easier to drive, but would also meant less maintenance in the future.
With the test drive complete, we moved to the seats in the back of the van, and after chatting for a bit it was time to get down to business. I loved the way the van felt inside, with large windows all around the interior felt spacious, and cosy even on a drizzly Dutch winter’s day. This was the first van that had given me a good feeling, so I knew I wanted to buy it. The asking price was 17,000 EUR so we definitely needed to do some negotiating. He started by offering to go down to 16,000 EUR, but after some back and forth, along with playing the wife card (I like it, and would happily pay your price, but the wife refuses to pay more than X amount), we agreed on 14,000 EUR.
The next step was to get the van transferred into my name, and get an export licence plate, so that I could drive it back to Sweden where we would be doing the conversion. The seller phoned around, and found a place close by that could make the plate right away. I was personally picturing a metal stamping press, but the reality was a lot more tame, it was simply a white piece of plastic in the shape of a licence plate, and then some stickers to create the plate number. With the whole process complete, all that was left was to pay for the van. Luckily money transfers in the Netherlands are almost instant, so I simply hit send from my account, and a few seconds later the money was in the seller’s account. I still had to return the rental car to the airport before I could start the drive back, but after a brief planning session the seller said he could pick me up from the local train station if I got a train from Amsterdam airport.
The rest as they say is history. It took a while to get the rental car returned due to rush hour traffic, so by the time I arrived at the train station to pick up the van it was quite late. My wife, Sita, had booked me a hotel close by for the night, but when I got there there was no parking available. Before I realised that though, I had already driven into the tiny city centre, and now had to navigate my way out without the help of a backup camera, and in the dark. It was a horribly stressful way to get to know the van, but with some patience and judicious swearing, I got the van back onto the main road without re-enacting scenes from Mad Max. As I was navigating my way out of the city centre, Sita found a different hotel on the outskirts of another town that had a large parking lot. After all the excitement of the day, I slept soundly and woke up well rested to begin the long journey back to Northern Sweden.
The drive back to Sweden was relatively uneventful, although I did have to stop at a Mercedes dealership to help me replace one of the headlight bulbs, and adjust the rpm’s of the engine. I had almost made it back to Rudsjö when a huge snow storm hit the area, so I spent the night in Sundsvall before completing the last few hours of driving the next day. Of course upon my arrival, I had to make it up the little hill to the house, which did not go entirely to plan.
With the journey complete I was excited to share our soon to be tiny home with Sita, who immediately fell in love with the sense of space and light, just as I had done myself. Read more about the top questions to answer when selecting a camper van to make sure you get it right!
Several months later with the build complete, I can definitely say it was worth the journey. We have a beautiful, and capable tiny home that is in the process of taking us all around Europe, and Central Asia.
After many misadventures trying different types of campers before getting it right, we share the story in this article Don’t Make These Mistakes When Buying a Camper Van for Van Life.