Still searching... Are my expectations unrealistic?

[bobber]

Paints not as good as it looks in the pics, although it looks to be well looked after, front arches could do with painting, as could the poptop roof but overall, its not too bad, definitely not just been painted.

 

[bobber]

I have just about got my head around exclusive and coach prices but I have no idea what these older calis are worth and how easy it would be to sell, if the right van suddenly turned up

 

[Gavinskii]

I've owned two T4 Cali's my first was similar to the white one - mine still had the sprit burners in it and the 2.4D engine, which was an excellent runner, but made long journeys tiring as it just didn't have the kick. I then went to a later one with the 2.5Tdi engine and that was far better.
Price wise the white one seems well priced if you can put up with the slower engine and don't mind doing a little bodywork at some point. Once the season starts properly I would be surprised if the white one didn't make £10k - so adding the heater you want, would suggest you would get your money back.
The later T4's are making very strong money and although I loved mine, the interior units were a bit dated. I sold mine in July for about £15k (3 years ago) and bought my T5 Cali in Germany for about £22k (2 years ago when the exchange rate was better) - but it felt quite a big move up in terms of refinement and looks.
To be fair joining the "club" and becoming a Cali owner comes at a bigger cost (compared to a conversion), but for earlier models of both T4 and T5 Cali, the increasing list price of T6's keeps dragging the prices up. So my advice is spend the money and get what you really want. If you keep it for a few years you will always get your investment back and also possibly make a bit. The logic with California's is totally different to any other "car" you will have bought - with the exception perhaps of a classic.
Good luck whatever you decide.

 

[bobber]

Fantastic advice and insight Gavin, thanks
After having on one westfalia (james cook) i am already a convert and have been brainwashed into being happy to pay westfalia premium.
Good advice on the white t4 though, im tempted to still buy it as a stop gap, until i have time to be considering buying from europe. You have sort of confirmed what i was thinking, regarding price for resale in the summer
thanks

 

[Richardmk]

Have you ruled out importing one? Plenty to be found in Germany within that budget... A bit more hassle, but can be an adventure too... Enough out there to focus on a region and line a few up to spend a long weekend viewing...
Last year we saw about 10 in one weekend around the Stuttgart area and made a choice from that...

Whilst looking for something completely different, I came across these people who can import genuine VW conversions from Japan. These are generally lowish mileage vehicles that are rust-free, since no road salt is used over there.

http://www.algysautos.com/faq.html

There are a couple of T4s on the camper van listing on their site, plus two Winnebago VWs.

Richard