I went to Manheim Auctions in Colchester this week to give my mate Carl some moral support. His 1998 Nissan Vanette is beginning to look a bit crap (not that it looked particularly great the day it rolled off the line) and he decided it was time to buy a replacement. He signed up for Manheim’s ‘hammer time’ service (which lets members of the public view what’s about to come under the hammer) and spotted a handful of rather nice ex-Sky TV Vauxhall Vivaros. The book price on these 2004 vans was £4,400 trade and £5,775 retail, and he decided that he was prepared to pay something in the middle. However, little did he know that he would come up against a particularly desperate trader who clearly had a buyer lined up for the vans. He wanted all four of them, and made sure he got them too – paying £5,450 a piece. While it proved to a wasted journey for my mate, he did get some satisfaction knowing that he had made the trader pay well over the odds – costing him a good few grand in lost profit. The next day Carl went to Manheim in Gloucester and picked up an identical van for £4,700.
Anyway, that’s a long introduction to this picture. It’s an ex-Surrey four-wheel drive Chevrolet Suburban ambulance, and it’s about to go under the hammer. I’m interested to know who’s going to be in the market for one of these. According to the UK Emergency Vehicle website, it’s one of just three that were put into service.