Soon to be Dandy owner!

Hi all,

I have just bought a Dandy on ebay, havent a clue what I am letting myself in for, I have never had one before, she is called Betty apparently, she is described as 'vintage' and has been totally refurbished, she is aqua green and has a matching awning, I'm so excited but rather worried too!

Hi P6660. Welcome to the forum, it is very friendly on here.
Betty sounds lovely, you will love camping in her. We are on our 5th Dandy now.
He is called Desmond, he is a Dandy designer.
Have you got your 1st camping trip planned yet?

abc5575 wrote:Hi P6660. Welcome to the forum, it is very friendly on here.
Betty sounds lovely, you will love camping in her. We are on our 5th Dandy now.
He is called Desmond, he is a Dandy designer.
Have you got your 1st camping trip planned yet?

Hi no not yet, picking her up on saturday, how can I find out how old she is?

Hi and P6660.

On your new vintage Dandy.

If you are lucky there may be a number stamped on the A frame, we have had no luck in finding Phoenix's though.

Others on here will be able to give you a good idea of age, but the green ones are normally the oldest ones.

Thanks, for that, the advert said 1960-70 but you can never be sure! I'm just hoping its as good as it looks, what do people do about electric in the older ones, I presume it wont have anything? As you can probably tell I am cluless

1960's to 70's is right for a green one.

For electrics in older ones look at this link.

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Thanks so much for that

Does anyone have any photos of a 1960-70's green Dandy that they own?

Have a look here.

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And here.


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never apologize being unsure as we all are the same but with questions asked and answered we all tell our experiences and we all learn from them ( or not )but most of all enjoy and don't forget the pictures

Is it this one [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

or this one? [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

The second one is definitely seventies. The sloped awning is a newer departure than the vertically sided ones. Can't see the flaps on the side of the first one to work out which sort it is. See the pictures of my Green Un and Cazz's 5. Cazz's is the older design.

If it's the first the heater is a retro fit but a cracking addition.
Both of these have rod brakes. If they are not too keen in operation it's not the end of the world, but if they're not working and any bits are missing, parts can be hard to find and a mortgage. If bits are missing it's not a legal trailer. (All braked trailers must have working brakes) I'd want to check them over before I handed over any money.

and on your dandy purchase,said it before but i like the green ones.

mi9ke

Hi and welcome to the forum, congratulations on your new Dandy you made a great decision when you picked a Dandy to camp in


Any questions just ask away and someone will try to help out

the second one they are good at selling got her displayed well

Hi all,yes its the second one, not sure whether my hubby will be impressed with how girly it is tho!!

Caz1960 wrote: the second one they are good at selling got her displayed well

Do you think the price was ok? I have no idea what they are worth, they do seem to have done a lot to her, and said they have done 3 up this year and own one themselves?

Hi P6660, I see Mr and Mrs P have linked you to my pics of our 60's one.

When do you collect Betty?

As to value, it's mostly down to personal feeling, if Betty doesn't need anything at all doing to her, and you like her and everything sits right with gut feelings, then she's worth it. Also if you intend on using her for many years, then any camping item will soon earn it's keep.

All depends on what doing up is. Though £700 isn't cheap if the sides are solid and the suspension and brakes OK you could be onto a bargain.
If the suspension or brakes are shout or they have painted and filled on knackered panels ouch!

Still it's all the fun of the game. As posted elsewhere. Camping is how you turn an expensive hobby into a cheap holiday.

Tow Itch wrote:Camping is how you turn an expensive hobby into a cheap holiday.

I like that, or in our case, the green Dandy is a big car accessory to make car shows more comfortable.

Cazz wrote:Hi P6660, I see Mr and Mrs P have linked you to my pics of our 60's one.

When do you collect Betty?

As to value, it's mostly down to personal feeling, if Betty doesn't need anything at all doing to her, and you like her and everything sits right with gut feelings, then she's worth it. Also if you intend on using her for many years, then any camping item will soon earn it's keep.

We are picking her up on saturday, we are having the tow bar fitted on friday, its all new to us!!

Betty is so very very pretty

If hubby isn't impressed get him a small pop up tent to sleep in

she is truly lovely.

Well we picked up Betty, shes lovely, she has a few faults but seems ok generally. Well it took us 3 hrs to work out how to put her up and nearly ended in divorce!! Eventually we worked it out and sat in her this afternoon on the drive! It took us 23 mins (yes we timed it how sad!) to put her all away again, I am sure we will speed up with practice!

P6660 wrote:Well we picked up Betty, shes lovely, she has a few faults but seems ok generally. Well it took us 3 hrs to work out how to put her up and nearly ended in divorce!! Eventually we worked it out and sat in her this afternoon on the drive! It took us 23 mins (yes we timed it how sad!) to put her all away again, I am sure we will speed up with practice!

You have realised about using the 4 pieces of string?

Yes eventually! Our window section was sat on top of the door section do you think the prevous people have folded it wrongly and the window should fold down first?

P6660 wrote:Yes eventually! Our window section was sat on top of the door section do you think the prevous people have folded it wrongly and the window should fold down first?

Definitely. If it's still up or you will practice again tomorrow have a look aren't the front and back hinges at different heights.
Or someone with better memory than me can answer.