316 4x4

Hi all
Have purchased a 05 316 4x4,is there a way to find who the first owner was as it has no log books but told it was government vehicle possibly police or ambulance but it doesn't have ambulance fit out. Anyone know what other gov departments used them
Will post some pics when it arrives next week

Congratulations.

Telstra and Ambulance are most likely. Defence, Police, Patient Transport are possibilities.

If it's an ambulance it would be registered as such on the registration slip.

Thanks for replies,was unregistered
https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/con...6-cdi-lwb-white-5-speed-manual-van/1194587835

It wasn't an ambulance, rear folding seat smells more like pork to me.

Nada.
Looking at the pictures it looks medical but not emergency, the big rear step and heavy mounting plate suggest some thing like a dialyses machine. Eric.

Damn, the add has gone. The service book would've told the history. An authorised merc van repairer should be able to see the last rego number.
In Vic, police vehicles had Vic Gov plates where-as ambos have normal rego. The vic, used car dealers cash in the ambo reg & sell it unregistered with RWC, while Manhiem sell them with rego and no RWC if the ambo was still registered.
Telstra normally used them to join cables, and had modified rear doors to allow the cables to enter the rear doors while they are closed.
Vic police VW Transporters had a folding rear seat fitted, although Vicroads was never notified of the increased seating capacity, after all, who's going pick on a police vehicle for being unroadworthy in regards to the seating capacity.
So it would interesting to see what the seating capacity is with the NSW RTA.

So what is the seating capacity of this Sprinter? Check the compliance plate.

Hope to have it in Bundaberg by the end of next week so will look at the seating capacity then
Cheers
nada

Spoke to the dealer and they got it as part of a government lot and he thought it was ex police

Can you find a modification plate or similar, it would say which company converted it. That rear aircon is definitely the one they did for ambos. Varley and ETT are the most common conversions. If you can find their build number they should be able to find out who it was done for.

Hi
When I first got my Merc I went to the nearest dealer and asked about some spares prices etc. The parts man accessed the computer system with my VIN and produced the printout for me which included the original buyer organisation name. It had never been changed to any other owners name.
Jaahn

thanks everyone I followed Jaahn's advice and saw the local mercedes service department and the winner is tasmanian police http://sek.mycarads.com.au/finance.php?id=723354
here's another link with some pics as the last one disappeared
anyone else got an ex police sprinter,
I remember seeing a mobile command station one for sale
and seen pics of Spinter's as DUI units
tasmania also had an armoured one before they got a Bearcat.
anyone know anything else they used them for?

Geoffs from Tas on here had a very nice low km T1N 316 LWB auto in silver. It was used for transporting the Police bomb disposal robots around. He sold it on here a few months back, and more than a few of use were tempted (including me). That combo doesn't come up very often.

Sockeye770 said:

It wasn't an ambulance, rear folding seat smells more like pork to me.

Click to expand...

Nice to know that my sense of smell has not disappeared!

This paddy wagon appears to have the troublesome rear aircon in it. If it doesn't work properly, don't spend money on trying to fix it. The folding rear step, Ive never seen before, nice score there.

I would also strongly recommend checking the seating capacity before taking it in for rego.

In our first ex Vic police VW Transporter, we found 2 spent 45 caliber shells. In our second ex Vic police VW Transporter, I found a fully loaded Smith & Wesson clip with 45 hollow points. I don't know how good Tas police are at cleaning out their vehicles.

Cheers

Before I bought my 2011 316 van from Pickles Auction in Townsville, I spotted faint sticker imprints on the sides. I could read "Community Transport". Googled Community Transport Townsville and Totts Community Transport came up. Called the just an hour before auction and got to talk to one driver. He was very helpful and told that it has been regularly maintained by MB in Townsville. That got me confident enough to bid on the auction and I won it for $17 750.
Then later went to MB Townsville and the reception lady was helpful enough to give me prints of the service records Lot of work had been done with it and even DPF has been replaced with the whole exhaust !
Pays to do some detective work

Congratulations Nada, nice pick up and looks like near new; well done!

My sprinter finally arrived today and appears to be in excellent condition except for some holes in the dash and trim where the police bits must have been attached.
A nice but somewhat unusual modification is the large roof hatch with split door that I can only wonder its purpose,maybe to lob tear gas from,lol
A much smaller hatch is in the rear floor.
Yes Sockeye770 its plated as a 5 seater and sadly no 45 shells

Any chance of some pics of the roof hatch? Thanks

so...how's it run?

Very happy with it,runs like a vehicle with only 65000 kms, lol, seems to have a lot more power than my 4x4 hiace and it had a new motor.
I love the suspension seats and the amount of room it has compared to the hiace.
Rear aircon seems to be working fine so far fingers crossed.
Was a bit concerned about a noise it makes from 80kms up but Eric assures me its normal.
Havn't had a chance to take some pics of the roof hatch yet but will when i get a chance.
Thanks everyone on the forum for such a good site to glean info from
cheers
Nada