Selecting a vehicle

The spouse committee approved the project despite the fact "it was too soon" so I began searching classifieds, websites and magazines for the appropriate vehicle. All the research pointed to the Hino Rainbow, a 7 metre, rear-engine, turbo diesel powered, flat-floor bus as the ideal specimen for conversion and ironically it was one of these I had seen and photographed in NZ when we were there.
I had been told these vehicles were available for as little as $15000 but I couldn't locate anything at those prices. I know there are Toyota Coasters, Nissan Civilians and others out there but the Hino did seem to be the go - here are some of the things on the selection roundabout I considered.

• I found a company in Australia disposing of some of their older Rainbows - these vehicles had done between between 300 -600000 kilometres and were priced in the mid 20k.
• I found a website dealing directly with a Japanese based company and considering organising an import for myself. The possibility even existed to fly to Japan, inspect purchase and import or take the chance and buy sight unseen. For someone bolder and braver than me it did seem a way of getting one at the right price (under $A10000) but let's face it - I just wasn't game to do it that way.
• I found a guy in NZ who organised imports as a job and conversed with him via email. He was experienced in getting the right vehicle but it also sounded messy to have him organise it from NZ and have it arrive here in OZ. Too hard again. [Note: - the prices in NZ seemed a lot cheaper than here]
• I found an e-bay advertisement for a Hino Rainbow from a Sunshine Coast based advertiser but even his post seemed a little bizarre "Don't waste my time with stupid questions" - Now there's someone I'd want to buy from - NOT!
  
• I found a Gold Coast based importer also advertising on e-bay and these seemed a definite possibility. Prices in the mid $A20's.
  
• Next stop was Koolah Kampers at Loganholme where I met the owner, Ray, who gave me great advice on buying an import and if he had the right vehicle at the time it would be his company who I would deal with. It was here I made my decision on the RB145A Hino. They do conversions on these buses as well as the widebody RH160 and 9 metre Fuso and Hino imports. The RB145's were priced in the high $A20k with the latter two demanding around $20000 more. They did all sorts of engineering mods including roof raises, luggage bins and fitouts.
• I found another southside company who also imported the RB145A regularly but generally did them up for sale themselves. At the time I enquired, they had a couple to choose from so I headed over for a look. I had a pick of two - one with 270000 km on the clock for around $25000 and one with 107000 km priced at $30000. I also had the opportunity to see some of the fitouts they had done and failed to be impressed. With fitted out prices between $60000 and $90000 I thought I could make a reasonable go of it for much less. After much agonizing - I bought the dearer bus because I thought when and if it came to resale time the lower k's would really count. I had also seen about six of the RB145's by this time and the condition of this one was the best by a country mile. I'm not going to mention the name of the dealer here because in all honesty my best recommendation would be to deal with them with extreme caution. I learned a lot over the coming months.
  

Here she is ...
One of the things I forgot to mention earlier is that at the time I knew nothing about diesel engines. As I didn't want to risk my money on a dud I organised a mechanic from the local bus company to come and do a pre-purchase inspection. He passed the engine ok and it only cost me a $100 for piece of mind.