VW Camper & Bus May 2022

JC VANS’ LATEST T6.1 CAMPER CREATION

The world’s best-selling VW Camper magazine

KEEPING IT

REAL

SWEET LIKE CHOCOLATE

CREAMY-SMOOTH ’57 15-WINDOW

COOL ’70 DELUXE BUILT ON THE DRIVEWAY ON A BUDGET!

MYTH OR REALITY?

YOUR BUSES T25 HOW-TO Built not bought 001 C&BMAY CoverGM3IC.indd 1

Sorting swing arm mounts

MAY 2022

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BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO CAMPER OWNERSHIP

03/03/2022 16:54

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#driveheritage 04/02/2022 10:48

FIRST WORD JC VANS’ LATEST T6.1 CAMPER CREATION

The world’s best-selling VW Camper magazine

KEEPING IT

REAL

SWEET LIKE CHOCOLATE

CREAMY-SMOOTH ’57 15-WINDOW

COOL ’70 DELUXE BUILT ON THE DRIVEWAY ON A BUDGET!

COVER IMAGE: THRU A LUPE ISSUE: MAY 2022 @camperandbus camperandbus.ed@kelsey.co.uk

MYTH OR REALITY? BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO CAMPER OWNERSHIP

YOUR BUSES T25 HOW-TO Built not bought

Sorting swing arm mounts

001 C&BMAY CoverGM3IC.indd 1

£4.70

www.volksworld.com MAY 2022

TOUGH AS NAILS T4 OFF-GRID TRAILBLAZER

EDITOR IAN CUSHWAY

camperandbus.ed@kelsey.co.uk

03/03/2022 16:54

Myth busting

B

ar room banter, hearsay, call it what you like, there will always be a variety of opinions when it comes to Buses. Post a question on a forum and you'll get a thousand different answers, mostly from people who know nothing about Transporters and probably borrow their wife's tired Ford Fusion to get to work each day. That's all fine, but it's not a lot of use for newbies about to make their first campervan purchase and wanting some basic advice before splashing their cash.

Now, we're not prophets so we can't determine what Bus is likely to suit your needs best, but if you're hankering after a Van our special Myth or Reality? feature this issue

on pages 54-75 might help. Written by regular contributor, Mark Walker, who's owned tons of Buses from virtually every era, he knows what he's talking about which is why we gave him the task of sorting fact from fiction when it comes to the most hotly debated Transporterrelated topics. We've asked his opinion on everything from pop-tops to bespoke modern Bus conversions and air-cooled upgrades, so it's definitely worth a read. Especially if you're currently sitting on the fence, pondering whether you ought to go old or new, stock or modified.

Of course we'd love to hear your opinions on the stuff we've delivered our verdict on, so scribble a note and email it to the usual

EDITORIAL Editor: Ian Cushway Email: camperandbus.ed@kelsey.co.uk Art Editor: Graham Morecroft Contributors: Mark Walker, Andy Saunders, Dan Bevis, Thru a Lupe, Henry Jones Jr, Andrew Thompson, Gordie Woollacott, Richard Gunn, Brian Larkin

lSUBSCRIPTIONS 13 issues of VW Camper&Bus are published per annum UK annual subscription price: £57.20 Europe annual subscription: £70 USA annual subscription price: £70 Rest of world annual subscription price: £76

ADVERTISEMENT SALES Hill View Media Ltd Director: Ben Foster 01366 728488 /07976 256205 ben@hillviewmedia.com Director: Keith Foster 01366 728488 keith@hillviewmedia.com Senior Sales Executive: Amy Wattam-Foster 01366 728488 amy@hillviewmedia.com

Contact us: UK subscription and back issue order line: 0845 2415159 Overseas subscription order line: 0044 (0) 1959 543 747 Toll-free USA subscription order line: 1-888-777-0275 UK customer service team: 01959 543 747 Customer service website address: https://help.kelsey.co.uk Customer service and subscription: VW Camper&Bus Customer Customer Service Team, Kelsey Media, The Granary Downs Court, Yalding Hill, Yalding, Kent, ME18 6AL

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Already a subscriber?

Manage your subscription online at shop.kelsey.co.uk/site/loginForm WEBSITE Find current subscription offers at shop.kelsey.co.uk/vwc. Buy back issues at shop.kelsey. co.uk/backvwc CLASSIFIEDS Tel. 0906 802 0279 (premium rate line, operated by Kelsey Publishing Ltd. Calls cost 65p per minute, plus your telephone companies access charge. Lines open Monday-Friday, 10am-4pm) cars@kelseyclassifieds.co.uk. You can also view and upload ads via www.motorfreeads. co.uk Kelsey Classifieds, VW Camper & Bus Classifieds, Kelsey Media, The Granary Downs Court, Yalding Hill, Yalding, Kent, ME18 6AL

address at camperandbus.ed@kelsey.co.uk.

Oh, and we're still looking for fab feature Buses, so if you've got one and want it shot for a feature, get it touch. Meanwhile, take care and enjoy the issue. IAN CUSHWAY EDITOR

Distribution Great Britain: Marketforce (UK), 3rd Floor 161 Marsh Wall, London E14 9AP Tel: 0330 390 6555 Northern Ireland and the Republic Of Ireland: Newspread, Tel: +353 23 886 3850 PRINTING Acorn Web Offset LTD, Normanton, West Yorkshire WF6 1TW Kelsey Media 2022© all rights reserved. Kelsey Media is a trading name of Kelsey Publishing Ltd. Reproduction in whole or in part is forbidden except with permission in writing from the publishers.

Note to contributors: articles submitted for consideration by the editor must be the original work of the author and not previously published. Where photographs are included, which are not the property of the contributor, permission to reproduce them must have been obtained from the owner of the copyright. The editor cannot guarantee a personal response to all letters and emails received.

The views expressed in the magazine are not necessarily those of the Editor or the Publisher. Kelsey Publishing Ltd accepts no liability for products and services offered by third parties.

Kelsey Media takes your personal data very seriously. For more information of our privacy policy, please visit https://www.kelsey.co.uk/privacy-policy/. If at any point you have any queries regarding Kelsey’s data policy you can email our Data Protection Officer at dpo@kelsey.co.uk.

Part of the Classics World Family www.classicsworld.co.uk

kelsey.co.uk Camper&Bus 3

003 C&BMAY Ed PageneedscoverIC.indd 3

04/03/2022 10:06

CONTENTS MAY 2022

14 REGULARS

BUS FEATURES

09 BUS TALK

14 KEEPING IT REAL

Latest news, views and products

This Bay was built on a budget on the the owner’s drive

12 YOUR BUSES

Dave Robbins’ long-term Bay

24 SWEET LIKE CHOCOLATE

Creamy-smooth ’57 15-Window looks finger-lickin’ good

49 FREE POSTER

Something for the toilet wall

32 BETTER BY FAR

91 NEXT MONTH

JC Vans’ stunning new T6.1 conversion

See what’s coming up

40 UPPING YOUR GAME

98 LAST WORD

9

12

»2020 SHOW GUIDE: WHERE TO

CHECKS: HOW »ESSENTIAL SAFETY VW

GO AND WHAT TO DO

IN YOUR

It’s been a long, strange,

trip for this old hippy

STANDARD

The world’s best-selling VW Camper magazine

BAY V T6

‘wagen

HOW COOL? Charm and character or m stodriver? practical daily Wild cu & ht for £300 Which would Boug modded to you choose? the max

ROAD TRIP Getting all steamedup with a camping holiday in Norfolk

£4.40

Restored not replaced.

Because you can’t put a price on sentiment

24

»TOP TECH: SPRING SERVICE - PREPARE YOUR VW FOR THE YEAR AHEAD

Flower-power Bay

PRICELESS MARCH 2020

Fill the gap in your VW Camper & Bus collection; see p76 or visit: shop.kelsey.co.uk/issue/VWC

PART OF THE FAMILY

TO PREP A VW TO MOT

g VW Camper magazine The world’s best-sellin

g VW Camper magazine The world’s best-sellin

BACK ISSUES

98

Shaun Campbell’s gone onwards and upwards with this Swamper T4

Campervan stalwart Brian Larkin explains why always cleaning his Van

High on lifeBay Fully restored Hi-Top

A one of a kind Doka

Fit for the road

The Body Bionic Hi-Top Split

4 Camper&Bus

004-005 C&BMAY contentsIC.indd 4

»ROAD TRIP: A PRE-BREXIT EXIT 001 Cover MAR FINAL

Custom Double Cab Type 25

Colour magic’64 Split

ROAD TRIP Exploring Sweden & Europe’s longest coastline Wedding Busin a Bay 2020 R I L keep A Pit’s ’62 Split still earning

1

10/01/2020 16:22

Espresso Delivery Porsche Club GB’s coffee truck

T5 CAMPER

001 cover APR 2020 FINAL.indd

£4.40

SPRING 2020 £4.40

Palm Green & Sand Green

IN A DIY TO EUROPE ww

07/02/2020 08:31

001 cover SPRING 2020 FINALS.indd 1

05/03/2020 10:31

2020.indd 1

03/03/2022 20:10

pired T4 Totally-ins

es al US Bus Sensation

Highland roadtrip

’76 Bus

was the per

GET

Grab a subscription, save money and get VW Camper&Bus delivered direct to your doorstep. Go to page 38-39, visit shop.kelsey.co.uk/subscription/VWC or call 01959 543747

CLEARANC QUICK COMMERCIAL E FITTING A COBRA ENGINE Storming 120bhp BAR Pick-Up

E Ultimate guide: ULTIMAT RE • Early or Late?

ADVENTU ed T6 is Fully-load • What to look for? lifestyle the perfect • Buying overseas? statement

your Fulfill tasy fan Bus h this wit e 2.6-litr ndow 21-Wi mba Sa

How to: fit rear sea tbelts

The world’ s best-se lling VW Camper magaz

The world’s best-selling VW Camper magazine

magazine VW Camper best-selling The world’s

SUBSCRIBE!

Take the Bus! Bespoke T6.1 stunner

fect wedd ing

ine

present HAVE BUS WILL TRA VEL! Much love (and use d Westfalid) a

• What to pay?

How to: Space roof install

BUS TECH

GREAT ESCAPE

ND OUR WEEKE VW CAMPER CAPERS

• FITTING POWER STEERING • SPACE ROOF INSTALL

0 21 £4.4 MAR 20

IC LANT T3 AT thing else?

PER’wan t to own any ‘KEE would you CH BAY Why

D TEST ’80S ROA Kamper Autohomes

P TOR SWA ALTERNA ep DIY guide Step-by-st

08/01/2021

SPRIN

APR 2021 £4.70

G 202 1

£4.70

IN FO

T6 is theR THE LONG perfect grand HAUL

THAI DELIGHT

BEA family One for the

Super sweet 13-Window 001.cove

r.indd

08:35

T25 VIRGIN Our first ‘wedge’

1

’60 SUB-HATCH SO-23 Family friendly Camper

tourer CAMP COO KING Easy-pea sy Bus dishe ’63 SPLIT SCR s Cool surf-insp EEN ired Cam per 05/02/20

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05/03/2021 12:02

32

40

BUS LIFE

SPECIAL 21 PAGE FEATURE

Tracing the origin of that iconic VW emblem

55 MYTH OR REALITY?

86 BUS HISTORY

Sifting the facts from the fiction when it comes to owning a Camper

79

The Summer issue of

goes on sale

Friday 15 April DON’T MISS IT! BUS TECH 79 HOW-TO

Repairing T25 swing arms Camper&Bus 5

004-005 C&BMAY contentsIC.indd 5

03/03/2022 20:10

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EXPERTS IN SUPPLYING T5’S AND T6 KOMBI’S TO SUIT YOUR REQUIREMENTS OVER 60 VANS TO CHOOSE FROM

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04/03/2022 12:28

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ON

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RTS PA

G

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W

Get 10% off when you use the code Volks10 at www.nlavw.com

NLA VW Parts

Specialist manufacturers of obsolete Volkswagen parts www.nlavw.com | enquiries@nlavw.com | 0044 (0)1789 774567 Untitled-1 36

04/03/2022 12:30

ac_advert_2022A:ac_advert_2010 31/12/2021 11:27 Page 1

Exchange Engines Built for peace-of-mind. Built to perform. Built to last.

With over 40 years of engine-building experience between them, our team of engineers know their craft very well. They assemble each engine for you as if they were building it for themselves.

S L PRICE AL E VAT INCLUD

All assembled by

SILVER ENGINE DIY PRICE: £1125

GOLD ENGINE

Our basic engine: reground crank, new main, big end/small end and cam brgs; new valves, springs, barrels, rings, pistons, oil pump, plugs, seals and gaskets. Crack-tested heads and crankcase; refaced flywheel and seats.

This engine features everything offered by the ‘Silver’ engine but with the addition of brand new cylinder heads, making this a nearly new engine.

n our own craftsme

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GOLD PREMIUM ENGINE DIY PRICE: £1355

BIG BORE RED ENGINE DIY PRICE: £1399

The same specification as the ‘Gold’ engine but this one also has a 009 distributor fitted.

These are high-performance alternatives, built to 1641cc. Assembled with the same new components as the ‘Silver’ engine, but fitted with big bore barrels and pistons, brand new cylinder heads and a new 009 distributor. Built to run on unleaded fuel. Exchangeable for 1300 or 1600cc.

GOLD PREMIUM PLUS DIY PRICE: £1999 Not only benefits from the 009 distributor, but also features a brand new crankcase. This must be the ultimate ‘standard’ replacement engine.

BIG BORE THURROCK ENGINES (1776cc/1835cc/1914cc)

BIG BORE PLUS As above, but built with a brand new crankcase.

DIY PRICE: £2050

Built for performance in three engine sizes to suit your pocket. Please enquire for specification details of these engines.

BIG BORE SUPER STREET

DIY PRICE £1965 DIY PRICE £2015 DIY PRICE £2055

Same specification as the ‘Big Bore’, but fitted with a fast road camshaft.

1776cc from 1835cc from 1914cc from

BIG BORE SUPER STREET PLUS

1384cc BIG BORE for 1200cc

Built to the same specification as the ‘Super Street’ engine, but fitted with a brand new crank case.

Your old 1200 bored out to 1384cc, which makes it go “rather well” and no need to upgrade your ancillaries. (1200s had shorter barrels than 1300 and over – hence traditional difficulty in fitting larger engine sizes to these cars.)

DIY PRICE: £1499

DIY PRICE: £2150

We can arrange ion of ct y / colle deliver nes to / from all engi nland.

UK mai way. £50 each

DIY PRICE: £1249

TRANSPORTER ‘CT’ T25 1981-on

NEW!

1600cc DIY PRICE £4049 1641cc DIY PRICE £4135

1776cc DIY PRICE £4415

In exchange for your 1700/1800. Avoid the heavy costs of trying to fit a 2·0 ltr. engine into a 1700/1800 bay by fitting this 1910cc upgrade. As Transporter 1·7 (left), plus 1910cc big bore barrels/pistons and a fast road cam.

DIY PRICE: £1495

DIY PRICE: £2825

TRANSPORTER 1·7 - 2·0 (1972-’83) Fitted with new main and big end bearings, barrels, pistons and rings, new cylinder heads, plugs, seals, gaskets, refaced flywheel, reground crank, crack-tested crankcase.

DIY PRICE: £2499

WATER-COOLED TRANSPORTER 1900-2100cc (’83-’90)

18 S AR YE

up to 1.6 1.7 to 2.0

£749 Type 2 Freeway flyer £1149 £799 Type 25, 4-speed £849 £849 Type 25, 5-speed £999

1600 DIESEL T25 TURBO / NON TURBO All our deisel engines are fitted with NEW cylinder heads. Reground crankshafts with new bearings. Cylinder blocks rebored with new over-size pistons and rings. Fitted with all new oil seals and supplied with gaskets.

DIY PRICE: £1649

In exchange for your 2000. As above, fitted with 2·4 litre barrels/pistons and a fast road cam.

DIY PRICE: £2975

In exchange for 1900cc. As 1·9 (left) but with 2000cc pistons and liners, and new heads. DIY: £2425

EXCHANGE GEARBOXES Type 1 Type 2 Type 4

BIG BORE TRANSPORTER 2400cc

BIG BORE WATER-COOLED TRANSPORTER

New: main/big end bearings, valves, guides, springs, barrels, pistons, rings, small ends, oil pump, plugs, seals, gaskets; refaced flywheel; reground crank; crack-tested crankcase and cylinder heads.

Untitled-1 36

New to our range of engines is The Mexico Range. This is an ALL NEW engine assembled with all new components. Every single part supplied in this engine is 100% new and built by The Engine Shop in the UK. Supplied and test run with a distributor fitted and a full written warranty.

BIG BORE TRANSPORTER 1910cc

New: main/big end bearings, valves, guides, springs, barrels, pistons, rings, small ends, oil pump, plugs, seals, gaskets; refaced flywheel; reground crank; crack-tested crankcase & brand new heads.

DIY PRICE: £1825

MEXICO ENGINE

In exchange for 2100cc Injection. As above but fitted with 2200cc pistons and liners, and new cylinder heads. xes guaranteed All engines and gearbo supplied with and p Sho DIY PRICE: £2485 ine Eng

by The . a full written warranty CALLERS ARE WELCOME! Enjoy a coffee in our airy, clean, modern premises.

You are also welcome to phone us for free helpful technical advice.

• Machining service available for home rebuilds, etc.

• All single port engines feature recon. cyl. heads.

NOTE: Prices are subject to change without prior notice.

t he e ngine s hop Specialists in Volkswagen and Audi Engines Unit A2, Darenth Works, Ray Lamb Way, Erith, Kent. DA8 2SP Telephone: 01322 350022 • Email: info@theengineshop.info Website:www.theengineshop.info

07/01/2022 10:47

BUS STOP

SENSATIONAL ZERO-EMISSION ID.BUZZ RIGHT ON TRACK After five years of intensive development, the countdown’s officially started for production of the gamechanging ID.Buzz. Indeed, by the time you read this it will already have made its double world premiere in the guise of a five-seater (ID.Buzz) and practical van (Buzz Cargo).

Volkswagen Commercial is currently putting a fleet of prototypes through their paces across Europe, the final test runs taking place under everyday conditions between Barcelona, Paris, London, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Hamburg and Hannover.

Despite that whacky paintjob designed to disguise the final styling of the Buzz models, Volkswagen says it’s

stayed loyal to the original Transporter ethos. “Both ID.Buzz versions draw on the stylistic elements of the legendary T1, the original Bulli. Those elements include extremely short body overhangs, maximum utilisation of space on a minimal footprint, the classic division of the vehicle body design into an upper and lower level, plus the unmistakable face with its V-shape. And just like the original Bulli, the ID.Buzz is rear wheel drive.”

All electric from the ground up, production of the ID.Buzz starts in the first half of of this year and the European launch is in Autumn. And good new for our Stateside readers; it will also be sold in the US.

STOP PRESS!

NEW SHOW SPONSOR Great news – the iconic brand Empi has just come on board to sponsor The VolksWorld Show which takes place at Sandown Park, Esher on 19-20 March.

Their announcement read: “EMPI Inc is excited to confirm our event sponsorship of the 2022 VolksWorld Show and we are looking forward to meeting EMPI dealers and Volkswagen enthusiasts from all over the UK, Europe and the rest of the world. Please stop by the EMPI booth in Surrey Hall stand #3 to see our latest performance parts and accessories.”

To buy your show tickets please visit www.volksworldshows.com

YOUR CAMPER INSURANCE 01480 400 946

SHARING YOUR PASSION FOR OVER 35 YEARS

Camper&Bus 9

09-010 C&BMAY NewsIC.indd 9

03/03/2022 17:03

BUS STOP AT YOUR SERVICE

Where from: www.heritagepartscentre.com How much: from £23.50 We’ve all been there; either standing in a motor factors or scrolling through a webpage puzzled by a plethora of filters and plugs that are presented in front of us, supposedly for the vehicle we own.

Fortunately, the good guys at Heritage Parts Centre have a bit of experience in this field, and they have compiled some ready to buy service kit boxes for every era of Transporter, with all you need for your annual service inside. Just choose your favourite brand of oil to accompany it and you’re ready to go. Visit their website to browse the full range of kits.

PURE MASTER CRAFTER! THE ULTIMATE ADVENTUREWAGEN MAGIC: cool colour, killer Camper R VERSATILE T6.1 DAY TRIPPERSUPE

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Ultimate the sun

Fire-damaged Bay is now a dream family Bus

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BUS TECH:

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Joe Sugg’s Bus expertly overhauled

INTERNAL AFFAIRSCROSSOVER DORMOB

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Don’t forget you can buy a single issue or back issue of Camper&Bus online at the normal cover price with free delivery within the UK (+£1 charge for international postage). Simply visit shop.kelsey.co.uk/issue/VWC. UK customers can also save money by ordering six issues for just £21.99, including delivery, via the continuous credit offer available here: shop. kelsey.co.uk/suboffer/VWC2022.

Alternatively, find your local stockist of Camper&Bus by typing in your postcode here: tinyurl.com/y26a38ul. Simply select Camper&Bus from the pulldown menu, choose your desired search radius and go buy it!

TECH : JUST LIKE NEW!

’57 Split Window is the perfect build

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HESSISCH OLDENDORF (HO22 – VINTAGE MEET) DATE: 24-26 JUNE LOCATION: 31840 HESSISCH OLDENDORF, GERMANY CONTACT: WWW.URALTKAEFER.DE

JULY EUROPEAN BUG-IN DATE: 1-3 JULY 2022 LOCATION: CHIMAY RACETRACK, BELGIUM CONTACT: WWW.EUROPEANBUGIN.COM N.B:please be aware that all dates and venues are subject to change, so always check the event website, contact the organiser or look on social media for the latest updates before leaving home!

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PLANNING AN EVENT? If you’ve got a gathering this year, tell us about it via: CAMPERANDBUS.ED@KELSEY.CO.UK

10 Camper&Bus

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04/03/2022 12:31

04/03/2022 11:14:39

READER BUS

KNOCK,KNOCK!

Having spotted a ‘for sale’ sign in the window, Dave Robbins virtually broke the door down to bag this Bay. And over a quarter of a century later he loves it just as much as he did the first time he saw it

“I knocked at the door and a deal was done... I paid him the money and picked it up later that day”

Dave Robbins, Bay Window

I

purchased our Bus back in 1995 when I saw it in the previous owner’s front garden in Reading with a ‘for sale’ sign in the window.

I knocked at the door and a deal was done. He’d recently moved to this address and had overlooked the fact there was no garage and didn’t want it left outside exposed to the elements. I paid him the money and picked it up later that day.

He had removed the original interior to suit his needs as it was used as a day van to take his mother out on picnics so only contained white painted wooden boxes. My first job, then, was to source a Devon interior which, incredibly, I managed to find advertised for sale in a local paper. The cushions were made by Trimmania in Reading and I revarnished all the woodwork myself.

Being a Type 4 engine the heater is brilliant and with the electric fan there’s lots of hot air in the cab. In 25 years of ownership I have only replaced the heat exchangers once.

Myself, my wife, and our two girls used the Bus for many surf holidays with various friends over the years, many of whom also owned VW Buses. One particularly memorable trip was to the west

coast of France and northern Spain; our convoy contained five VW Buses and before the days of mobile phones we all kept in contact via CB radios. [Now how cool is that? – Ed] Most years we attended Run to the Sun in Newquay, and we always extended our stay for another week on a local campsite. Our favourite place to visit was Woolacombe in North Devon – the beach there is great for surfing and we enjoyed many amazing holidays there with friends as well as like-minded VW owners from around the country we met, some of which we still keep in contact with nearly 30 years later. There were often as many as 30 of us at any one time so we had enough for football matches, rounders and cricket which we played on the green or the beach. Happy days!

Vanfest was another favourite event of ours from the early years and a great place to purchase parts and accessories for the Bus as well as meeting up with old friends.

In 1998, a 1959 23-Window Samba joined our fleet so the Bay wasn’t used much that year. However, we soon discovered it was too small for a family of four for our holidays so it was sold a year later

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READER BUS

for £10,000. That was a lot of money back then, of course, and we used it to put down a deposit on a small flat in Woolacombe, it having become such a special place for us.

In 2012 our friends asked if they could use our Bus for their daughter’s wedding in Ilfracombe. We had never considered this before so we decorated the Van accordingly and drove the bridesmaids to the venue. Since then many other friends have made similar requests for their sons/daughters weddings and it has been a pleasure to be a part of their special day.

These days we only sleep in the Bus at festivals like Rewind and Retro & Isle of Wight. That said, last year I needed a van to attend

Woolacombe National scooter rally; being over 180 miles from home I wasn’t keen on the idea of riding my 1963 Lambretta so I removed some of the interior and loaded it in the Bus and did the marathon drive south.

Apart from the time the previous owner had it sitting outside his house, it’s always been garaged and still has the original paintwork which is in excellent condition. As you might imagine, it has far too many memories for us to ever consider selling.

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Words Henry Jones Jr Photos Thru A Lupe

Every motorhead dreams of finding their perfect car, but you have to go through a process of elimination before you find it

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The crowning glory on this Deluxe is the steel sliding sunroof. The handle doesn’t work but they’re always a swine to work on, so rarely do 16 Camper&Bus

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“...as anyone who’s driven a factory sunroof Bus will know, travelling with the roof open isn’t actually the ‘wind in your hair experience’ you’d expect!”

A

fter many years of careful study, we think we can now identify three distinct types of VW owner. There are the ‘forever’ owners, who buy a car and are content. Their car is ‘a keeper’ and the one they always dreamed of and will never part with it. Then there are the ‘creators’. The thrill for them is entirely in the build and once finished it’s swiftly moved on to facilitate the next build. Finally, there are the ‘floaters’, owners who simply can’t make up their mind and flit back and forth with cars.

The owner of this factory sunroof Deluxe definitely falls into the latter category and to explain it we need to go travel back two or three cars in the history of Jon Pratt, who hails from Devon, AKA the Shire as he prefers to call it (one for LOTR fans).

Back in the noughties, Jon owned a 1970 RHD Beryl Green Bay. It was a bit of a beater, but it had stance, a cool set of rims and a Dormobile interior. It

Vintage Raydyot spotlight mirror is a nifty accessory

took Jon and his wife Lara all over the UK, camping in Cornwall, to VW shows and provided cheap accommodation at weddings, including their own.

Then one day, at a show, Jon spotted an Anthracite Grey ’64 Beetle with a red interior, polished Fuchs and slammed on the deck via some air-ride. Jon had found his ‘keeper’. It was ‘the one’ and perfect in every respect and Jon had to have it. It took about five or six years to acquire it, but when he sold his Bus, acquire it he did.

This was in 2014 and Jon set about adding a few personal touches to the Bug but it was already perfect in his eyes, and was used but always cherished, after all this was ‘the keeper’. Or was it? Camping in a tent just wasn’t the same and Jon came to realise that air ride is a gimmick. Sure, it looks ‘rad’ when you dump your car on the deck but you sure as hell can’t drive it like that. ‘The keeper’ went up for sale in 2016 and the search for another Early Bay began.

Repro steel wheels were discounted JBL items.

Hubcaps are cleaned up VW originals

Safety Star accessory brake lights are common, but oh-so-cool additions Camper&Bus 17

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Steering wheel covers were all the rage in the ’70s and go well with a vinyl basketweave interior today

Rough and ready

Thanks to some wellthought-out suspension mods, this Bus sits well and still retains a decent ride quality

Eight months later this Montana Red 1970 Deluxe enters the story. Having been a member of the Early Bay forum when he owned his previous Bus, Jon trawled through the ‘for sale’ threads and found this one, which had been advertised for some time.

The thread was way down the forum with no posts from interested parties. To be fair, the pictures and description didn’t do it justice and it actually looked a bit rough. The paint, underneath the green slime that

had accumulated from being parked under trees, was faded pink and powdery. The interior was unloved, and parts were missing, including the headliner. But it was a Deluxe and had a factory steel sunroof, so a viewing was organised and it turned out the Bay was actually really well looked after mechanically by its owner, who spared no expense on keeping it running and used it regularly to travel from Farnborough to Devon of all places. He just didn’t really care about its outward

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appearance. It drove beautifully, and the shabby exterior had real potential. A deal was done and loaded up with all the seemingly missing spare parts, it was on its way to Devon, but this time with Jon at the wheel.

Once back in the Shire, Jon set to work on making this Bus his own. Stock is fine but it’s not Jon’s style, so the necessary lowering parts were bought, some new, some secondhand. Jon also did some digging into the Bus’s history. Built in 1970, it was delivered to a VW dealership in Los Angeles. During the course of its life it made its way to Portland, Oregon. It was from here that it was discovered and imported into the UK by Tim from Road House Retro. Who remembers his uber cool Speedmaster Bus? Yeah that Tim! Apparently, he used the Bus for a spell as a makeshift office before re-commissioning and putting it up for sale.

Originally a Microbus, it now sports a full-width Westfalia rock ’n’ roll bed in the back.

experience’ you’d expect! It’s noisy and blustery and differing air pressures create an annoying ‘wob, wob, wob’ sound that pounds your skull.

Next, Jon turned his attention to the ride height.

The rear was done in a day on his parent’s driveway.

Bump stops, and brackets were ground off. As were the top and bottom stops on the torsion bar housing.

The stock spring plates were then replaced with some secondhand Creative Engineering adjustable plates, turned one spline. The seams along the chassis

Not factory but packed full of character. You can really stamp your own personality on an old Type 2

“The interior was unloved and parts were missing, including the headliner. But it was a Deluxe and had a factory steel sunroof, so a viewing was organised”

Cleaner and lower Jon’s first task was to sort out the paintwork. A good wash and few hours with a MOP and cutting compound had the body looking much more like Montana Red. Jon is convinced he added £1,000 to the value just by washing it.

The Sunroof was inoperable, but the Bus came with a new set of cables, so with zero knowledge other than what he found via Google, Jon fudged his way through recommissioning. Not an easy job to say the least but after a day’s grafting the sunroof was opening and closing pretty well… Until the new cables bound up and Jon forced the handle one last time and snapped them! Dejected, the sunroof was pulled shut and left shut. After that, whenever Jon wanted the roof open, he pulled it open by hand. But to be fair, as anyone who’s driven a factory sunroof Bus will know, travelling with the roof open isn’t actually the ‘wind in your hair

The swamp cooler is the nearest thing to ‘a keeper’ Jon owns Camper&Bus 19

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legs were removed and re-welded to provide extra clearance for the driveshafts.

The stock front beam was replaced with a new adjustable Transporterhaus 4in narrowed beam.

Torsion leaves and tracks rods were cut down accordingly but Early Bay bods will know lowering a Bus on adjusters alone doesn’t cut the mustard, especially on a balljoint Bus, so dropped spindles were added. Jon lucked-out here as he was donated a pair of Transporterhaus flipped spindles by a very dear friend who had recently swapped his Bay to king and link!

Result! Especially as the spindles also came with full hub and brake assemblies still attached which helped with the front drum brake renovations. Finally, the Bus was treated to new set of KYB shocks all round.

Mexican blankets are a great way to tidy up and add character to an interior without breaking the bank

Devon hob unit was an eBay bargain and fits in perfectly with the theme

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In the know The mods didn’t come without their problems and although the ride was smooth and precise, the front wheels fouled the inner arches. Jon can’t weld but he knows a man who can. In fact, that man also fabricates well regarded front tubs, so a deal was done with Gav at Trailer Queen Restos to fabricate and fit a set of his 2.5in tubs at his workshop in Bude. Jon can’t paint either and being as the tubs are a work of art in themselves, Jon just clear coated them with rattle cans.

At the time of the build the icing on the cake was a set of secondhand BBT chromed Sprintstar wheels measuring 4.5in at the front and 5.5in at

the back shod with 145/65/15 and 185/65/15 tyres respectively. As can be seen in the pics though, these were replaced with JBW 15in wide-5 steels and original hubcaps, firstly so the sprints could be used on another project and secondly because the JBW rims were £29 each new.

Nothing really needs saying about the engine. It’s not the original and was most probably fitted by Road House Retro when they recommissioned the Bus. It’s a completely stock 1600 single port with absolutely no mods aside from electronic points, a glass fuel filter and a new fuel pump. According to Jon it purrs like a flat-four should, pulls like a train and is treated with an ‘if it aint broke don’t fix it’ mentality. One thing Jon did change was the engine support bar. His had taken a

Interior is a mish-mash of items that Jon and Lara repurposed so they all gel together

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bit of a hammering, as they all do on lowered Bays, so he replaced it with an aftermarket Cobra Engine Bar. They’re designed to be stiffer and stronger and provide more ground and exhaust clearance.

“This Bus was built on the driveway and on a budget”

Something out of nothing Jon’s previous Bus had a Dormobile interior which he always thought was a bit too fussy and the bed was only three-quarter width. The Deluxe came with the Westfalia full-width rock ’n’ roll bed but was covered in some hideous ’70s blue fabric. Other than this the interior was non-existent so Jon set about creating his own on a budget with the help of his wife Lara. As part of the process, the blue fabric was replaced with coffee sack covers carefully crafted by Lara and her sewing machine which, if anyone’s ever tried sewing coffee sacks, is no mean feat requiring a great deal of skill and patience.

Lara also created a matching stool/storage unit from an apple crate and more coffee sacks whilst Jon fudged together a fold-down table using an old 1950s coffee tabletop. Being as the Bus is a bit of a miss-match of styles, Jon chanced upon an original Devon cooker unit on eBay. It had a few parts missing but still had the original folding aluminium hood in place which are pretty rare by all accounts, but Jon scored it for £35 quid. Floor coverings were created using Seagrass offcuts from a local carpet warehouse whilst the tired and torn front seats were treated to a new set of basket weave vinyl covers. The finishing touches… a ’70s vinyl steering wheel cover and obligatory fairly lights and bunting. Oh, and in case you were wondering, that thing hanging on the cab window is a 1950s All State

Built on a budget using ingenuity, secondhand parts and ‘gifts’ from fellow enthusiasts. This Bus shows what it’s possible to achieve without spending big bucks!

air-conditioning unit or ‘Swamp Cooler’ as it’s also known. Another £90 eBay score that Jon has installed on every VW he’s owned and one item he will never ever sell!

This Bus was built on the driveway and on a budget.

Tubs aside, pretty much all the work was carried out

by Jon and Lara, with many of the parts being sourced secondhand or even gratis. But the big question remains, is this Bus ‘a keeper’? Sadly not. It faithfully served its time in the West Country for a number of years, but now resides in France with a new owner and family. Maybe it will be their ‘keeper’?

Accessory ‘Please Pass’ illuminated sign and Deluxe spec jail bars and belt-line trim? Yes please

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46487_Camper Untitled-1 36 & Bus One Page Bespoke APMS Superline Pro Range May-22 Issue Advert.indd 1

14/02/2022 09:45:12 04/03/2022 12:29

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Al Booth’s creamy-smooth ’57 15-Window looks so finger-lickin’ good, you just want to lean in and take a bite…

Words Dan Bevis Photos Andy Saunders

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F

or as long as mankind has had the ability to bang things with rudimentary tools and communicate with a system of advanced grunts, the species has relished the idea of being told that something shouldn’t be done.

It’s a primal thing: tell a child that they’re not allowed to touch that cake, or that they shouldn’t swing the wonky fence panel aside to see what’s beyond the end of the garden, and what do they do?

You’ve got it. The mischief is ingrained, it’s just human nature. And even more powerful than the received wisdom that something shouldn’t be done is the notion that it can’t be done. We, as a species, love to be set a challenge. ‘That sofa won’t fit in the back of your car,’ a bystander may tell you – so you’ll spend all afternoon trying. Can’t? Can’t doesn’t exist. There are no hard tasks. There are simply certain tasks that take longer than others. Chemically and physically speaking, everything in the world is just made of other things.

Nothing should really be impossible.

All of this is keenly embedded in the psyche of Al Booth, the man jangling the keys to the sweet ’57 15-Window we see before us. Having served in the Royal Anglian Regiment (‘The Vikings’), he decided to retrain as a joiner in 2006; after building up a respected and indemand business in London, Al then opted to relocate to Cornwall in 2012, founding the Northshore Carpentry Co. and generally making some extraordinarily skilled and complex work look like a piece of cake. And you won’t be surprised to learn that when he’s not doing clever things with wood, Al’s a dyed-in-the-wool air-cooled VW obsessive. This project represents the latest in a long line of artfully reimagined Buses, and the manner in which it entered his life was really quite surprising.

“It popped onto my radar back in 2017,” he recalls. “I was having a chat with an old army friend of mine about a few of the old Buses I’ve had over the years – too many to recall – and he casually informed me he still had a 1957

Rebuilt 1641cc unit scoots this chocolate box along quite nicely

Side exit exhaust is a novel idea

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“I spat tea everywhere, and straight away drove over from Cornwall to take a look”

15-Window Bus in a garage in Bury St Edmunds that had been in there since around 2000/01 and hadn’t come out!

And with that I think I spat tea everywhere, and straight away drove over from Cornwall to take a look.”

Kinda Ok! There’s nothing quite like the adrenaline spike when that sort of thing happens, and Al was down at the garage in record time, pinching himself all the way and praying that he wouldn’t be opening the door to reveal a mound of oxidised fragments between a couple of number plates. But the motoring gods were clearly in good humour that day, as the figurative beam of light that shone out when Al eased the portal open was akin to that of the briefcase in Pulp Fiction.

“There she was, covered in years of dust,” he remembers, misty-eyed. “Her colour was Sealing Wax red and a kind of chestnut brown – and you know what?

Bus sat stashed away for the last two decades but actually wasn’t too bad This gives the game away when it comes to that killer stance

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Al doesn’t need a spirit level when pitching up at a campsite

Spot the subtly positioned air tank?

She looked okay. So we made a deal, and after a few hours of whacking the brakes and trying to pull her out with a tow rope and a T4, she was out and on the back of a trailer.”

Exciting times indeed, and the story just kept on getting more and more intriguing. After a quick overnight pit-stop with his parents in Southend, Al headed out on the long journey back to Cornwall the following day, itching to learn more about his rarefied new acquisition. Arriving home and unloading the Bus from the trailer, some further digging revealed that it

was actually a Panel Van which had been converted into a 15-Window Bus in the States in the 1990s.

“Neither of us knew, and to be honest you’d never know unless you knew,” says Al. “But even so, it was still a great find and a cracking Van to try and get back on the road.” So now it was time to roll the sleeves up, as there was some hard work ahead…

Air we go The van was running air-ride, but the system was so outdated and tired after its couple of decades in the dust that Al concluded ripping it all out and renewing the whole system was the only sensible way to go.

Being in Cornwall, he was ideally positioned to go to the artisans (or should that perhaps be air-tisans?) at Autostyl in Truro to work their magic on the Bus. A full Air Lift system with 3P management was fitted and, with priority one taken care of, Al moved onto the next item on the ever-growing to-do list. And it was that Sealing Wax and chestnut combo that was next in the firing line.

“After the first winter, the paint started to bubble,” he continues, “so we made the decision to strip her and repaint her, and if I’m honest that’s where my hands-on

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involvement stops; beyond paying for the materials and the work, I took a step back and left it to the experts.”

The experts in question here are Ollie and Livi, a father-and-daughter team – friends of Al and proprietors of their own garage where they quietly obsess about old stuff in general and Volkswagens in particular. The dynamic duo duly removed the engine and gave it a full rebuild, with a fresh new bay crafted by the one and only Ev the Candy Van Man (if you know, you know). Ollie and Livi then set about stripping all the paint, perfecting the bodywork and preparing it for its fresh new revival.

“They did actually ask me what colour I wanted her to be,” Al grins, “and I said ‘You know what? I trust your judgement on things, so you can choose’…” The ensuing colour scheme is something we can call Chocolate Cheesecake – indeed, that’s the Bus’s nickname – and it really is an outstanding job. We just can’t get enough of this Dub’s low-key vibe, creamy-smooth and oh-sosubtle, with just a hint of underlying menace implied by that low-slung stance over dark colour-coded rims.

They’re Porsche 356 steels, incidentally; 4in up front and 5.5in out back, shod in lo-pros and ready for action.

Which is just as well, as the hot-to-trot motor provides all the action one might reasonably desire; it’s a 1641 mated to a GT gearbox, so there’s all the get-up-and-go you’d want from a great big bar of soap like this.

Del Interiors did a great job of the seats and trim It’s no surprise Al’s smiling. He left lots to the experts but the finished result ended up spot on!

As you can see, Al decided to keep it all nice and simple up front

Quality cabin That Chocolate Cheesecake theme carries over beautifully to the interior too, which has been reimagined in sumptuous and fabulously detailed style.

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in the south-west,” says Al. “There’s over 70 years’ experience in car interiors there. Seventy years!”

That heritage certainly shows through in the finish, the quality of this cabin is downright exquisite – and a million miles away from those utilitarian roots as a Panel Van in Germany.

“The retrim is an amazing job,” Al beams. “And the body, paintwork, engine and pretty much everything else was completed by Ollie and Livi, who really went above and beyond to make her what she is today. In my opinion she looks great, and when me and Alf the Malamute would drive around town, everyone stopped to take a picture… she’s a real head-turner.”

With Alf the huge hound on the passenger seat, this ’57 certainly made a statement down on the British riviera. Sadly Alf departed this world in 2021, and Al finds himself in a state of flux with the Bus’s future uncertain: “She’s now up for sale, or part-exchange, and I guess if we can find another old classic from the scrapyard to save we will,” he says, evidently taking more pleasure in the journey than the destination, as is true of so many enthusiasts. “But until that day she’s tucked up in the barn, nice and warm under cover, ready for the summer fun. And there’s a cast of characters I have to thank for getting the Chocolate Cheesecake to where she is: Autostyl, Ev, Del, and of course the legendary father-and-daughter duo, Ollie and Livi. And I can’t forget dad – cheers for always believing in these crazy projects.”

So it is with the passage of time, this remarkable Bus

may or may not be making way for the next one, but that’s all just the circle of life. One thing’s for sure: this VW hadn’t been dealt an easy hand by fate, finding itself variously chopped up, reconfigured and abandoned.

But ‘can’t’ doesn’t exist and nothing is impossible.

In whatever form and whatever venue, Chocolate Cheesecake will be spreading her sweet affection around for many years to come.

Al asked us to dedicate the build to Alf, 2008-2021.

“Ride in peace, my boy.”

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Better by far A chat and a friendly recommendation persuaded this couple away from the main dealer and straight to JC Vans and one of their latest T6.1 camper creations Words Gordie Woollacott photos Ian Cushway

Bill and Beatrice Hiscock got the recommendation to go to JC Vans to get the Panel Van converted and haven’t looked back since

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“We couldn’t be happier with our camper, we’re highly delighted with the workmanship”

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Bigger rims, 20in in this case, with a lowering kit (55mm here) will make any modern Bus look better

Y

ou don’t need us to tell you that the market for compact campers in the UK is booming.

For most people there is only one name when it comes to such a vehicle, and that’s Volkswagen. For 70 years VW has led the way and the latest T6.1 has no intention of dropping the baton. This level of demand has inevitably seen an increase in your options of where to buy and, ultimately, how much to spend.

At the top of the tree will always be those produced at the factory with manufacturers warranty and OEM spec equipment. The two major downsides still remain however, those being the much higher retail price tag and the lack of customisation options. That’s where conversion companies like JC Vans step in. By taking nearly new vans as a base and building a high quality camping interior to your specifications, it’s as close to a ‘best of both worlds’ scenario as you can get. This 2020 model Highline with just 20,378 miles on it is the perfect case in point. Like many established convertors, JC Vans offer a three tier package of Bronze, Silver and Gold levels. Being a high specification van from the factory, this one has been given the full works of the Gold package, the highlights of which include a ‘gas free’ installation thanks to a diesel heater and the latest Waeco diesel hob. Among the many popular upgrades you’ll find some tasteful styling options in the form of 55mm lowering springs, Bilstein B14 coilovers and 18in or 20in wheel packages. As you can tell, this Fortana Red van has been given a fresh look thanks to the springs and wheels combination.

Whilst enjoying a browse around the stock on site at the JC Vans’ 5500 sq/ft warehouse in Weymouth we were

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“a high specification van from the factory, this one has been given the full works of the Gold package, the highlights of which include a ‘gas free’ installation thanks to a diesel heater and the latest Waeco diesel hob” made aware of an adventurous retired couple who had recently bought a very similar van. The truth is, Volkswagen campers are cool but without the people behind them then all you’re left to look at is a pretty van.

Sportline front and rear spoiler and side running bars add visual drama to what’s already a pretty awesome looking Bus

Swiss express Bill Hiscock (79) met his wife, Beatrice (it would be rude to ask) after they both sadly lost their partners at a similar time. Bill says: “I have a very good lady friend who I must have known for at least 50 years. I didn’t know Beatrice but she only lived four miles from me and my friend decided to introduce us.” This wonderful episode of matchmaking led to a wedding and a relocation from Oxfordshire to a marital home in Dorset.

Beatrice is a Swiss national and has lived in the UK for 12 years. “We’ve been together for six years now. We

2.0-litre TDi is great for long distance cruising but is also fine around town Camper&Bus 35

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“rather than just flying in and out of Switzerland controlled by BA timetables, we would look at getting a campervan and travel there at our own pace and enjoy the journey”

bought ourselves a new home in Poole because we didn’t want to spend our lives renovating an old one!” says Bill, very wisely. “Beatrice of course likes to travel home to see her family as often as she can. We both enjoy a bit of adventure, in fact Beatrice is a bit of a globetrotter and has travelled the world on her own, spending six months in China and managing a trip to Outer Mongolia. We decided rather than just flying in and out of Switzerland controlled

by BA timetables, we would look at getting a campervan and travel there at our own pace and enjoy the journey.”

Bill himself has travelled Europe extensively in his previous life as an engineer.

Friendly persuasion A chance meeting with a guy in a VW on Weymouth seafront gave the idea some legs. “I was chatting to him about his camper and he was waxing lyrical about it,” Bill explains. “He told me he had it done at JC Vans and it just stuck in my memory.” That nugget of information came to the fore when Bill and Beatrice started looking for a new van in earnest. “We went to the local VW dealers, Breeze in Poole, who were selling the VW Ocean,” he says. “It’s very nice but a little pricey and dealers have a bad habit of forgetting to put the VAT on the pricetag. I thought, wait a

Smev sink/hob is a winning combo minute, this is getting expensive! So we looked at buying a van to get converted.”

The van they bought was a Fortana Red T6.1 2.0TDI 150ps T30 Highline fitted with DSG, just like the one here.

“The 6.1 is particularly good on emissions which is very important when driving on the Continent,” points out Bill. “It only had 6000 miles on it and, in comparison to a new Ocean model, was a very good price.” Recalling that conversation on Weymouth seafront, Bill made contact with JC Vans and took the Panel Van over to have a chat. “It had bench seats in the front, a bulkhead and no windows at all,” says Bill. “But Lee at JC convinced me they could take care of all of that, swapping the bench for swivel seats and adding factory spec windows. We opted for their ‘gas free’ Gold package conversion and also asked for a solar panel.”

On your bike!

Since getting the van back in the Spring of 2021 Bill has added an OEM reversing camera installed by Advanced

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Silver fronted Dometic CRX-50 fridge adds class to the clean and bright living area In Car Technologies in Poole as well as a genuine VW removable tow bar hitch to mount their bike rack on. “Oh yes, we’re still both very fit,” he laughs. “Don’t you worry about that!” He also added to the styling with a set of 18in gloss black Wolfrace Munich wheels. “That’s just a personal choice,” he says. “I much prefer the look. We drove up to Bodan’s Campervans in Shrewsbury for them. We dropped the van off, went for some lunch and when we came back it was gleaming!”

Due to the ongoing restrictions around the pandemic throughout 2021, Beatrice hasn’t yet been able to make a trip back home to Switzerland in the camper but that hasn’t stopped them getting out and about in the UK. “We’ve put around 11,000 miles on it already,” Bill reveals.

“We have a Kia Picanto as our regular car but, when I go back to visit family in Oxfordshire we take the Van. Not only is it more comfortable, it also has better fuel economy.”

Whilst the much anticipated maiden voyage to Switzerland can’t come soon enough, a five day trip to the New Forest and a long weekend in Lincolnshire has kept the adventure going for now. That and countless day trips to the beach.

“We couldn’t be happier with our camper,” smiles Bill.

“We’re highly delighted with the workmanship. I did get a little worried about the cost but there’s no point in having it if it’s not what you really want, is there?”

Honestly, a mantra that we can surely all live by.

112cm rock ‘n’ roll bed is trimmed in the same material as the front pews. Tambour roller shutters and flush fitting doors look swish don’t they?

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UPPING YOUR GAME Having owned six ‘slammed’ T4s previously, Shaun Campbell’s gone onwards and upwards with his latest acquisition Words Gordie Wollacott Photos Andrew Thompson

“When I pulled the ply from the wall above it, I found a mouse nest inside the insulation!”

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There’s so much going on here it’s a wonder Shaun has the mental dexterity to concentrate on what’s coming up ahead!

I

n case you’ve been hiding under a big stone somewhere, ‘swampers’ are big news right now.

And for good reason. They’re a perfect fit for the whole ‘no limit, total freedom’ go-anywhere Van lifestyle ethos that’s trending at the moment which explains Shaun Campbell’s butt about face change of direction with the 1.9td T4 you see here.

Having experienced life getting rattled about in a slammed T4 (well, six to be exact) he’s decided to literally up his game. By the look of the van, you’d be forgiven for imagining he set out with a clear plan of action on how he would achieve the final look, but the reality is it just kind of evolved. Even the original purchase wasn’t exactly planned! “I bought it without even seeing it,” Shaun explains. “I wasn’t actually looking for a T4 at the time, but this one had popped up on Facebook and attracted me with the low asking price and the pop-top roof.” The story goes that the 1997 T4 had previously been used to travel across 14 different countries around Europe during a fundraiser for a

mental health charity. “I think they even went as far as Croatia,” says Shaun. “I knew that to make that journey it had to be mechanically sound and well cared for and I was not wrong.”

The seed for this particular build was planted in Shaun’s subconscious a couple of years ago. “I was having a chat with a guy I sold a car to,” he says. “He got talking about his swamper. Now, I’d never heard of a swamper. When I looked into it online, I knew right away that my next van had to be this style.” The concept percolated in Shaun’s mind until this tired looking T4 arrived on his drive.

Body blow Having been unloaded, one thing became apparent very quickly. Shaun explains, “I realised I had a lot of work ahead of me. It was, in fact, mechanically sound and had lots of receipts amounting to a small fortune showing many things including a reconditioned engine that had

DASHBOARD FASCIA

Check out these pictures of how Shaun designed and built his own dashboard fascia. Unless you have access to the specialist kit like a laser engraver and cutter machine, this kind of mod is virtually impossible. Starting with a design on his CAD program, he first cut templates from plywood for testing the layout before creating the final pieces in beige acrylic. The dash has been finished in brown cherry blossom shoe polish to complement. Neat, eh?

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“I wasn’t actually looking for a T4 at the time, but this one had popped up on Facebook and attracted me with the low asking price and the pop top roof”

Stuff like the Rhino ladder, sunshield and nudge bar were all sourced via eBay. Sadly the snorkel’s only for show!

Shaun’s prepared for everything and anything in his T4

Shaun’s fettled every square inch of this Van’s exterior, including these lowdown LED lights Camper&Bus 43

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An off-grid, off-road and up for anything T4 like this is guaranteed to get your neighbours nattering

been fitted professionally a couple of years ago. The bodywork and interior, however, was another story!”

Indeed, the Van was a bargain price for a reason – the MOT had expired some time ago so Shaun decided to start from scratch and work his way inside out by first pulling out the rotten and tired interior, all the while revealing more work. “My plan was to make this a budget build,” he says. “Unfortunately, I found quite a few patches of rot on the ply lining which had been caused by dampness. When I removed the ply, I uncovered lots of holes in the lower body of the Van where the elements had been getting in. All four arches had gone and the rear offside had completely rotted away and left a huge gaping hole! When I pulled the ply from the wall above it, I found a mouse nest inside the insulation! They had obviously been climbing up into the van through the hole and had made themselves comfy... thankfully they had moved on!”

With quite a large welding bill looming, Shaun reverted to form and hit YouTube for some inspiration.

“In the past, I’ve taught myself everything I’ve needed to do to build my vans – including sewing,” he points out. “You really can learn anything from YouTube if you have the ability to apply it in the real world.” He bagged himself a mig welder being sold off by a local garage, complete with a large gas bottle and set to it.

“I practised for about a week or so before getting stuck in welding the Van itself,” he says. If you’ve ever had to weld on your driveway or single garage, then you can feel Shaun’s pain – literally. “Yeah, there were a few bits that managed to melt through my protective gear whilst laying on my back,” he says with a grimace. It was all worth it though when the MOT man handed him

a fresh 12-month pass. “I honestly thought there would be something I would need to revisit, but it was all good,” he beams.

Fab drab The paint job came next in what Shaun describes as a ‘moment of madness!’ “I had a day off and the weather was nice, so I decided to prep’ the Van on my driveway.” He continues, “That went well so I carried on by masking it up and then hit it with the raptor paint.

To this day I am still finding bits of raptor on the door frames and windows of the house!” The colour is of course, Olive Drab.

This could sure prove useful when there’s no mobile signal

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You can picture Shaun sat here, map open, planning his next madcap adventure can’t you?

There are many neat custom tricks all over this Van, but none more so than inside. As a CAD designer by trade, Shaun runs his own online business, Made & Memories, selling all kinds of personalised items that he makes using his laser cutter and 3D printer. Both machines have been put to work engraving the birch ply interior, creating the hand grenade gear knob with built-in compass and also the custom ‘bull’ front badge.

The rock and roll bed frame and foam came from eBay, with Shaun dragging his sewing machine from the loft to finish the retrim. “That was honestly the hardest part,” he admits. “With the tough material my needles kept on breaking, and the cotton kept snapping. I really need an industrial machine but storing it would be a

It’s the little touches that make a build like this even the more remarkable

Shaun’s put all of his many and various talents into making the interior look fabulous Camper&Bus 45

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nightmare. In future, I think upholstery is the one area I’m going to leave to the pros!”

For a utilitarian type vehicle, the interior is surprisingly well-equipped for camping. Things more commonly associated with high-end builds such as a Smev 9222 cooker hob and Waeco CRX50 fridge are all present and correct. Although, this time the fridge has a survival shovel over it instead of a bottle opener!

The cab area has seen the dash treated to a complete redesign, again thanks to Shaun’s CAD skills. A brandnew fascia now houses myriad buttons and switches controlling the factory heaters as well as exterior lights and a CB radio unit. Shaun’s laser engraver has been put to good use with the final details.

The snorkel, Shaun’s favourite mod, is made for a Mitsubishi L400 and is a genuine item but in the case of this Van is just for show. “You could drill some holes and make it work, but I don’t actually plan on going in any water that deep,” he laughs!

It might not walk the walk, but it absolutely talks the talk. Shaun has definitely captured the swamper vibe and for a total outlay of a little under £3000 you have to respect it.

Thanks to: Barebones print shop for T-shirts worn on shoot

Hard as nails No swamper gets its name from the interior so with things looking tidy inside it was time to terrorise the neighbourhood outside. A set of 16in Vito steel wheels wrapped in 215 x 65 Insa Daka mud terrain tyres set the tone with added presence due to 30mm Stance+ wheel spacers from Venom and the wide arch flares.

You have several options available when it comes to lifting your van all varying in expense. With the budget build in mind, Shaun has gone with a very straight forward set of 30mm spring spacers in the rear with the front torsion bar wound up to match. Yes, it actually goes up as well as down!

The off-road trinkets such as the Rhino ladder, the sunshade, the nudge bar and the Delicia Snorkel have all been sourced through nights of searching on eBay.

“I practised for about a week or so before getting stuck in welding the Van itself”

46 Camperr&Bus

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SPECIAL FEATURE

MYTH OR REALITY? Beginner’s guide to owning a campervan; Mark Walker delivers his verdict on 10 of the most discussed camper controversies Words Mark Walker Photos C&B

A

s with any scene, the VW fraternity has plenty of people from different backgrounds who all bring something different to the mix. Like it or not, one of the things this creates though, especially with the advent of social media and the fabled Keyboard Warriors, is a bunch of Chinese Whisper type myths about VWs, how useful they are and what makes them better. Having heard all the myths (and then some) as a foot in for the greenhorn to the world of campervan ownership, we’re about to debunk 10 of the most prevalent ones for you...

Camper&Bus 55

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SPECIAL FEATURE

POP-TOPS RULE!

Are elevating roofs really better than high-tops?

“when it comes to out and out practicality and diversity of use, the pop-top will always win out for the average van”

T

here was a time when high-top (or high-roof) vans were pretty much the un-coolest thing on the planet. In the UK, we had Bay Window Buses fitted with the Sheldon high-top, making for hilarious handling characteristics and hit-every-branchon-the-way-down ugliness. Gradually though, the tides have been turning and, in terms of Bay Windows, factory high-roofs and those by US converter Adventurewagon look pretty cool these days and have shot up in value.

What prompted the change of attitude?

Well, the fact that a fair number of slammed high-top early Bay Window Campers were built around 10 years ago brought them onto a lot of peoples’ radars; they were cheap compared to tin-top or pop-top Buses at the time because

most people considered them uncool and unworthy, so this is probably what inspired a few of the cool kids to buy them and drop the suspension on the floor. Let’s face it, anything looks amazing with a proper slam job and what this did is bring the unloved high-tops into the public eye.

In T25 terms, Westfalia high-top Campers constitute pretty much the most practicality you can get in the rear-engined platform and many believe they have more usable space than a similarly appointed T4 Westfalia Camper if you can get past the spaceship looks. All of the high-roof Vans bring motorhome practicality into the realms of VW Transporter ownership and are great if you have a larger family; more storage space up

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SPECIAL FEATURE Cool high-tops like this marked the turning of the tide

in the roof for all manner of kit which can be kept in place while driving and roof berths that aren’t freezing in winter or tent-like.

One other thing that has come up trumps for the high-top is the #vanlife trend; it seems to have become fashionable to own a high-top Van, be it a Sprinter/LT or otherwise, especially with the trend of moving into your Van an with your laptop on a full-time basis to see the world. When it comes to having all your worldly possessions on the road with you, it makes a lot of sense to have as much interior room as possible, so this is one chalk mark in the high-top’s favour.

This all being said, it's often thought that when it comes to out and out practicality and diversity of use, the pop-top will always win out for the average Van. an. It was in 1968 that Volkswagen first used images of a pop-top Westfalia in its adverts and the new Bay Window brochure; the Camper amper was pictured in the Utah National Parks off-grid and in several other locations for adverts, with

slogans such as “The 60 MPH Motel” and “In Five Minutes It’d Better turn into a Station Wagon.” Alongside these pictures were ones of the same Camper being used on the school run with the pop-top stowed and this is what will always make the pop-top king – they look

Modern Bus high-tops are rare but cut the mustard when it comes to the adventurewagen look neater, create less wind resistance, you can sleep up there or stand up to pull up your jeans and you can also squeeze under height barriers.

, up your jeans while standing Pop-tops give room to pull ugh when folded to eno low are and ping slee extra space for get into supermarket carparks

Solid sided elevating roofs perhaps offer the best of both worlds, though you still have to put the bedding somewhere when you fold the roof down

MYTH OR REALITY?

Pop-tops really took off in the late ’60s

Myth Reality Camper&Bus 57

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SPECIAL FEATURE

AIR-COOLED BUSES AREN’T REALLY RELIABLE

VW’s success was born out of the fact their vehicles were beautifully engineered and their innovative air-cooled engines went on forever. But is that still the case, or do they fall short when it comes to real-world reliability?

H

aving been into VWs for 35 years and an air-cooled VW owner for 30 of those, I can back up the fact that this myth is 100% FALSE. Is it the advent of the snowflake generation that is scared to drive anything old further than their local supermarket that has perpetuated this myth? Maybe in part; the air-cooled scene has grown exponentially in the past 20 years and, with the huge popularity and rising iconic status of Split and Bay Campers beginning in around 2002, it brought a huge amount of new owners into the scene who had never owned a classic vehicle before.

You can spend a ton of money on a Split or Bay Bus to modernise it and make it go faster, have lighter steering, air conditioning, a banging sound system and even a 40in flat screen TV on lift motors that comes up out of a cabinet on demand if you really want, but all of these things tend to add to the weight and compromise reliability. Many of these budding classic Bus owners soon realised, as Jamie Oliver did on his trip around Italy carrying a ton of kit and trying to cool a Porsche engine, that driving an old Bus flat out at modern motorway speeds and keep up with modern traffic is a big ask.

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SPECIAL FEATURE

Dusty it may be, but kept reasonably stock – and properly maintained – this gutsy Type 4 air-cooled engine is likely to prove just as reliable as a modern water-cooled Bus lump

Quality reconditioned air-cooled engine parts are readily available, so there’s no need to drive a smoker Although many of these folk have given up on the classic dream and moved on to a T6, the Vans that have had all of these modifications carried out on them are still in existence, so get moved on through a succession of owners, who all tend to have a disappointing experience and ultimately tar classic VWs with the unreliability brush. What they don’t realise is that when you modify any vehicle, to an extent you compromise its reliability.

When air-cooled vehicles were new they developed an excellent reputation for going on forever; people would write in to Safer Motoring magazine back in the ’60s aghast at just how much more reliable Volkswagens were compared to British cars of the era. I’ve owned over 100 air-cooled vehicles and the most unreliable was the first one I bought, age 16. It was unreliable because it was a cobbledtogether collection of mismatched parts and non-standard wiring.

All of the classic VWs I’ve bought and put back on the road since have been pretty reliable because I’ve always been a fan of standard engines with standard black tinware

“Is it the advent of the snowflake generation that is scared to drive anything old further than their local supermarket that has perpetuated this myth?”

VW’s air-cooled engine was a great design and still works well today. Moreover, it’s relatively simple to work on if you know what you are doing and all of the original factory cooling parts in place. In all these years I’ve thought nothing of driving some pretty big mileages on road trips – on average 3500 miles in a European or USA road trip and the only times I’ve ever had breakdowns were due to teething troubles after putting them back on the road, or due to poor quality aftermarket parts.

Get a quality built engine, keep it genuine, stay on top of maintenance (yes, that means oil changes every 3000 miles) and you’ll be ok.

Fresh oil of the correct brew is the lifeblood of the aircooled engine so make sure you use the right stuff and religiously change it every 3000 miles

MYTH OR REALITY?

There’s lots of air-cooled options available; bigger capacity or upgraded engines are fine as long as they’ve been expertly built

Myth Reality Camper&Bus 59

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SPECIAL FEATURE

T4S AREN’T COOL Half classic, half modern – surely the fourth generation Transporter is the dream choice for camper owners. Or not?

“The 2.5TDI models were always the ones to own and held their value extremely well; they were a great Van to drive back in the day and still are, despite their age”

I

t’s funny how things seem to go in circles in the VW scene. Years ago in the UK (and more recently in the USA), Bay Window Buses were considered uncool, typically the reserve of ageing Hippie types who sported grey ponytails and yoga pants. It was only the fact that the supply of good, cheap, Split Screen Buses all but dried up that made people shift their perspective and move attention toward the models that were easier to afford – the Bay Windows.

It was a similar story with the T25. In fact, the T25 is the ‘mother of all uncool’ for years; it seemed to spend decades stuck in

the limbo of middle ground – not old enough to be considered classic and cool, but not new enough to be ‘modern’ like the T4/5/6.

T25s were pretty much in throwaway money territory for a couple of decades; a Westfalia or Bluestar/LLE Multivan in nice condition would always be popular and could demand a larger chunk of change, but the average converted Panel Van would struggle to get more than a couple of grand on the sales market.

Having been around this scene for a little while, I remember the uproar in certain ranks when the T4 was introduced with a frontengined layout; it’s just a Transit van with a

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SPECIAL FEATURE You can’t say this doesn’t look cool?

VW badge was the popular opinion from the VW stalwarts. As the T4 became established though, they developed a strong following and were more of a sales success in the UK than any of the previous models. Until the T4, Volkswagen Vans were a bit of a niche market, but the T4 helped to bring them to popularity.

For years in the late ’90s and early 2000s, I really wanted a T4 as a work/family vehicle but they were always expensive; they held their value well and it was hard to find a nice clean example – especially one that wasn’t white – without having to take out a second mortgage. I eventually found one – a ’99 Indian

There’s lots of useful space inside a T4

With a few carefully considered mods a T4 can be made to look sexy. Honestly

Blue 800 Special but had to make do with the 1.9TD engine. The 2.5TDI models were always the ones to own and held their value extremely well; they were a great Van to drive back in the day and still are, despite their age.

The main problem that T4s face now is ones of panel availability (they can rot pretty badly) and the fact that it’s hard to find one that hasn’t been modified in all the wrong ways – cheap lowering springs and hack jobs seem to abound and that’s one of the main drawbacks of being so cheap to buy at the moment, in comparison to earlier and later vans. This is the reason I recently snapped up an unmodified two owner from new 1991 T4 Panel Van; I can’t remember when I saw one this good or original in the last seven or eight years, so made an unplanned purchase. And I love it!

Get a tidy T4 that hasn’t been ruined and you’ll love it just as much, too.

The torquey and strong five-pot 2.5 is the Holy Grail

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IT’S EASY TO MAKE AN AIRCOOLED CAMPER BETTER It’s easy to upgrade an air-cooled camper, but there are caveats...

“my list of mods are things that I’ve found in my 30+ years of experience to make the most pleasing changes without compromising on usability or reliability”

T

his one is TRUE but ‘better’ is very subjective; the modifications I’m going to list here will probably not be the most popular by any means. The popular vote may be slammed suspension, twin carbs and wood rim steering wheels (and I’m not knocking these) but my list of mods are things that I’ve found in my 30+ years of experience to make the most pleasing changes without compromising on usability or reliability.

1. SOUND DEADENING/INSULATION Just about every production vehicle that rolls off the production line could do with some extra sound deadening and thermal insulation; cars and vans are built to a cost and commercial vehicles are never endowed with as much in the way of creature comforts as a passenger car. For many people, the idea of insulating a Camper is to cram all of the

cavities full of Rockwool type loft insulation, but to do so does a grave disservice to both the word insulation and to the longevity of the Van in question – it will trap moisture and hold water against the body panels, causing them to rust from the inside out.

Dynamat is great stuff, but I’ve found a product called Silent Coat, especially in 4mm thickness; it’s great for stopping drumming on large panels and for drastically cutting down the number of decibels produced when driving.

Pairing this with either Dodo Mat or a product called Dacron for heat insulation will be perfect and will make your classic Van a much nicer proposition for driving and camping in chilly weather.

2. UPRATED HANDLING BARS Slammed suspension may improve cornering ability due to lower centre of gravity and stiffer suspension, but it’s often at the expense

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SPECIAL FEATURE damping power and adhesion/stability in both day to day conditions and extreme situations – they have a stiff compression stroke but a quick cushioned rebound stroke, eliminating tyre scrub on lowered Buses but being a worthwhile upgrade whether you’re stock height or lowered.

Insulating a Bus will make it quieter, warmer in winter and generally more civilised

Empi products will improve handling without compromising ride quality

Complete 2332cc stroker engine kit is a tad under £3000 from Limebug

5. STROKER ENGINE of ride quality and the ability to bump up kerbs or drive down rutted beach or campsite tracks. EMPI make uprated front anti-roll bars for Bays that can also be adapted to fit Splits. EMPI also make a rear handling bar for Bay Window Buses that could be adapted to IRS converted Splits, too. If your Split is still running reduction boxes or straight axle, then an EMPI Camber Compensator will stop the inner wheel tucking under on hard cornering.

Fitting uprated front and rear bars will make a big difference to cornering but also in lane stability in high winds.

Adding heat to the inside of a air-cooled camper is easy and opens up the opportunity of all-year round adventures

4. DIESEL HEATER

Subtle, correctly configured suspension mods will make a wallowy Bus drive more like a modern car

3. BILSTEIN SHOCK ABSORBERS There are plenty of options on the market when it comes to fitting uprated shocks to your Bus; back in the day the KYB GR2 was the go-to for a reasonably priced uprated shock, but the problem is they can make the ride quite harsh. There are also plenty of adjustable options from GAZ and other manufacturers which enable you to fine-tune the rebound and comfort levels to suit your application, but the vast majority of people just want a fit and forget option.

Our friends at Type 2 Detectives worked with Bilstein to produce what they feel is the ultimate Bus shocks and they have plenty of rave reviews; they are optimised for more

If you’re looking to turn an air-cooled Bus into less of an expensive toy and more of a practical year-round vehicle, look no further than a diesel heater. Unlike gas heaters, they produce dry heat and diesel is easy and safe to store. You can spend out with a Webasto or Eberspacher heater, go mid-range with a Planar or buy a Chinese one off eBay for around £100. Having spoken to many Van owners for features who used the latter option, I can confirm that they are usually very reliable if looked after and mounted correctly and run cleaner if Kerosene is used rather than diesel.

There are tons of websites and Facebook groups listing upgrades and reliability hacks; you can even control them from a smartphone app, which is great for warming up your Van while you’re still finishing your morning cuppa in the winter. What’s more, these units are thermostatically controlled, so great for winter camping without freezing half to death. A 2kw heater will be plenty for a Bay or Split, but if you plan on winter camping with the pop-top open you may want to get a 5kw one.

Most people make the assumption that they need to add twin carbs and a bigger exhaust, as well as bigger barrels and pistons to a Bus engine; most consider a 1776cc with an Engle 110 cam and dual 40mm carbs to be the ultimate powerplant, but it isn’t. All of these mods make an engine breathe better and rev more freely, but they don’t give a Bus what it needs the most – low-end torque. You’d be far better investing your money in a small stroker engine than an engine that would be better suited to a fast Beetle.

There are tons of options when it comes to VW stroker engines and they can be more cost-effective than carrying out machining for larger barrels and pistons. A 74mm crankshaft will drop right into a VW case without any clearancing at all and a 76mm one requires very little clearancing with a Dremel tool or die grinder. You can pair this crankshaft with either stock barrels and pistons (76x85.5 = 1745cc) or step up to modern thick wall 88mm slip in barrels and pistons (1849cc).

Either of these engines will give you similar displacement to a 1776cc but with very different power and torque characteristics.

For a cam, the stock grind delivers probably the best low-end torque, but Web-Cam also manufactures some grinds for great torque.

A small stroker with a stock-ish carb (a rejetted stock carb will do) and a slightly better flowing exhaust will transform your air-cooled Bus into a hill muncher without all the excess noise and revving; you’ll get improved fuel economy too as your engine won’t have to work as hard all the time.

MYTH OR REALITY?

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T5/T6 CAMPERS CAN BE AS COOL AS EARLY BUSES

If you thought only the earliest Buses were king when it came to cool, think again

“

I’d much rather see someone happily driving a T5 or T6 Van than I would a person who’s trying to turn a Split or Bay into a T6.” These words, spoken by a friend of mine, mirror what I’ve thought for a long time. If you need a Van that can speed down to Cornwall every weekend at 80+mph fully laden with surfboards, camping gear, kayaks, kids and bicycles, with a jet-ski on a trailer behind, just buy a T5 or 6 and do yourself a big favour.

T5 and T6 Buses are cool; I owned a T5 for a couple of years back in 2011-2013 which I converted into a Camper and used to tow classic VWs all over Europe as part of my business back then. I did 40k trouble-free

miles in that Van and it was comfortable and capable. I also write for our sister title VWt so I get to write about them every month, too. The thing is, the world of T5s and 6s is completely different from the classic Buses... but in a good way.

The mind boggles about just how much you can do to a modern Van and how many cool parts you can buy and fit to them. Also, the spec that you can order a Van from Volkswagen with puts many a ten-year-old luxury car to shame and is about as different from what you can do with a Split or Bay as comparing an iPhone to an Atari. I borrowed a new California from the VW Press Office to drive to European Bug-In a couple of years

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Modern Buses are just as cool and respected as their predecessors and there’s a host of excellent conversion companies happy to build your dream Camper creation

Modern turbodiesels are quick, efficient and will get you wherever you want to go at the drop of a hat

ago and it blew my mind in terms of standard specification.

But, while I’ve always been a fan of Westfalia Buses, I think there are such great things going on in the aftermarket conversion

“The mind boggles about just how much you can do to a modern Van and how many cool parts you can buy and fit to them”

For longer journeys, this is the way the go market for the new T6s that it makes the stock products offered by VW look a little tepid nowadays. Many of these aftermarket converters have 30+ new Vans in stock ready to be converted to your every whim, from full suede or Alcantara lining to hand-stitched leather interiors and crazy smartphonecontrolled gizmos. I love air-cooled but if I had the money I’d love to have a play with a T6.1.

MYTH OR REALITY?

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SPECIAL FEATURE

YOU CAN RUN A BUS AS A DAILY

Let’s be honest, few of us can afford to have a Bus sitting idle on a driveway for most of the year, so can it really replace another vehicle in your fleet?

“The cost of air-cooled Bus maintenance shouldn’t be high, and most service parts cost buttons to buy”

U

ntil my son was born in 2004, I’d driven daily air-cooled vehicles for over 10 years. Even though cars and vans these days have more gadgetry and are generally built with more power, I still don’t think the air-cooled era Vans have lost relevance in terms of being able to be used daily throughout the year. They will happily cruise along at 60mph, which is enough to keep up with modern traffic in the slow lane and, to be honest, it can be a much more relaxed experience than buzzing along in the outside lane all the time.

Looking at the costs alone of using a classic daily, as opposed to a modern car; they are generally tax and MOT exempt (if over 40 years old) and classic insurance is usually much cheaper than modern car policies and also generally includes European breakdown cover. The cost of aircooled Bus maintenance shouldn’t be high, and most service parts cost buttons to buy.

How does £75 for an engine service kit with plugs, leads, dizzy cap, rotor arm and a few other essentials sound?

If well maintained, an air-cooled Bus

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Modern Vans drive like a mod ern car so why not use it as a daily?

There’s no reason not to use a Transporter on a regular basis, not just for holidays

Yes, you’ll be travelling at slower speeds in an early Bus, but who cares should be as reliable (if not more so) than a modern car.

Of course, it’s always worth carrying some tools and a few spares with you when piloting an air-cooled on the daily; anything from a spare fuel pump and coil to all of the cables you could need if they suddenly decide to snap would be wise.

One thing that I always carry these days is a spare distributor. Sure, you could carry points and condenser, etc, but you never know if there may be a problem with the advance mechanism or other wear; by setting up another distributor with new parts and setting the timing correctly, you can then just remove the 13mm nut holding the distributor clamp to the engine case and pull out the distributor, followed by dropping in another identical distributor and clamp. Refit the 13mm nut and tighten and you can rule out all ignition-related

Thanks to a host of specialist parts suppliers, most Bus parts are cheap

problems in about three minutes at the side of the road.

Water-cooled Vans offer even more promise as daily drivers; the latest Transporters come with all the bells and whistles, are great to drive, fuel efficient and have all the latest safety gizmos, so why bother with a second vehicle?

MYTH OR REALITY?

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BESPOKE CONVERSIONS ARE BETTER THAN FACTORY

Should you stick with the original, or start from scratch by doing it yourself or getting a custom conversion?

“the best and most ingenious campers I’ve seen recently have been bespoke builds”

I

have always had a love for Campers; it’s what got me into VW Buses in the beginning. Growing up in a family who owned a caravan was cool, but it always fascinated me on European campsites when people would turn up in cute old VW campers. They’d come and go with ease too, without any of the shackles of caravan ownership and I knew I had to get one as soon as I was old enough.

Over the years I’ve owned everything from T1 (Split Screen in Euro speak) to T5

and everything from Devons, Danburys and Westfalias to home-converted ones across all the different platforms. I love a nice original classic Camper (and currently own a ’69 Westfalia) but they aren’t always the most practical of beasts. So much so, I’m modifying my Westy to have a full-width bed and modern fridge and cooker.

Having owned a T25 and T4 Westy too, as well as borrowing a T6 California for the weekend, I can honestly say that I didn’t find any of those the best Campers that I’d ever

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SPECIAL FEATURE Your imagination is the only limitation when it comes to custom Camper interiors. This one makes the factory options look ditch water dull!

seen or owned. Writing on the Camper&Bus and VWt team for many a year has shown me that it’s often the bespoke camper conversions that are the best, as they don’t always have to be built to a cost. As mentioned earlier, the factory conversions are a bit tepid in most cases and carry a premium price tag, too.

Some of the best and most ingenious campers I’ve seen recently are bespoke builds from one of several companies in the modern Van scene when I’ve been writing features; the options available from many of these aftermarket converters, especially for the price (usually way less than a California in standard trim) make them particularly attractive and much less bland looking.

Neat features like this pull-out BBQ can be incorporated into your dream camper build

There’s something truly appealing about having a Bus a made to your own spec by proper craftsman

You can pretty much pick and choose what you want in your Van if you go the aftermarket route You wouldn’t have been able to buy this from your local VW showroom in the ’90s...

MYTH OR REALITY?

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SPECIAL FEATURE

STOCK IS BETTER THAN MODIFIED Is this old chestnut fact or fiction when it comes to Campers?

T

his one is really subjective. A few years ago, I would slam the suspension on any VW that came into my possession; I wouldn’t even wait to get these VWs, many of them imports, on the road before I hit them hard with the lowering stick. At that point in my life, I felt that all cars looked better lowered and while this may be true to a degree, there’s also a lot to be said for a vehicle that looks ‘right’ – stock and unmodified looking with only OEM+ looking modifications.

I love an all-original stock Split or Bay if

I’m honest and that also extends to the T25 and T4 nowadays; I won’t be fitting alloys or lowering either my Westy or my ’91 T4 Panel Van. But the terms stock and modified don’t just apply to suspension, wheels and engines; whilst both of my Vans will be remaining stock in the looks department, they will have some modifications under the skin to make them better to live with, according to my personal tastes.

Back to the sliding scale thing, though, the more you modify something, the harder it is to find replacement parts if

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SPECIAL FEATURE Engine mods, done properly, can massively improve the usability of an older Bus

they fail when you’re on a long road trip and there’s generally more chance of a component failure on modified engines in my considerable experience.

When it comes to my Bay Westy, as well as the aforementioned wider bed and more modern camping accoutrements, I have a bigger engine going in with some ’70s ‘old speed’ performance parts. I’m fitting heated seat elements under the TMI covers on the front pews and there’ll be a classic looking Bluetooth stereo in there too so I can play Spotify from my phone as I drive. There will also be a diesel heater, brake servo upgrade and aftermarket cruise control, as I find my right knee hurts these days after an all-day motorway haul.

The T4 will look like an all-original stock Panel Van but will have a modern head unit with a USB socket, heated seat elements again, a headlamp upgrade, aftermarket cruise control and a few genuine VW accessories – Westfalia towbar, mudflaps, front fog lamps etc. The point I’m trying to make is that any older car can benefit from a few upgrades to make it feel a bit better to

“stock to modified is a sliding scale and whatever works for you is the best course of action”

drive – or more practical – as well as give it an upgrade in the looks department.

So, in my opinion, stock to modified is a sliding scale and whatever works for you is the best course of action; I spent many years in my early VW ownership leaving everything completely stock – many of my VWs didn’t even have a radio as I didn’t want to modify anything. But I feel that this was more relevant 25 years ago than now and it’s nice to have a few creature comforts to make life more comfortable.

Gadgets like Bluetooth radios that look classic but work like the latest in-car entertainment are great

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LESS CAN BE MORE

Do you really need a fully-kitted out Camper or will more of a Day Van work just as well?

“it’s nice to sit inside a Bus with a fridge, sink, cooker and all the camping kit and caboodle you could imagine, but will you ever really use any of it?”

T

here’s a common misconception, peddled probably by some of the traditional conversion companies themselves, that you really did need everything and the kitchen sink when you went away in your Camper. Well, quite frankly, it’s not true. Okay, yes, it’s nice to sit inside a Bus with a fridge, sink, cooker and all the camping kit and caboodle you could imagine, but will you ever really use any of it? The vast majority of VW folk who drive their Buses on a regular basis use them more as ‘Day Vans’. By this we mean Vans you can drive somewhere, park up and

enjoy for the day rather than get involved in staying overnight in it. When it comes to cooking, most prefer to rustle something up outside on a portable stove rather than stink out the interior doing it on a built-in affair.

The same goes for the sink; you’re probably better off doing the washing up in a bucket or over at the toilet block if you’re on a campsite rather than in a tiny sink.

This philosophy extends to things like awnings; yes, they add extra sleeping space or room to store junk but when stowed even the most compact awnings take up valuable room in your Van’s interior and make it

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SPECIAL FEATURE Why smoke out your Bus interior when you can cook outside in the sunshine on something like this? It’s more sociable, too!

miserable for those travelling in the back.

Of course there’s all manner of natty solutions available for those who don’t want to go the full camper route. Things like plugin compressor fridges, really cool cookers that you can set up outside in the sunshine and even roll out awnings if you need shade or want to keep things undercover.

Bear in mind, too, that most kitted out Campers only have three-point seatbelt points for four, so if you’re a bigger family you’ll need a Kombi instead with more seats.

Again, it’s a case of thinking about what you want to use your Van for and choosing accordingly.

Turn a Transporter into a versatile Day Van if you don’t want to go the whole hog with a full Camper conversion.

Basically, anything goes!

MYTH OR REALITY?

Low power drain 45-litre compressor fridge from JK is perfect for storing cold drinks and perishables – and you can use it as a seat as well

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SPLIT BUSES ARE BETTER THAN BAYS They’re more iconic, but are pre-’68 Buses really any more awesome than a Bay?

“I find Bays much more relaxing to drive; there’s much more interior space, especially in the cab area and they don’t feel as cramped or antiquated”

I

totally get why people love Split Buses; the look and shape of them are so pleasing to the eye, as well as being very iconic. Due to their explosion in popularity back in the early 2000s, you could even argue that their shape is more instantly recognisable than the Beetle nowadays. Every brand seems to want one as a promotional tool and demand often outstrips supply, which is why the prices skyrocketed about 10 years ago and never came back down.

But are they better than a Bay? Well, according to some, Bay Window Buses will always be ‘fat chicks’ that aren’t cool. Having owned plenty of both, I’ve always loved

Splits and Early Bays pretty much equally.

There was a time I chose to own more Split Buses, but I’ve ended up back behind the wheel of an Early Bay (and I sold a Split Bus to buy one). Why would I do this? I hear some of you ask…

When it comes to driving a Camper hundreds of miles at a time or even going out for a day trip, I find Bays much more relaxing to drive; there’s much more interior space, especially in the cab area and they don’t feel as cramped or antiquated to me.

Also, in stock form, they have balljoint front beams and IRS rear suspension, which makes the ride at the same time softer but with better handling; you can throw an

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Cabin on Bay is easy to get in and out of and forward visibility is excellent

Early Bays in particular have lots of neat features

Later Bays are good too; examples with the torquey Type 4 engine make excellent longer distance cruisers

unmodified Bay into corners with much more conviction than a modified Split.

Also, to me, I’ve always loved the look of Early Bays; the cute rounded shape with rounded bumpers and small rear lights has always attracted me and, when it comes to Campers, the fact that larger pop-tops and walkthrough bulkheads were always much more common throughout Bay Window production makes them much easier to use as a Camper in my humble opinion. They are also much more likely to have a betterequipped interior.

Out on the road, a Bay is comfortable to drive, with better wipers and much less likelihood of needing to hunch over in order to see out of the windscreen. They are better ventilated than Splits and there’s something about the way the cab is set up that makes them easy to hop in and out of; I find them the easiest to enter and exit of all the rear-engined VW Buses. The steering column always seems to be in the way when getting in and out of a Split and the steering wheel seems too big and ungainly on a T25 – both need a fair few adjustments to my 5’10”

frame to get in and out of, whereas a Bay seems to contain no barriers in this regard.

MYTH OR REALITY?

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MISSED AN ISSUE OF EXCLUSIVE

ESCAPE ARTIST Getting away from it all in a custom built T4

The world’s best-selling VW Camper magazine

The world’s best-selling VW Camper magazine

EWAN’S WESTY

MAD FOR IT

SECOND COMING “I loved this T25 so much, I bought it back again”

Highland roadtrip

Sensational US Buses

How to: fit rear seatbelts

Take the Bus! Bespoke T6.1 stunner

The world’s best-selling VW Camper magazine

The world’s best-selling VW Camper magazine

The neighbours thought they were crackers when they took on this ’67 Deluxe home resto

McGregor’s stellar ’67 Westfalia

Totally-inspired T4

The world’s best-selling VW Camper magazine

’76 Bus was the perfect wedding present Fulfill your sy Bus fanta with this 2.6-litre 21-Window Samba

HAVE BUS WILL TRAVEL! Much loved (and used) Westfalia

GET CLEARANCE

ULTIMATE ADVENTURE Fully-loaded T6 is the perfect lifestyle statement

FITTING A COBRA ENGINE BAR

How to: Space roof install

FEB 2021 £4.40

is Killer ’56 truck show sure to be a sensation

Servicing a T5

REPAIRS

Bike-inspired ’58 Bus is retro nirvana OG PAINT BAY Rare original survivor

CAMP COOKING Tasty autumn recipes p001.coverIC.indd 1

FIXING FRAMES, FIBREGLASS AND PAINT

WHICH SHOULD YOU GO FOR?

ALL SHOW, ALL GO...

Classic styling, modern Subaru power

HANNOVER Bus factory facts

DECEMBER 2020

16/10/2020 07:06

Suits you sir! T5’s made to measure

COAST VW Shop tour 001.coverIC.indd 1

APRÈS-SKI Original paint ’66 with an ice-cool history

MINT BAY WINDOW This one’s factory fresh

JAN 2021 £4.40

DUCATI MAGIC!

DEC 2020 £4.40

HOW TO MAKE YOUR CAMPER COSY

BUS TECH

T25: WATER OR AIR?

POP-TOP

WINTER WARMERS

13/11/2020 11:02

BERLIN OR BUST! It’s the best Westy

HAZET HISTORY The king of tools

10/12/2020 09:45

SPRING 2021 £4.70

’80S ROAD TEST Autohomes Kamper

ALTERNATOR SWAP Step-by-step DIY guide

T6 4Motion ‘swamper’ The best of both worlds

HOW TO BUILD YOUR DREAM CAMPER

Canvas to Camper: tempted by a T6.1 4Motion

The world’s best-selling VW Camper magazine

The world’s best-selling VW Camper magazine

The world’s best-selling VW Camper magazine

The world’s best-selling VW Camper magazine

Home resto transformed this rusty ’66 Split into a dream Bus full of neat features

Sweet lookin’ Early Deluxe Microbus that everyone wants to own

SERIOUS FUNK

LIFESTYLE BUDDY

08/01/2021 08:35

FAST GETAWAY! 2.3-litre Westy’s the ultimate ‘sleeper’

IT’S HOT, HOT, HOT

COACHBUILT T4 This one’s fit for the 21st century

FITTING A HEATER IN YOUR BUS

How to: Space roof install

TOUR DE FRANCE T2-T4 ROADTRIP

How to: Space roof install

How to: Space roof install

ROLLING RESTO

How to: Space roof install

DELUXE!

GROUND ZERO Cool sign-written Panel Van is as low as they go

23-Window ’63 rescued from a snowy wilderness

BUS TECH Improving Split Bus electronics

The world’s best-selling VW Camper magazine

The world’s best-selling VW Camper magazine

The world’s best-selling VW Camper magazine

REPRO VAN

GREY MATTER

Ditched by a previous owner, Mike Farnham recreated his ’60s camper interior from scratch

UK ROAD TRIP Touring the Peak District in a T5

How to: Space roof install

NOV 2021 £4.70

IT’S ALL WIGHT! Discovering the Isle of Wight

NOVEMBER 2021

LIFE-SAVING BUS How a trip to Morocco in a ’66 Split saved my life (twice!)

LET’S DO CORNWALL! T5 Caravelle roadtrip

ALL THE WORKS Killer ’59 Split Window

XMAS GIFT GUIDE Cool camper gadgets

SEPT 2021 £4.70

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BUS HOW TO

IN THE SWING OF THINGS O Replacing T25 rear swing arm mounts Words and photos Mark Walker

ne of the most common failure points on T25/T3 Vans is the rear swing arm mounts. Hindsight is wonderful; the design of the swing arm mounts on this era Bus always seemed quite curious and a step back

from the rear suspension mounting point on a Bay Window. Like the adjacent sill panels, the mounts can rot quite badly and be quite tricky to repair; the best course of action is usually replacement and that’s what we tackled on the Van in the pictures.

NEED TO KNOW

Tools required: MIG welder; angle grinder; finger grinder; air cut off tool; drill/hole punch; spot weld drill; welding clamps; hammers (various); cold chisel Materials used: replacement mount; zinc primer; steel section; cavity wax; arch repair panel Skill level ............. 5 Time taken ........... 20 hours Cost DIY ............... £100 Cost pro ............... £ 750 approx labour plus parts.

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BUS HOW TO

01Get cutting

Before breaking out the grinder and welder, you’ll need to assess the area to be repaired. In some cases, you may be able to get away with carrying out a localised repair with some thick steel. When we began work on the Van in the pictures it wasn’t even an MOT failure; it was a decent looking, roadworthy Bus with only a few bubbled areas around the edges. Judging by how bad the corrosion was when we began cutting, it’s safe to say a lot of T25s on the road are in a similar state.

If you’re reading this feature in anger, rather than just skim-reading, then you probably need to do the same job to your Van due to an MOT fail or visual corrosion. Unlike some other jobs, with the swing arm mounts, you really need to cut some metal away in the surrounding areas before you can get a full idea of the job at hand; we weren’t originally repairing the mount at all, but after cutting out the outer panel and centre panel we found the mount to be holed. To begin cutting, attach a 1mm cutting disc to an angle grinder and cut off the outer skin, followed by cutting a window into the centre sill as pictured. You will now see the extent of the rust above the swing arm mount.

03

Remove swing arm

The swing arm is held to the mount with an M12 bolt and there’s a second one on the inner mount too; these are often stuck solid and you may have to cut through them, which is difficult because access with a grinder is limited. Before you can remove these bolts though, you’ll need to remove the driveshaft at one end, the lower shock absorber bolt and the coil spring. You’ll benefit from having a helper to remove and refit the arm too, as it’s pretty heavy.

02 Clean up area

At this point it’s helpful to clean up the whole area to get the best picture of what is needed. We scraped out the rust flakes and vacuumed it all before breaking out the small belt sander to check out the thickness of the metal, which immediately dissolved into a large hole. After quickly contemplating a localised patch repair, we looked at the condition of the rest of the mount and deemed it to be of reduced thickness in several areas. Deciding to replace rather than repair wasn’t a light one, as we knew we’d have to drop the rear suspension. This was a restoration though and we wanted it to last, as well as look right.

04Check over/repair swing arm

Our swing arm initially had a hole near the outer mount, which we carefully repaired in-situ when we thought it wouldn’t need to be removed. Once it was removed, however, we found that the lower spring perch was rotted out, so we drilled out the spot welds and replaced it with one from Just Kampers. It was only when we pressed out the bushes to replace them that we then realised the arm was completely shot. It seemed a shame after all this work to replace the arm with a new one, but we knew it was the safest option. Our advice: press out the bushes first before deciding whether to repair or replace.

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BUS HOW TO

05Cut out swing arm mount

You’ll now need to do the most daunting part of the whole job – cutting out the old swing arm mount. Before you do this, it’s worth either taking some measurements or making a jig to ensure you get the new mount in exactly the right position when you weld it on. To be honest, access to cut out the old mount is a bit tricky. After trying to get in there with a standard 4.5in (115mm) grinder and failing, we decided to break out the 9in grinder with a thin cutting disc on it. This made short work of cutting out the mount and meant that we could cut really close to the original mount.

06Weld on new mount

With the surrounding area cleaned up so that we could get a good weld, we clamped the new mount in position and checked, then double-checked our measurements before tacking it in position and triple checking. Once you’re happy with the position you can turn up the power on the welder and make the first pass. We made several passes onto the surrounding metal to ensure it would be as strong as possible. When we were happy with the welding at the top we got underneath and welded those seams; be very careful here to avoid burns. It goes without saying that if you’re a novice welder you should at least get some tuition before tackling structural areas.

07Prime inner repairs

With everything looking dandy, you should now paint the exposed metal to seal it from the elements. We chose to use a good quality zinc primer in this case before closing up the area above the swingarm mount. We decided not to grind down the heavy structural welds securing the swingarm mount in place, as grinding would make them thinner and ultimately rob them of strength. Allow the welds to cool down for 20-30 minutes before applying a couple of coats of primer, otherwise, the primer will burn.

08Repair middle sill

Once the primer has dried you can weld up the hole in the middle sill that you cut earlier. We used a piece of 3mm steel we had bought previously to repair some Bay Window chassis sections. Butt-weld the piece in, before welding a seam along the bottom to join it to the inner sill. We used a high power setting on this repair too, as it is still a structural area and provides much-needed strength to the suspension mounting area.

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BUS HOW TO

09Grind middle sill repair

You can now grind the welds down a little; we didn’t grind the welds here back so that they were metal finished, instead deciding to just knock them down a little, especially in the lower area where the outer panel sits against this area.

Access is a little limited but you can just about get in there with an angle grinder and a flap disc. It’s up to you whether you metal finish the area like factory or just knock back the welds a little as we did.

10Prime middle sill

Once the welds had cooled, we zinc primed the area thoroughly to protect it going forwards. It’s surprising how little they protected the inner surfaces of these vans at the Hannover factory, although maybe not so surprising given how susceptible they are to body rust. If you wanted to go one further, you could use epoxy spray primer and overpaint the area with paint or UPOL Raptor; we painted the underside of the van with Raptor once we’d finished the whole job, but felt that zinc primer and a good cavity wax was enough for the inner surfaces.

11Repair outer panels

Not knowing just how far the rust has progressed on your particular Van, it’s difficult to show you the definitive guide to finishing up the repair.

The Van we were working on needed absolutely everything repaired or replaced in this corner, but equally, I’ve seen Buses with a rotten swing arm mount where all of the surrounding metal is sound.

One thing that you will need to do though, is to close up the outer sill area at the front of the wheelarch and the wheelarch itself.

There are two different qualities of repair panels here; one that is a one-piece panel including the lower wheel arch and one that is separate to the wheel arch, which is the one that we chose to get a factory finish.

We butt-welded this panel on, as lap welding creates a moisture trap, followed by plug welding the lower edge. Much time was taken to get the panel to line up before welding in place. As ever, when butt-welding panels in place, use a series of tacks and allow plenty of time to cool between welds.

And that’s it; apart from a whole lot more finishing, of course, it’s job done!

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07/01/2022 10:53

BUS HISTORY

Type 2s displayed the Volkswagen roundel more prominently than any other VW

Emblematic

While the Volkswagen badge may have stayed (more or less) the same since the 1930s, it’s actually had lots of subtle tweaks over the decades. And a pretender to its throne as well...

Words Richard Gunn

W

hatever the trials, triumphs, peaks and troughs of Volkswagen, one thing has remained largely constant about the company – and that’s the badge that it uses to identify itself to the world. The VW roundel is one of the world’s most recognised logos, its prominence naturally helped by all the machines that have showcased it as they’ve spread across the globe over the decades.

However, despite the core design – the letter ‘V’ sitting atop a ‘W’, both enclosed by a circle – things have developed over the years. From the original monochrome creation with its rather unfortunate protuberances in the shape of a swastika, through to the introduction of colour during the 1960s and onto the 3D style more recently, the overall look has remained similar even if the substance has been refined.

Rather like the cars themselves, in fact.

who came up with the air-cooled flat-four engine, was also responsible for the VW logo.

However, there are competing claims for the artist Hans Martin Freyer as the father of the badge, as well as graphic designer Nikolai Borg and poster maker Ludwig Hohlwein. The latter’s version dates from 1920, but even it isn’t really the first – for inside Prague’s Roman Catholic cathedral in the Czech Republic are the remains of St Wenceslas. Yes, he of Christmas carol fame, prone to looking out on the feast of Stephen (especially when any snow round about was deep and crisp and even). Close to where he is interred is a

In the beginning But before we get the evolution, we need to sort out the creation. And it’s not quite as simple as you may think. Accepted wisdom has it that Franz Xaver Reimspiess, the engineer

Was this Prague church emblem the inspiration for the VW logo, we wonder? (photo: David Ward, Heritage Parts Centre)

crest with a ‘V’ sitting above a ‘W’, surprisingly mirroring the badge that would later adorn Volkswagens. It possibly refers to Wenceslas’ Czech name of Vaclav, or perhaps the saint to whom the cathedral was originally dedicated, Vitus. Given that building work on the church began in 1344, it can boast the first use of the stylistic device, probably by several centuries.

But did it influence the 20th century versions?

Well, Ludwig Hohlwein’s very similar design was as completely unrelated to Volkswagen as anything found in Prague Catharses; both pre-dated VW before it was either a car or company. Franz Xaver Reimspiess was awarded a prize of 100 Reichmarks in 1937 for his VW monogram which, in original form, also featured four bladed arms sprouting from the centre to give a fan-like effect. However, its chilling resemblance to a swastika was surely no coincidence, given who was behind the Volkswagen project. A year later, Hans Martin Freyer was engaged to modify what Reimspiess had invented, tidying it up and winning a design award for his efforts. Nikolai Borg was the next on the scene in 1939, his main input seemingly being to replace the swastika fan with a cogged wheel – although with vital evidence lost in the war, the extent

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BUS HISTORY Shortly after the VW roundel made its appearance on the front bootlid, it was joined by the Wolfsburg wolf and castle crest

Franz Xaver Reimspiess’ original Volkswagen badge design also included a shortlived swastika fan effect

Early ‘nipple’ hubcaps were initially the only place exterior VW badges could be found on the first post-war Beetles

of his involvement isn’t totally clear. While less blatantly Nazi than before, the cogged appearance still referenced the logo of the Deutsche Arbeitsfront (German Labour Front) that was in charge of the VW project. In 2005, the 86-year-old Borg sued the company for failing to recognise him as the originator of its badge. But resistance was futile; his case was dismissed, with the court pointing to the Hohlwein and Reimspiess emblems as proof

that the design was already around by the time Borg received his June 1939 commission from German transport minister Fritz Todt. It also seems that the logo had already appeared on the hubcaps of vehicles displayed at the Berlin Auto Show in April of that year.

Certainly some of the Beetle-bodied military Volkswagens that were built during WW2 sported the cogged VW logo on their dashboard blanking plates. But once the conflict ended, the British Army took over control of the factory and town, which they rechristened from the ponderous Stadt des KdF-Wagens bei Fallersleben to Wolfsburg, after the local castle. To further erase the sinister recent past, the VW badge lost its cogs in favour of a plain circle – thus creating the emblem that, with tweaks, remains in use today.

Hub of the matter Initially, the crest was mainly limited to appearing on car hubcaps, in small form on the pre-1948 ‘nipple’ covers and then larger when the domed items were introduced. It continued to appear on the fascia accessory mounting panel inside. But it had yet to make its way to where most people now automatically look for it, at the top of the bonnet. That addition came in 1949 with the advent of the somewhat better appointed export model Beetle. That same year, of course, the Type 2 was launched, proudly wearing a huge VW roundel on its nose as well as on its rear, at least until the company got around to fitting a back window.

In 1951 though, the logo found itself with

“The overall look of the logo has remained similar even if the substance has been refined. Rather like the cars themselves, in fact”

The symbol of global automotive success

The Volkswagen roundel soon made its way around the world, identifying anywhere the company had a presence The Wolfsburg wolf and castle crest featured on the steering wheel hub for many years Camper&Bus 87

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BUS STOP Brazilian T2 shape Kombi production ended in 2013; even with a grille added to the front, the Volkswagen badge still clung resolutely to the nose

So powerful was Volkswagen’s advertising that, sometimes, all you needed was the logo. This US ad is from 1970 However the style of Volkswagen ads changed over the years, the logo remained constant. This marked the launch of the first British dealership in 1953 colour. Well, sort of. A mid-blue shade was introduced, sometimes for the ‘VW’ lettering and circle, sometimes for the background, with everything else remaining white – although the more gaudy times often meant different hues were also employed. But mid-blue seemed the official shade, recalling one of the company’s favourite colours often used in its literature beforehand. A more solid circular outer badge border came into play from around 1978.

Accessory blanking panels in early Volkswagens also sported the VW roundel an upstart rival. That was the year that the Wolfsburg badge was introduced, showing a castle with a wolf standing between its turrets. Amended from the coat of arms of the Counts of Schulenburg, who had owned Wolfsburg Castle, this was added to the bottom of the front boot just above the grab handle, remaining there until 1962. However, it lived on inside the car, at the centre of the steering wheel, from October 1952 right the way through to the era of moulded plastic wheels and the end of European production,

Up to the present

albeit with some tweaks to the style. Cars built in Mexico and Brazil during the 1980s also sported it for a while. It almost became a second, less official, VW motif.

All’s square The next change to the main Volkswagen logo came in 1960. The British Army had transferred control of the company to the West German government and the Lower Saxony state in 1948, but in 1960, it was privatised. For the purposes of literature etc, the circle now found itself enclosed by a square; a shortlived aberration that only lasted until 1967. Then, with Europe and America embracing psychedelia during the Summer of Love, the VW emblem also exploded into

From 1967, blue became the standard colour often used for the logo

The Wolfsburg factory has displayed the VW roundel in massive forms for many decades. Here’s the power sta

The general VW logo wasn’t left alone. In 1995, its blue turned quite a bit darker before being made a tad lighter in 1999. Then, in 2000, graphic design technology resulted in a more three-dimensional representation of the badge including the simulation of a light source shining from the top left. After further modifications to make it even more 3D in 2012.

Bringing things up to date, in the Spring of 2020 the badge received further fiddling when the 3D effect was removed, it was made flatter, simpler, more digitally-friendly and new deeper blues were introduced.

Somebody from the late-1930s who was familiar with the first iterations of the VW emblem would still recognise it today but, for both the badge and the cars, development never stood completely still. You just needed to look a little more closely to see the changes…

A more recent version of the VW emblem, naturally, very prominently displayed at the Wolfsburg factory and HQ

88 Camper&Bus

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03/03/2022 19:58

19-20 MARCH 2022 SANDOWN PARK 2022

19-20 March 2022 Sandown Park, Esher, Surrey

TICKETS ON SALE NOW!

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T&C’S; Book online at www.volksworldshows.com. Advanced day tickets from £16, weekend from £24, camping add on £14. Booking fee applies. All advance child bookings, inc camping, are FREE (FREE entry for TWO children aged 14 & under when accompanied by a paying adult, any additional children will be charged at £5 each on the gate). All attractions are subject to change. Advanced ticket booking closes midnight Friday 18th March 2022.

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04/03/2022 12:27

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07/01/2022 10:41

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Bromley Pageant is a superb celebration of all things motoring and provides one of the best opportunities available to soak up Bromley’s unique atmosphere of friendly club stands, displays and meet fellow enthusiasts.

From an Alfa Romeo to VW Karmann Ghia and everything in between, Bromley Pageant is famous for its one-make section where vehicles of each make can be entered and parked together. With a packed trade area, autojumble, live action arena including the Tigers Motorcycle Display Team, Reme display, car parades and a kids zone, come along and join us for a brilliant day jam-packed full of fun for all the family.

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18/12/2021 16:28

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25/07/2019 16:04:36 16:40:35 05/03/2021

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VOLKSWAGEN BAY CAMPERVAN

1973, 91500 miles, £10,500. VW bay window 1973. Inside the rock and roll bed/kitchen has been replaced with a corner sofa, large enough to seat 7 people. There are 3 seatbelts fitted. Roof is bamboo, door cards are Hessian sacks and floor is reclaimed wooden floor boards. !. Please call 07890174625, South West.

1972, 38000 miles, £13,500. 1972 Tin Top Bay window Danbury conversion camper. 1700cc twin carb engine. New carburettors fitted and rolling road tuned. Great reliable van. Please call 07508030993, Ireland.

110029

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112690

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2001, 190000 miles, £8,500. Amazing bespoke Quintin Tarantino inspired T4. Beautifully specified with amazing sound system experience, club lounge lighting and hand made flame design VW carpet throughout. Add to that, a full service history from new, lovingly cared for and enjoyed.

Please call 07907827053, Scotland.

112681

VOLKSWAGEN CAMPERVAN

2003, 23600 miles, £23,000. 2003, Brazilian import, 38000 km, left hand drive, Danbury pop top and 3/4 width rock and roll bed. Bespoke kitchen conversion with 2 x gas rings, gas grill, 3-way fridge, sink. Webasto petrol heater. Not lowered, original steering. 4 x new tyres. A couple of minor rust patches in the usual places. Email clarephill@hotmail.com.

Glasgow, Scotland.

Please call 07825214219, Scotland.

109925

1970, 109500 miles, £29,500. Dormobile. Only two owners from new (including us), with a full history. Great condition inside and out. We bought the van in 1999 and since then, we have done a lot of camping and a range of restoration / repair and also upgrade work. It has been stored under cover since 2003. The interior is in really excellent condition, largely original (including Grundig radio) except for the curtains and rear seat fabrics / carpet, which have all been carefully replaced.

Tax and MOT exempt, Please call 07780992405, South East.

112391

2016, 8200 miles, £54,950. Stunning T6 professionally converted from new campervan.

BiTurbo DSG Gearbox. 1 owner from new.

Showroom condition. This van has a colossal spec, way to much to list. Please call 07926580611, Yorkshire and the Humber.

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1996, 200000 miles, £2,500. Type 4 VW Campervan perfect for a rolling project van.

Hakuna Matata Has recent MOT. A few mechanical issues which can be spoken through with the mechanic who has been working on this van for the last year. Please call 07784548076, South West.

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VOLKSWAGEN SPLITSCREEN CAMPER

1967, £40,000. Fully restored and is a stunning example, drives beautifully, all work photographed and guaranteed. Please call 07941 016033, South East.

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1998, 71000 miles, POA. Private Collection of 7no VW T4 Transporters For Sale. Been in dry storage for several years, all run but require recommissioning before road use. Years from 1998 - 2003 Sharknose, Mileages from 71 - 188k.

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1963, £89,995. VW 23 Window Deluxe Samba.

Manual, green, right hand drive, leather interior, fully restored. Please call 01765 609798, Yorkshire and the Humber. (T) 111324

2006, 180000 miles, Offers. Transporter, LWB, high roof, new MoT, new full service, cam belt 10,000 miles ago, recon gearbox, 1900cc diesel.

Please call 07806 931170, Greater London.

110312

VOLKSWAGEN CAMPERVAN

2017, 15000 miles, £43,995. 2017 Euro 6 VW Transporter T30 TDI Kombi campervan, highline, blue motion technology, 7 speed DSG gearbox, 150 HP, full VW service history, 15000 miles, lined in grey and burgundy and insulated, sunglass holder, heated seats, heated front and rear screens, tailgate with wash/wipe, 2 captain seats on rib swivels,and more. Please call 07935746690, West Midlands.

112190

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1981, 87865 miles, £14,500. T25, Air Cooled Transporter. MoT one year, good unrestored condition, owned 10 years, MoT and Tax April 2022, Exempt. Exchange Harley Combo or Servi Car Harley 45. Please call 07863 262603, Greater London.

112225

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1985, 52500 miles, £6,000. Panel van, off white, heated rear window, elec. Power steering, cross climate tyres. 1.9 Golf engine, new MoT. Fully serviced. Please call 07748343477, Scotland.

112602

VOLKSWAGEN TYPE 2 CAMPER

1972, 125000 miles, £17,000. Key features: Full MOT (last MOT Oct 2020), Bodywork is in a good condition with some areas which require attention.

Steerco Power-steering unit installed in 2018.

New JustKampers Gear Shifter Upgrade Refurb kit installed in 2018. Modern interior with fitted cupboards, table, leather seats/trim and Rock and roll bed. Drop down Buddy Seat and additional buddy seat fitted.Please call 07811402227, North West.

CARS@KELSEYCLASSIFIEDS.CO.UK

LAST WORD

THEINTERVIEW

Having built several Campers from scratch, written about his roadtrips and turned his hobby into a business Brian Larkin from Larkin Custom Conversions (www.larkincustomconversions.co.uk) explains why the journey is as important as the destination...

Old or new camper?

Old for looks, new for the drive.

Cook inside or out?

Outside for sure. I've had full kitchens in previous Buses and I didn’t want to use them as it stank the Van out!

Would you ditch fossils fuels and go electric?

As long as range/charging is improved then absolutely.

I’m still unsure if electric really is the answer or is in fact as environmentally friendly as we are led to believe… but that’s another story.

Are you a minimalist or do you take the kitchen sink?

Bare essentials only. I can’t stand clutter. Our Van is a wheeled Swiss Army knife though – all the bits we need are neatly stowed away.

What Buses have you owned, do you have one at the moment?

I've had T4s, a Peugeot Boxer (which probably doesn’t count but it was lovely!) and my current T5.1.

So what was your favourite?

2002 short nose T4 for looks – it’s a modern classic at its best and a timeless design. The 5.1 gets it hands down for driving experience. We usually do a lot of long distance UK and continental driving and the T5 just eats miles. And the AC is a massive plus.

Where’s the weirdest place you’ve camped in your Van? That'll be the back of a building site in West London in my T4. I used to use my Van for working away and it was my hotel on wheels. Then there was the hospital car park when my eldest was born – the midwife was most put out that I preferred my Van to the offer of a bean bag to sleep on!

Prefer going solo, or take all the family?

Both – I’m happy solo or in company.

Favourite post-pitch up tipple?

Coors or rum and coke.

Where haven’t you been that’s on your list of must-visit places for 2022?

I’d like to see more of Europe; we’ve done most countries but Denmark, Sweden and Norway are on the list.

Finally, your golden rule when away in a Campervan?

Chill out and enjoy the journey as well as the destination.

Take the back roads and you’ll be amazed how much more you will discover.

Have you got any oddball camping rituals, like always having to have a pair of slippers on inside, or pitching up facing the toilet block?

I’ve got OCD so am forever cleaning my Van, even on holiday. I hoover/clean out the inside after every trip – even if we’ve only been out for the day. I’m RNLI crew so the ethos of making sure your kit is prepped ready for the next shout has rubbed off.

Never leave home without it camping gadget?

Karcher window vac and Worx hoover. The window vac is absolutely brilliant for clearing condensation from the windows in the morning.

What was your funniest/strangest VW campervan moment?

Both sets of rear calipers almost falling off the Van as we were about to get on a cross channel ferry. Turned out the garage hadn’t tightened them the day before whilst changing the brakes. A local garage came to the rescue on a Sunday evening… lucky escape!

98 Camper&Bus

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04/03/2022 10:03

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04/03/2022 12:33

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04/03/2022 12:34