3 minute read
YOUR BUSES
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
Dave Robbins, Bay Window
Ipurchased 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
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.
