Long time member Ian Crawford had issues with his van that he bought in 1972 at a year old. He still drives it! I should point out the van was a year old, not Ian.
Ian says:
An unusual problem solved the other day. My van would only turn over 2-3 times when ignition switched on, then it just refused to do anything! I connected my battery charger to the terminals (before switching on) and the lights showed the battery was 20% efficient. I then switched the charger on and literally within 15 seconds it said 100% charged. I disconnected and switched off the charger and attempted to start the van. As before, it only turned over 2-3 times then it wouldn’t do anything. Reconnecting the charger it again showed only 20%! Once again, charging for around 15 seconds showed the battery 100% charged. Time to retreat and think hard as to what the problem really was and how to solve it. I slept on it and the next day I had a brainwave! I decided to remove the battery earth strap from where it is bolted to the chassis. Using a steel wool pan scourer, I gave the bare metal a thorough good scrub as well as the underside of the fixing lug of the earth strap. I also smeared Vaseline over both surfaces. I then refitted the earth strap into the chassis fixing hole and went to start it up. Surprise surprise, it started first time!! So if you have experienced problems with starting, maybe removing and cleaning the metal around the fixing of the earth strap will solve it. Hope this gives members some useful tips.
Ever since I was a young boy I have had an interest in all things automotive and camping. My uncle used to have a Comer camper which my mum and dad used to borrow so we could have a family holiday. These were some of the best times of my childhood and I first saw a 1976 Westfalia when I was about 7 years old. It was green with a green Westfalia interior and was owned by my sister’s friend’s grandparents! I thought to myself, “When I grow up I would loved to own one”. I had tried many times over the years to own one but could not afford one due to one thing or another. It then came to my 30th birthday and I thought life is it too short to not follow your dreams, so I set out in the search for my camper. I purchased Doris in July 2013. She is a 1972 crossover with day van interior. I had been searching for a bay for some time and had been to see quite a few. I stumbled across Doris in a Piston Heads advert and fell in love with her straight away. She was painted in the desert camouflage paint you see today. Situated in Ipswich, which was a 6 hr drive from where I live in Skelmersdale, I had to go and see her so I booked a week off work and called the seller, driving down the next day. I finally had her in front of me and she was better in person than in any pictures, although she needed some jobs doing. I took a test drive and had a massive smile on my face, so had to buy her. It was late in the day so was unable to get the funds until the next day. I booked a hotel for what seemed like the longest night I have ever had. I was finally fulfilling my childhood dream of owning an aircooled camper! The next day I was up early and it took most of the day for the bank transfer to go through, but finally she was mine. I set off on the 7hr trip back up north and it was the best drive I had ever had. I named her Doris May after my late grandmother who passed away in 2012 at the age of 100.
Here is a small account of some of the work I have completed on Doris: Interior I took out the dash and rear interior and retrimmed this myself with vinyl and laid a laminate effect floor. I also insulated behind all the panels and then later added a new leisure battery and LED lighting with some brown suede thermal curtains. After driving Doris for a while I found I needed a little more storage for camping gear, so then with the help from my mother, I built a rear buddy seat and trimmed this to match the rest of the interior. VDO gauges were added to the cab along with a rose wood steering wheel, followed by another re-trim of all the dash panels. Exterior I wanted the classic wheel look for Doris and I have always loved white wall tyres, so I fitted a set of Atlas whitewalls which completely transformed her look. I wanted a full length roof rack but the cost of them was so high I found a good used 3 bow instead which helped me towards the desired look, I might add a 2 bow to the front in the future. I purchased clear front indicators, clear and red rear lenses and refitted the all important VW badge to the front. Another addition was the air vent ears which aid to the engine cooling. Mechanical Doris came with a 1776cc engine with twin 40 IDF Webber carbs and a custom made exhaust with a fat boy muffler, which the neighbours love at 7am in the morning! Unfortunately the gearbox had a bad second gear syncro so had to be replaced along with the shift rods and shifter. I talked to a few people and decided to upgrade the standard gearbox to a freeway flyer and changed the lightened flywheel she came with back to a standard one with a new clutch for good measure. In 2014 – 2015 after the show season I left Doris on my drive over winter under a cover and then when it came to MOT time she had developed a few issues. The front brakes had seized, so the callipers were replaced with a late bay conversion and the twin carburettors needed to be rebuilt as they were leaking fuel into the oil. I also decided to get the ignition system overhauled and upgraded, so found a new old stock Brazilian Bosch 009 distributor and had an electronic ignition fitted with new plugs, coil and leads at the same time. Other upgrades were red MST Serpentine pulleys, a fuel pressure regulator, new rear tinware, EMPI bolt on rocker covers, a breather box and the most important thing, an automatic engine bay fire extinguisher. If I could give any advice, it would be to fit some sort of fire suppression system to your engine bay and check your fuel lines every year as I have heard too many horror stories of fires destroying peoples’ pride and joy. The engine and gearbox work was carried out by a local VW specialist, White Hill Garage in Chorley, they were great at giving me advice and sorting out issues with Doris and also gave me pointers on how to fix things myself, they certainly know there stuff Following the issues I had in the past, I set out to find dry storage for Doris and fortunately came across a large barn space to rent. This has given me the opportunity to fit it out with tools so I can not only keep Doris out of the elements but keep her looking her best as well. I now also have the space to tinker and personalise more.
One of the best memories I have was camping near Stratford upon Avon. My mum and dad went down to stay in a cottage and invited me down to join them, but I wanted to camp in Doris so I decided to pack her up and set off down there too. The drive down was great despite being on my own and it was great seeing all the people passing, smiling and waving. Once there, I set about finding a camp site to stay for a few days. The site I found was a great, cheap little site next to a pub. I was only going to stay for a few days but decided to stay for a week! It was fun to just get out in her and drive round all the little B roads, it’s just what she is made for and the best trips are always the ones where you have not booked anywhere and just turn up. The best thing so far with owning Doris is the VW community, or family that comes with it. Being a shy and anxious person I found it hard to meet and talk to new people. I went to my first big camp out at Busfest in 2015 and camped in the VWT2OC area where I met some great people who made me feel so welcome and at home and I have made some friends for life and this has given me the confidence to talk and interact with new people. I was also fortunate to win top 3 bay windows at 2015 Bus types show and shine. It’s not just the vehicle you buy into, it’s the lifestyle and the feeling you get seeing others when you pass, smile and wave. I am sure this will now be a passion for life and the main thing before any upgrades in 2017 is to get out in Doris more by going to more shows and get out there camping. We spotted Doris on Instagram when Liam tagged the Club’s new Instagram page with one of his pictures and we fell in love with her look. We hope to meet Liam and Doris at a show sometime in the future and will be sure to give you a wave if we see a camouflage Bay rolling down the road.
We live near Oxford so Calais was not practical as we wanted to hit Bordeaux, so we went Portsmouth to Caen and Le Havre to Portsmouth as the return due to pricing and availability. We got a good rate through the camping and caravanning club discounts that more than paid for this year’s membership fee. We also took out AA European cover, although it was about £80 a week on top of the annual cover charge, expensive but reassuring! In theory every town in France has a mechanic and they are all the older fashioned mechanics who know our simpler engines extremely well, chances are this extra insurance would have been unnecessary. Prior to setting off, we had been having some engine issues and multiple mechanics locally had looked at it, most recently a half day that resulted in a cable tie forcing the air filter to always run with warm air intake not cold. A very expensive cable tie! Our latest tank of petrol showed running figures of just 18mpg which wasn’t good either. We decided that actually the real issue was the carb and since we have a second van and that one has the same original carb, we could swap them over and see what happens. One quick read of the Haynes manual and a bit of Internet research and the swap took around 10 minutes! What a transformation! Poppy had more power, better idling, no cutting out, no holding back and the problem was solved just before the trip. Following the advice from our illustrious President Malcolm at a recent AGM weekend, we also bought a split charge relay and fitted it, total price £7 and that charges the leisure battery when the engine is running, the solar panel keeping it going when parked. Other prep work for a big long trip was to make sure that on board were the bits that we might need. Spares – Rocker cover gaskets, throttle and clutch cables, set of plugs, points, condenser and coil. Some wire and termination plugs, electric tester (even the screw driver with the light bulb from the pound shop), set of bulbs, some fuses and a fan belt. We also took 2 litres of oil, checked it each day and in fact only used about 300ml across the whole trip. Then we packed the tools – Set of sockets, adjustable spanner, screw drivers, feeler gauges and of course a cork screw! Other useful stuff – torch, you need a high-vis jacket per person and they fit under the passenger seat along with a cheapo (we paid £2) plastic triangle also under there as they need to be accessible from the cab area. We didn’t bother with the breathalyser, you are supposed to have two but there is no fine for not having one. If you wear reading glasses, you are supposed to have a spare pair in reach of the driver too. We took the log book, MOT, insurance doc and a photograph of each one just in case and we needed them to get out of the UK as a lot of stolen vans used to get driven out of the country. We also kept our passports with us at all times even when out for a walk, just in case. The Michelin 2017 map of France and a sat-nav for those times when the map just doesn’t do it were essential. We stayed at the camping and caravanning recommended site on the Saturday night in
Caen as the ferry docked around 9.30pm and it was literally half a mile from the ferry port but expensive at £26 per night. The morning was bright, the sky looked promising and the van was running well, our ultimate aim was Bordeaux but given the breakdowns of recent years, we were just going to enjoy what fate brought us. Maybe Sunday would see us stay over in Nantes? Well the motorways are for fast cars and you can pootle along in your van on free roads and they are all deserted, beautiful countryside and clean villages and towns. Nantes came and went before we stopped at the supermarket for bread and cheese and by late afternoon we arrived on the west coast at a village called Jard sur Mer about 200 miles from Caen, Poppy running better than ever, the site found in the Aires book was six euros per night and was right by the sea, a little village for strolling and they had an ice cream shop too. Monday morning waking up hearing the ocean and we still had no plans or sites booked for the rest of the trip. We bought a book from Amazon of the Aires Camping Car Europe version, there are signposts all over too of big camper vans signposting a place to stay – often a car park in town but most are free, pretty, clean and have CDP and fresh water, although some charge for the water. That evening we were in St Emilion, on a vineyard having a BBQ and drinking wine made from the grapes that surrounded us on all sides. We had never done the exciting bit of setting off with no booking for the night and just looked at the map each night for where to head the next day. Sometimes the Aire that we aimed for just didn’t cut the mustard, often we found something better on the way, vineyards being our favourites and along the way we stayed by the Dordogne, the Charantes, on vineyards, distilleries and in pretty villages. Sum total cost apart from the first night was twelve euros site fees and we came back with a lot of wine bought from the people who make it. We visited Bordeaux, Bourg, Cognac, Bergerac, Monbassilac and other places making wines plus cultural places like Oradour sur Glane (a village retained as it looked after a 1944 massacre) and Arromanches les Bains (scene of the Normandy landings) amongst others. Day time exploring towns, villages, medieval chateaux places of interest. As usual, at each fill we log the fuel consumption as we have done since purchase and we managed to get up to 29.7mpg averaging 26mpg across a 1,400 mile round trip which alone saved us £100 on petrol. Since June 15th this year your mobile works in Europe on your UK mobile contract so there are no extra charges which meant we were online and able to make and receive calls without worry. The overnight ferry from Le Havre meant a full day of fun and exploring (and ice cream) before getting on the ferry as it took us home. Docking at 6.30am, we zoomed through the English countryside and were home by 8.30 just before the locals started heading off for their Saturday shopping trips. What would we do differently? Well for sure we loved it so much that we want to go back soon. We would know that on Bastille Day the shops shut at lunchtime making our last afternoon’s trip to the Hypermarket to fill the van before getting on the ferry a fruitless venture! We’d go for longer and spend more time practicing French before heading off. What a fabulous time was had by all. There were a great deal of campers sharing their experiences, one from a Dutch couple who annually drive their modern van down to Italy, take the ferry to Greece and have 3 weeks wild camping on deserted beaches. Maybe once we retire that will be possible! There were no flights involved, no hotels, we did eat out quite a few times but plat du jour gives you great quality food with lovely ingredients for a set price meaning that the whole trip was really very inexpensive and we arrived home with 20 bottles and a whole lot of memories. Anyone know the nearest place I can get moules et frites?
Sitting by the log burner one cold winter’s eve, my wife Suzanne and I had a very uncomfortable chat with decisions to be made just after Christmas last year; Delilah our 1970 Early Bay had become the problem child all VW parents hope won’t happen. After several years of happy times, forgetting all the damp nights from the leaky pop top and refusals to start after a weekend away, the steady drip of cash to keep her going turned into a deluge when we found out her engine problems, whilst not terminal, were not good news. Our soul searching kept coming around to the inevitable; we’d have to let her go, listen to our heads and not our hearts. We’d toyed with the idea of getting a T4 a few years ago but air-cooled was always the previous winner. Who couldn’t fail to love the look, the sound and the feel of the old Bays and Splitties?… Only the hopeless romantics and the ones with deep pockets! Everything happened in a whirlwind shortly after the New Year. Delilah advertised and sold within a matter of days to a wonderful fellow from Kent who would have the time and expertise to return her to her glory and just days after and several viewings of vans in all conditions and specs, we picked up a T4 2.5TDi SWB short nose, new conversion from Will at Coast Campers near Bognor. Will had turned around an extremely sound, low mileage work van, fitted her out with a ¾ rock n roll bed, swivelling double passenger seat, Dometic twin burner and sink, 240v/12v fridge, split charger, hook-up and plenty of storage by Evo. Suzanne soon had her named Lola (think The Kinks / trans-porter) and we began adding the personal touches. We are Pagans and into our Nordic heritage and culture, so we set about sourcing decals to make Lola look that little bit different to your average camper. It’s surprising how much you can save by not looking at camper/vehicle stickers and decals and look at interior decorating instead! We traded in our Skoda estate and downsized to a Fiat 500 and I immediately began using Lola as a day runner, something I’d never even contemplated with Delilah, and as soon as the weather picked up we started to get away for weekends and day trips. So far, we’ve travelled the Hampshire countryside, done Dorset and Wiltshire, and sailed over the Solent for a long, long weekend at the Isle of Wight Festival. Our first weekend away was to Eype/West Bay near Bridport; Highlands End campsite is on the cliff tops and has excellent facilities to suit all needs and pockets. We love Dorset as it’s so
close and it offers everything for a weekend as relaxing or active as you’d want. We even took Alfie the pug with us but the pesky rabbits occupying the campsite on the clifftops kept him alert all through the small hours with their thumping and such. The luxury of having a van that was guaranteed not to leak helped with the relaxation but missed having a pop top, meaning we had to bend double or kneel down to cook. The ease of shifting a lever and pulling out the bed was fantastic, especially putting it away again in the morning rather than the near IKEA building process we needed with Delilah’s bed. I’d never got around to finishing the hook up on Delilah either so having power to the van took away that modern day first world anxiety of smartphone battery watching and also meant we could take an electric kettle with us for that lifesaving morning cuppa just that little bit quicker. Soon after the Dorset trip, we were off to the Stonehenge Camping site at Berwick St. James. What a wonderful site, with big communal fire pits, small but spotless facilities and only a 4 mile walk from the hallowed stones themselves. They even have VW only pitches! We’re already looking to book there for next year’s Summer Solstice so we can fully appreciate the atmosphere and meet up with other like-minded V-Dubbers. 6 months in and Lola has given us back our freedom to get away when we want and know we’ll get back without the worries we all have when on the road in a 47-year-old air-cooled. We just did the VDub at the Pub festival at Wimborne with friends who hired a T6 camper (we’re in the process of getting friends hooked on campervans). It’s a great little family friendly weekend and there was every type of VW under the sun there. As always you get to wander around the campsite and arena being nosy and chatting to other owners (shout out to Steve and Dee with Matilda) comparing interiors, engines, colour schemes and everything in-between and always come away with ideas for the next addition or modification. When time and money allows, ours will be to get Lola a pop top to save our aching backs and knees. I know we’ve lost some of the kudos and glamour we used to have but in their own way, T4’s have character and can be whatever you want. Reliable and versatile, Lola will hopefully last as long as the originals with the same amount of dedication and TLC and will give us many years happy ‘vanning in the future. We’ve already got the next weekend sorted, Somerset with our latest campervan convert friends (keep it quiet though, they’ve got a Renault – we tried!
It all probably began when I was at university back in the seventies and my supervisor had an early 60’s Split Screen in which he drove most of his students on course visits. I was the proud owner of a black and chrome Honda SS50Z motorbike, which I would take along and I used to race the VW back from our trips. The result was always the same: I easily out-accelerated it, but then on the long straights it gradually hauled me in with its 60mph top speed. Once it was ahead I hung on in the slipstream until gradual asphyxiation forced me to fall back to watch helplessly as the speeding Kombi slowly slipped away, laying smoke like a WW2 destroyer. It was in those days that a love was kindled, and it lay unrequited through many dalliances with big Citroens, British sports cars and assorted Land Rovers. Then a couple of years ago, my Defender betrayed my trust one more time. I knew instinctively that it was over and what I had to do and that was to seek out my first love: My wife, Jenny (different sort of first love) and I decided we would look for a Camper. We knew we could offer it a good home because we had already had a garage able to accommodate the Defender. Jenny, for different reasons, was equally keen to enjoy a break. Not long ago I had to drive a borrowed and stricken T25 at night in rural South Africa and met lots of friendly people every time I stopped, the problem being that I couldn’t persuade them ever to get back out again! We knew we would forgive an old Camper for breaking down because we knew that’s what they do and also because everyone says it’s how you make new friends. So here are some experiences and tips we picked up on the way. I hope not ALL of it is obvious. First was to go to shows and flatter owners into showing us round their Campers, asking to see their best welding repairs. Then I turned to websites where I found most on Car and Classic, Auto Trader and eBay. Split Screens were out of range, so as is so often the case, I went for a younger model and was easily seduced by the softer lines and less expensive tastes of Bays, especially early ones. So began the long phone-calls and longer, fruitless trips from which, to summarise, I learnt to be very suspicious of: anything selling near a canal, anyone poor at maths or grammar (body 110%, drives excellent, etc.), anything just painted, anything wet and trader jargon (got to be right, good clean motor, first to see will buy, etc). Now for some hopefully practical tips, especially if like me, you are not mechanically talented :
Find a local specialist you can trust. I was extremely lucky to come across Jez and Lou at Dubtricks near my home in Harrogate, who actually spent ages humouring me and looking at photos of possible purchases which I took to show them, even though I wasn’t even a customer. They were just really prepared to take an interest and offer advice – though I suppose they might have reasoned that if I turned up one day with a basket-case, I might try to persuade them to work on it!
Best tip – Take a camera with a powerful flash and photograph every inch of the underside of as possible. Holes appear through Waxoyl as if by magic when you get the pictures onto your computer and I could easily have bought a lovely looking late Bay from its confident owner if my photos hadn’t shown it to have a chassis with a LOT of extra ventilation – holes show as jet black against the reflected wax surface and weld lines show up like a relief map of the Yorkshire Dales.
Take a WEAK magnet, like a fridge magnet. A professional-looking heavy magnet has expert pose value but it’s more like a metal detector and will find metal deep beneath, whereas a fridge magnet will fall off if there is filler under the glossy paint. Also take a powerful led torch. Used at an angle, paint texture changes and panel ripples show immediately.
VW in the sixties and seventies had OCD and plastered their vehicles with ID plates. The Camper we bought has to date revealed plates next to the windscreen, behind the driver’s seat and deep under the carbon on the floor of the engine bay. It is good if these match and even better if you check it all out on the internet from the m-plate codes behind the driver’s seat (on our U.S.A. import). It is also fun because of what else you find. I dug up from under the front seats an anti-Vietnam war badge, something to do with a rabies clinic, a strange-looking cigarette end and a scary looking dead spider.
Documents – Ideally import documents and UK log book which all match up. Historic vehicle status is great for forty year-olds and apart from free road tax you should still be allowed into London freely once new emission zone rules come into force in 2020. This could spread to other cities, so it’s a thought.
Choose your van based on the seller and where the vehicle lives, as well as the Camper itself. Ours had lived in a big garage in a big house in the country with a Porsche and the owner’s kids all loved it, so maximum points there. I should add that my wife does say I am easily fooled!
Beware the prices of spares. Ours had a broken jalousie window from a break-in attempt and it took me six months to find another and that basic-looking little Westy folding table top will set you back around £200 on eBay in mint condition. I thought I might need a new front-hinged roof as mine was warped into a pagoda impersonation (I wondered at first if it was a rare Japanese import) and they seem totally unavailable. Luckily Jez and Lou with a combination of a super hot day, probable extensive sunbathing lying on top of the roof, lots of leverage and remarkable skill, have returned it to shape without it cracking. I still don’t know how they did that, but it saved me over £2000 on a non-original replacement.
In my view, don’t worry about left-hand drive or right-hand drive. There seems to be a premium for right-hand, but you are never remotely going to overtake anyone so it’s just not an issue. I’m OK with my German VW having German left-hand drive (OK it’s American, but same point, sort of).
Lastly, to come back to the beginning, it’s really all about rust. European vans will probably have been restored, but a recent paint job will stop you knowing how well, despite photos – I am a photographer and can make ANYTHING look good! USAs, South Africans and Australians may be rust free, but may not if they lived near the coasts (most South African ones) or in salty winter cities (lots of USA ones). Conversely, European interiors are more likely to be in good condition, but at least you can readily see if the hot climate ones have baked themselves to biscuits and dust. So, after it all, we have a lovely Early Bay Westfalia Campmobile, with an original interior in amazing condition. It has never had any welding and it’s recently been to Dubtricks for a new engine, clutch, dynamo (though it’s ended up with an alternator as the Hella recon dynamo was faulty), replacement fuel lines, rewires to make it less likely to immolate itself and some UK headlights (despite passing its last mot with USA lights!) The thing is all this is incidental to having good bodywork and a good interior, everything mechanical can be fixed and there are clearly specialists out there who are enthusiastic, expert and a pleasure to work with. There are also excellent parts suppliers, such as NLA, Just Kampers and VW Heritage with prices for moving bits reasonable, far less than for modern vehicles, though if anyone knows of a LHD early bay steering box for less than the average mortgage, do please let me know! We can’t wait to get it back on the road.
In December 2016, Club member Glenn George from Dartmouth, Devon, alerted us to the fact that his trusty 1973 Bay Window Devon camper “Mavis” had been used as a getaway vehicle during the heist of a security van during a Pirate Festival! This was not the usual getaway that Glenn was used to; he preferred the kind that involved camping! However there was no need for alarm as “Mavis” was used for filming an episode of BBC1’s “The Coroner”, now in its second series and with an episode titled “Pieces of Eight”, “Mavis” provided the perfect cover for a robbery during Lighthaven’s Pirate Festival and Glenn has given an account of his experience below. It started with a phone call from Adam at AJs VW in Paignton (where Mavis has been serviced for 43 years), Adam told me that he had been asked if any of his customers had an old camper and were willing to take a couple of days out for filming in and around Dartmouth. As I work just a few miles over the river in Brixham I thought this sounded like an interesting proposition so I agreed. The next few weeks I spent speculating what would be involved, as it is BBC policy to not give too much away. I asked around if anyone knew of this “Coroner” series, as I must admit I hadn’t heard of it myself
When the day finally arrived I headed off to Bantham and was quite impressed with the military precision that had gone into the planning of the day. I was sent a list with details of all 70+ people and where and when they all had to be. I arrived at 9am and found an assistant Director who fetched a couple of wardrobe assistants. I got a bit nervous at this point, but it wasn’t me they were going to dress up, it was Mavis! At this point I was concerned with what they might do to her, but they assured me that they would clean her up afterwards. She was to be dressed as a Pirate Van, she looked a bit funny but they were very gentle.
I was asked to drive Mavis down a very steep hill to a small sandy cove where there is a beautiful view of the river and an old boat house. “Drive her on to the sand a bit” I was told, whilst surveying the green tinged last few cobbles of the socalled road, I didn’t think this was the best idea but was persuaded by the crew. So I drove half on and then reversed a bit to see if she’d get off again and she wasn’t going anywhere, well and truly stuck! This was when I realised how friendly everyone was as they all chipped in with pushing and pulling to get Mavis back on to firmer ground. During the rest of the day’s shoot, Mavis only moved about 3 feet and it took till gone 6pm to wrap the scene which lasts about 90secs on screen! Once this shoot was finished, we had to negotiate the very steep hill again, this proved to be a challenging ascent which was assisted by the 4×4 Mule usually used to transport lighting rigs and camera equipment.
The second day of filming was eventful in a different way, no steep slippery slopes but filming in the centre of Dartmouth. It was here that I learnt Mavis’ role was a getaway vehicle and I also learnt the sense of humour underpinning the show! When I was told that they would hi-jack a security van and bundle someone into the back of Mavis I laughed because I know that all things T2 happen at their own usual relaxed pace. The first take was in progress when the “Pirate” tried to quickly open the door, he used a few nautical phrases that were heard echoing around the Dart Valley. I offered a solution for myself to crouch inside the van and persuade the door to open with my foot as the handle was pulled down. The director agreed to try this and it was a successful 2nd take. Our first experience with the Beeb was very interesting and fun. I’m not sure we get to see Mavis at her best, or any of the really fun scenes, but I will keep my eye out for the out-take shows!
My wife and I had always wanted a Type 2 Bay after spending a weekend in Newquay in 1993, we didn’t know it at the time, but the Run To The Sun festival was on and after spending the weekend watching Campervans and Beetles drive around we had been bitten by the VW bug. However, still being an apprentice and being on apprentice wages there wasn’t much chance. Fast forward 7 years to November 2000, I had heard about a van from a lady that I worked with and she told me that her husband who was a gardener, had spotted it in a barn at a large house in the Cotswolds that he had been working at. When the gardener asked about it, the owner told him that it had been sat there for 2 years and that they wanted to sell it. When I heard about it, I rang the owners and arranged to go and see it.
It was poking out of the barn with one wheel arch split through with rust and hanging off, a damp fusty smell inside of it, some of the brakes were seized, the engine was running on 2 cylinders, there was various rust holes in all the usual places and it generally looked very sorry for itself. The owner agreed to get it taken to a local garage on a trailer to let them have a look and give me an idea of the work required to get an MOT pass on it. After looking at the fail MOT sheet, we agreed a price and the van came home with us.
It was placed on my in-laws’ drive and work started right away. I spent most of the weekends that winter welding and replacing parts with a view to getting the van ready for a trip to Cornwall the following Easter. After lots of cold, hard work, 2 weeks before Easter we got our MOT Pass certificate and had a great first trip.
This issue takes a look at a submission from club member Ian Crawford, who had a problem with his brakes at MOT time, something we all want to avoid! Having owned my Type 2 for 43 years, I have never had an MOT failure, until September 2015. If failed on the brakes being “unequal” from the N/S readings compared to the O/S readings when tested on the rolling road.
The tester said I had 10 days in which to get the problem sorted and return for a free retest. I immediately drove to the garage I have used for 43 years (Francis Tuthill), to see if he could resolve the problem for me within the 10 day window. I showed Francis the above figures and his immediate response was to say “you probably don’t use your brakes all that much. I’ve come across this situation before”. His response was to jump into my van and drive it around the village for about 5 minutes doing numerous “emergency stops” in order to get the brake linings warmed up. On returning he said I should go back to the MOT garage now and get it retested as he couldn’t find anything wrong with them. This I did and when retested the brake figures obtained were now:
My van now passed its MOT. Panic over! So the moral of all this is if, like me, you don’t drive all that many miles a year and you tend to hardly use the brakes “in anger”, make sure you warm them up before going for your MOT as you might end up like I did, with a (temporary) MOT failure.
Spend since last report: £294. Total hours labour since last report: 12.2
What is the key upside of our camper vans over motorhomes? The Type 2, from the first split screen, the Bay, the T25/T3/Wedge/Brick, T4, T5 and even the T6. They can all be driven on a car licence, because they are all small enough to be about the same footprint as a standard car. No need for special car parking spaces.
What is the key downside of our little camper vans over motorhomes? Space inside.
Have you ever been a little frustrated at permanently having to move things around? Or finding that the cupboard or drawer has something in front of it or on top? Trying to navigate the tiny floor space past a loved one?
In general, across all models that are termed the Type 2, we have a similar layout. Seating at the front, sometimes that swivels, a seat towards the rear and maybe boot space behind that. In between all of that is about 5 feet or 1.5 metres each way of floor for the living quarters. That gives you maybe a buddy seat, the sink, the fridge, the cooker, the toilet. Perhaps the removable dining table on a pole, or a cupboard but not much else as there simply is not the room.
During an evening conversation with a T5 owning friends, he mused that it would be great if our little vans had a sliding side like the huge expensive motorhomes and so an idea was planted. Fast forward several months, a lot of thinking and some hours experimenting in the garage. The non-sliding door panel can be seen in some models as a traditional sliding door, sliding backwards and called a double slider. Therefore, Volkswagen are happy that this does not impact the strength of the vehicle and that is good enough for me. As noted in the last write up, Eric’s non sliding panel has seen some accident damage and the repair was not great by me a few years ago and was removed. With that composite side panel and sill gone, I added a new outer sill.
Some extra heavy duty kitchen drawer runners were purchased and the original idea of two runners and two roller bearings has now become four runners at the bottom and two at the top. These runners will slide the external panel of the vehicle including the middle window out from the van. To make it secure and weatherproof, new steel will be added to form the floor on top of the runners, sides of the structure and a roof. The entire unit will be on an electric ram and the entire kitchen will be in there.
In summary, the floor space taken up by the fridge, hob, sink and associated cupboards will move away from the van giving back all of that floor to the inside. In addition, with easy access below the sink, the water bottle can then live outside giving more cupboard space inside as well.
An item called a linear actuator was ordered, which is the gas ram that pushes and pulls. Not expensive and then I also got the controller for it… Effectively an in button and an out button and it stops at any point along the way. Sheet steel picked up from the local ironmongery is hopefully big enough and the project started.
The two outermost runners are within an inch of the B post and C post to give strength at the edges. Then a further pair on the van floor between those runners but only six inches apart which means that one is just under the other side of the fridge and the other is just under the corresponding place for the other cupboard. Under the centre of the whole unit will be this actuator to push and pull everything. The slide out tray then received a little box to hold the worm screw of the actuator plus the whole tray had some strengthening lines pressed into it and the sides folded up to attach to the pod sides in due course.
Now we have a working plan. A tray sits on runners and slides out of the van. Attached to that is the outer wall of the van complete with the window. Attached to both of those are vertical sides either side of the window and the whole thing has a roof that will be inclined not flat, to help water run off.
The tray is the easy piece. Finding exactly where it does against the outer wall when the outer wall is not fitted is a little trickier.
Trying to shape the sides as the outer wall is not flat is quite fun, and the sides need a 90 degree flare to attach to the outer panel as well. After much wasted time, I finally made a template from wood of the inside wall and transferred that to the flat sheet steel.
Having four runners means that to get them working they need to be perfectly parallel for the tray to sit on them. Lots of adjustments there, plus making brackets to attach them to the floor and the tray plus clearance for everything to move.
It is not finished by a long way, but the kitchen takes up around five square feet (3.5 feet by 1.5 feet) or half a square metre (1 metre by 0.5 metres). When your floor space is about 25 square feet / 2.25 square metres, you can potentially gain 25%. That’s a lot of floor space.
Next time, I hope to be able to report that the majority of the box is built. Courtesy of eBay, I have an inexpensive fridge already, and I managed to get a three ring new cooker with glass lid as well for a great price too. “All” that I need now is to assemble it all and hope that it glides in and out!
Bluebell is a ‘79 Bay Window, Devon Moonraker conversion with a full side elevating roof. When we first decided to take the plunge into campervan ownership, we had our hearts set on the Moonraker conversion as the interior space was excellent both in the elevated roof and the interior build.
We spotted Bluebell on eBay and watched her sell very quickly, much to our disappointment. But then, whilst searching further, we noticed that she had been relisted and jumped at the chance to investigate. So after a short phone call confirming some minor details, we were off on a trip to Frome in Somerset for a viewing. When viewing we found Bluebell to be in original condition, apart from some interior wooden surfaces had been replaced for pine and the exterior paintwork had changed from Sand Beige to an unknown Blue. This was perfect, the bodywork and paint had been worked on within ten years, keeping it fresh and clean (with receipts for work). After a test drive through the countryside, a deposit was paid and date set for collection. We had several trips away in the first few months of ownership and during a trip in Wales had our first spot of engine trouble, only firing on 3 cylinders. We spent some time investigating but couldn’t work it out so decided to limp home (back to the southeast!) and investigated further. It turns out that we had a burnt valve and so the start of restoration commenced. We took the opportunity to give the engine a good overhaul and carry out required repairs and paintwork in the engine bay area.
Once these repairs were completed we got an excellent year of camping from Bluebell, including a trip back to Wales for a friend’s wedding and a 20 day trip around the Southwest during the summer. Winter came back around and we decided that Bluebell’s bodywork and paint and needed attention in a few places, with the white, top half of the van needing most of the attention around windows and roof guttering. After talking to a good friend (who also happens to be a classic car restorer) we had set a date to get Bluebell into the workshop to begin the strip down and repairs. These repairs included removing all glass, repairing all window frames, replacing any scratched or dull glass, removing the elevating roof (it is huge!), repairing roof areas and replacing the pop top material.
This work had to be done to keep her looking fresh and clean, but we really needed to give the interior some attention as well as the wood was rotten in places and looking generally tatty and the original upholstery had also seen better days. So we took the decision to remove the interior and started looking for campervan interior design and build companies. So with all top half work completed, Bluebell was sent to The Campershak in Ormskirk to have a new interior fitted in the same Devon design, but with some modern and personal tweaks, including a new overhead side locker. Work completed on the bodywork and interior in time for another excellent year of camping. Winter had arrived again, now phase 2 of the bodywork and paint was to be done. This time the work would incorporate the underneath of the van… this turned out to be around an extra two months of work!
With all work completed, we have had another excellent summer of camping and looking forward to a winter where the work required on Bluebell is reduced somewhat! Despite all the hard work and effort, we wouldn’t change our campervan and the memories we have with her. Here’s to more memory making and we wish our members happy memories in their vans too!
