Innholdsfortegnelse for October 2019 i VWT Lifestyle

Once upon a time my ’61 kombi had a very different altitude/attitude, instead of being the slammed and narrowed cruiser you may have seen around, she was a mean, lean, green laning machine! To be honest that makes it sound like I was out in the mud ruts every minute I had free, but that’s far from the truth as I only properly took it off the beaten track twice. The occasion shot for all to see here was the first time and by far the scariest! As Danny ‘Bullymeister’ Bullock, Franklyn G Baylis-Smith and myself had a spare Saturday free and thought we’d get out and about in the old girl and get some cool photos in different locations and commit the day to film. I’d just finished all…

’89 Syncro 4x4, Jean-Louis Brion Jean-Louis Brion hails from Belgium and lives at about 50km south of Brussels. We caught up with him at Busfest in Malvern. His 1989 Syncro was first in service with the Finnish Police Force and back then was a very basic vehicle, fitted out with three plastic trimmed seats and skinny tyres. Jean-Louis bought the Syncro around 11 years ago, after which he stripped the interior out and rebuilt it to his own personal requirements. This included a full repaint inside and out, plus installation of a sunroof from a Renault Twingo, which needed plenty of work to fit! Then the Syncro underwent a full mechanical overhaul, with the removal of the engine, gearbox, suspension components and braking system. “I re-fitted a 1900cc TDI engine…

6 – 8 September Busfest Three Counties Showground, Malvern www.busfest.org 13 - 15 September Grill ’n’ Chill The Hop Farm, Kent www. grill-n-chill.co.uk 13 - 15 September VDubs in the Valley Bewdley, Shropshire www. vdubsinthevalley.co.uk 20 - 22 September FNL VW Show Penzance, Cornwall www.fnlvw.co.uk 20 - 22 September Retro Dub Suffolk VW Show Trinity Park, Suffolk www.fnlvw.co.uk October 3 November 2019 issue of C&B on sale 4 - 5 October Brighton Breeze London/Brighton www.brightonbreeze.co.uk 4 - 6 October Dubs in t’Dales Camp Kature, Bedale www.dubsintdales.co.uk 4 - 6 October Oktoberfest River Darty Country Park, Devon www.oktoberfestuk.com…

Being just 21 years old, Alwyn Anchors isn’t your typical Bus owner. Nor for that matter is he your typical millennial. You see, unlike the one who grunts around my house, and spends his days hunched in front of a PlayStation, when Alwyn was still a teenager, he was busy restoring the Bus you see here. He completed all of the work with his father - Alwyn Senior, a self-employed builder who was passing along his own hard-earned skills as they went - and the results speak for themselves. What’s equally as impressive, is that Alwyn has owned this ’74 Bay for seven years now. If you do the maths, he’s 21 now and that means he was 14 when this Australian import first rolled onto the family drive. I’ll…

Randy is one of those hardcore VW guys who’s been around the block a few times. His dad was a big VW guy when he was growing up and unsurprisingly influenced Randy when it came to buying his first car – a ’69 Bug at the tender age of just 15. A ’62 Notchback replaced when he was 16 and when that was rear-ended, he found a RHD ’57 Oval at 17 – a car he still owns to this day. Let’s take a minute to talk about that ’57 Oval. Randy blew it apart for a full restoration a long time ago but the project stalled for many years. Randy says: “We had babies pretty young and I got out of the hobby for a while.” Like many people,…

Westfalia is arguably the best known VW Camper conversion company in the world and has always been at the forefront of design and developments, right from the early days of the Split Screen Type 2 right upto the very latest electric concept VW Vans. In this feature we’ll be looking at the background behind the California conversion, which is sold via VW dealers across the globe – i.e. the ‘official VW’ conversion, if you like. And, just to clear up any confusion before we get too involved, Westfalia were responsible for the design and early development of the California model (which was launched in 1988) but when the Westfalia company was bought by DaimlerChrysler in 2001, VW decided to design and build and their own Campervan in-house (by VWCV Special…

It’s probably 20 years since I last attended a proper music weekender, so I wasn’t sure quite what to expect of the Isle of Wight Festival. I had upgraded from a tent to a Camper in the interim, so was at least confident that I’d be dry and comfortable this time round. We also have some good friends that were running one of the main stages at the event, so I called up Aaron and Damian for some hints and tips. To cut a long story short, in exchange for some photographs of the acts they gave us backstage passes and invited us to join the Electrolove crew and show us around. That sorted, we booked a ferry and packed the Bus for a four-day weekend at party central. The…

Organised by the Association of British VW Clubs (ABVWC), this event has been running for 30 years on this site and has always been popular for those looking to show and display their VWs. Stonor Park is a fabulous old stately home nestled between rolling hills and ancient woodland, which is located between the M4 and the M40. It’s actually very close Henleyon-Thames, making it just a 30 min drive for our Reading lad, AlGoo, and 90 mins for Jolly Jim and I, who were travelling from Southend in Essex. We arrived on Saturday afternoon to join the Campers in the field alongside the main event on one of the hottest days of the year. Incidentally, Camping needed to be pre-booked (i.e. you can’t just turn up without a reservation)…

01 Prep The first thing you need to do is remove the seats, carpet/cab mats and protect the glass and any remaining trim from stray sparks with masking paper or sheets. Once this is done, it will be helpful to jack up the front of the Bus and secure with two axle stands under the front beam, especially if the Bus is lowered. You will also find the job a lot easier if you remove the front wheel on the side you are repairing at this point. 02 Wire wheel to expose spot welds The first step to removing the old wheel arch is to drill out the spot welds holding it to the wheel arch tub. Attach a wire wheel to the angle grinder and clean back…