Innholdsfortegnelse for Summer 2022 i VWT Lifestyle

To be brutally honest, you could get a lot more for your money back in 2007. As someone who’s imported over 100 VWs from the USA and Europe, I can say that with certainty. In fact, in 2007, you could import a rust-free Early Bay and get it on the road, lowered and fit for a magazine feature for about £3500 – I did exactly this with my old ’68 Deluxe – dig out the Feb 2008 issue of Camper&Bus from your collection and turn to page 61 to see the feature on my old COOL BOX if you want to see that one. It’s only when buying and building an Early Bay these days that you see the gaping chasm between what it cost back then and what it…

Paul has owned some pretty rad rides in his time, such as a slammed and narrowed ratty Ghia coupe, a custom Bay Window Camper, an air-equipped Oval Bug and, amongst others, a Jeans edition Bug. Paul explained, “I purchased a Jeans Bug a few years ago, however work commitments meant that I just didn’t have time to complete the project, hence I was forced to sell it on.” Paul had been inspired by Marco De Waal’s slammed and narrowed Jeans resto which swept through the European show scene a few years back (and now belongs to Hollywood A-lister, Ewan McGregor) and even though he went on to work on various other projects, he always found himself coming back to that car. However, there was one other project that Paul had…

I wasn’t looking for a T4 if I’m honest. I’ve owned three in the past and after selling the last one and spending a couple of happy years with a T5 I thought my T4 years were behind me. I’m pretty much an air-cooled person to the core anyway and would usually be much happier driving a Bay Window than anything else. But when we bought a project house and I found I was always putting the seats down in my Golf and trying to fill it with junk I decided it was time for something bigger. After a short flirtation with a 1978 Toyota pickup I imported from California, I knew that I needed to buy something running that didn’t need a ton of work; I already have a…

What Buses have you owned, what have you got on your driveway at the moment? Previously I’ve had a 2001 T4, though currently I own the 1971 Bay Window (Nev) that made a splash at the 2016 VolksWorldShow [yes, the blue one with the Fifteen52 Outlaw rims, 2276cc GAC Motorsport engine and Rayvern hydraulics - Ed] and a 2017 T6 which is my ‘work’ Van. So what was your favourite? Difficult to compare but I’d say the Bay for shows and the T6 for camping. Where’s the weirdest place you’ve camped in your Van? That would have to be my mother-in-law’s back garden. 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? At the…

There was a tangible sense of anticipation leading up to this year’s Sandown Park spectacular, celebrating the essence of everything VW. With the disappointment of cancelled and rescheduled shows behind us, the finest cars were selected, clubs and traders invited and it was just a case of waiting excitedly for it all to happen. The fact that the often fickle mid-March weather forecast looked good was an added bonus. Friday is the 'set-up' day when display cars arrive and wait to be gently manoeuvred into their pre-arranged display positions inside. That meant our photographer had the perfect opportunity to grab some awesome scoops for features which we’ll be rolling out over the coming few months. So watch this space! As the sun rose on Saturday, huge crowds gathered outside the…

Where were your thoughts when you were 15? Ah, okay, perhaps it’s best we don’t know! Mine were firmly on old cars, being a reader of car magazines from age 11 and always dreaming up what I’d build if I had the money. Carl Prosser was like me in many ways, but he had something that set him apart from 99% of people: discipline and the ability to truly delay gratification for a long-term goal: “I saved up all my school dinner money for a year when I was 15,” he explains. “I wanted a Beetle and decided the only way to get one was to not eat every lunchtime.” “IT CAME WITH THE ORIGINAL ONE-YEAR-ONLY BASTARD ENGINE BUT WITH SCARCITY OF PARTS AND JUST 30BHP, IT OBVIOUSLY WOULDN’T BE…

When Three Oceans approached Type 2 Detectives and headed down to their HQ in Burwell, Cambridgeshire, to have a bit of a brainstorm session, they had a loose idea of what they wanted; a van to tour around events and showcase their brand, but also something that they could serve food out of – not the easiest of briefs for a stock-roofed Split Screen Panel Van! When it comes to catering vans, Volkswagens aren’t generally the easiest choice, unless you can find an uber-rare factory high-roof. An old Citroën H Van works better, as they are more commonly found with a taller roof and a fully flat floor all the way to the back doors but, as iconic as they are, some people quite rightly would prefer the most iconic…

The single Solex carburettor on many air-cooled engines can be mildly modified to help improve performance at low rpm (e.g. when setting off) and provide a smoother delivery of power. Don’t expect a neck-breaking transformation in acceleration, but for the cost of some DIY machining, another 3-4bhp can be found, which is a reasonable improvement a 40-50bhp air-cooled engine. We visited Bogg Brothers in North Yorks (01944 738234 www.boggbros.co.uk)to see what they can do with a standard Solex 34 PICT-3 carburettor fitted on a 1600 twin-port in a Bay Window. Before we began stripping down and modifying the carburettor, Dave Bogg outlined a few points that often produce a noticeable amount of power for free, such as checking you’re getting full throttle. If it’s not fully opening, then there is…

One of the true joys of a curated magazine like Camper & Bus is the variety of content this format allows us to bring to you. A magazine written by fans for fans should always be at the very forefront of what’s going on. But, most importantly, it should inspire. There are countless features that begin with the owner or builder of the vehicle in question having picked up a magazine and realising their goal in life. It’s an honour and privilege to be involved in something that carries such potential, and in that regard today is a particularly good day. Ecowagon is one of the most well-respected camper converters this country has to offer. When a company like this decides to build a demo van, you know it’s going…

One of the many joys of owning a VW Camper is you can take off at a moment’s notice on a Friday night and head to a beauty spot or local attraction and enjoy some instant downtime. The utter freedom it offers is unparalleled. But where do you set the satnav? Well, we’ve done some digging to unearth the following 50 fun suggestions... CAUSEWAY COAST, NORTHERN IRELAND If you’ve ever played Connect 4, you’ll feel right at home when you arrive at the Giant’s Causeway where you will see roughly 40,000 hexagonal basalt columns – the result of a ancient volcanic fissure eruption. Legend has it that it was once home to a giant called Finn McCool who, when threatened by Scottish giant Benandonner, ripped up chunks of the Antrim…

Even in the most rust-free of Buses, the cab floor is going to need some work if it’s never had any attention. Fifty-plus years of people jumping in with wet feet means this is about the most common area on a Bus to rot. Sometimes, however, replacing the corner sections is not enough. Fear not though, here we are going to show you how to cut out the rot and correctly fit a new panel, this time on a 1961 Split Screen Bus. 01 PREPARE Before breaking out the grinder and welder, you need to prepare for the job at hand. The cab floor mat or carpet is the first item to be removed, followed by the front seats and interior panels. Protect any windows with masking paper or sheets…

As someone who, in the early days of marriage, managed to fit an entire dining table and four chairs into my 1500 Beetle for the drive from London back to Somerset, it seems a bit odd to say that the good old Bug does have its, shall we say, less than brilliant points, and one of them is interior space. During my days as editor of the long lost Safer Motoring/VW Motoring we covered a number Beetle conversions, many of them involving chopping bits off to create a cheap and cheerful cabriolet – but of those I recall with any enthusiasm, just one was designed to increase the load carrying capacity. The UVA Shogan, a product of the imaginative Unique Vehicle and Accessory Company, did involve a hacksaw and deprived…