Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2022 i VWT Lifestyle

News just in from VW Commercial Vehicles is that their long-awaited Bus Festival, due to be held this July in Hanover, has been moved to next summer. The new dates are 23-25 June, 2023. The postponement is due to the current situation in Europe with VW's Lars Krause telling us, "We do not want to celebrate a festival when there is a war in Europe and refugees arrive in Hanover and have to be cared for." The city is currently the central point of contact for refugees in Lower Saxony. The last VW Bus Festival was held in 2007 when over 3500 campers and in excess of 70,000 visitors flocked to the huge Hanover site. With social media interest buzzing in anticipation of this year's return, VW Commercial Vehicles fully…

SOLAR EVENT From:www.justkampers.com Price:£295 The crew at JK have been busy working on another new product for their camping kit range: the JK Solar Charging Screen (product number: J46472). Indeed, you might have spotted it at the VolksWorldShow earlier this year, where a test model was set up on one of the Just Kampers' T6s. It’s a totally portable, fold-away 120-watt solar panel system, which fits on the inside or outside of your vehicle’s windscreen. It's been designed with the T5 and T6 in mind, so it fills the windscreens of more modern vans perfectly, but it’ll fit just about anything. As well as being able to charge your vehicle or leisure batteries directly, Just Kampers’ new solar charging screen also has ports for two USB and other outlets, so…

We see lots of Bay Window Buses on our travels but now and again we come across one that hits the spot; that instant feeling when everything looks just right. From the spotless Neptune blue paintwork and custom interior right through to those BRM replica wheels combined with that perfect stance, we reckon Steve Morris’s ’71 Danbury is right up there with the best in the UK. With first impression this good, as you’d expect we were keen to find out more. “THE BODYWORK WAS FAIRLY GOOD WITH NO SIGNS OF PREVIOUS BODGES, BUT IT HAD OBVIOUSLY BEEN WELL USED” Steve’s no stranger to classic VWs; he can still recall being ferried around in his dad’s 1302S Beetle when just two years old. “I own that same car today –…

Three quarters of a century ago, a visitor to Volkswagen’s Wolfsburg factory did a simple sketch that would change the automotive world. That person was Dutchman Ben Pon, and the scribbled, simplistic drawing he did in a small, lined notebook was of a van with rounded lines, based on Beetle principles with an air-cooled engine at the rear and the driver right at the front. The date was 23 April 1947, and just over two and a half years later, the real things would start rolling off production lines. Millions more would follow and the name of Ben Pon would become immortalised as part of VW history. But who was Ben Pon, and what inspired him to come up with the Volkswagen van? To answer that, we need to travel…

“WITH THE INSTRUCTION TO ‘PARK ANYWHERE’, I WENT TO START THE VAN AND... NOTHING” Owner info Name: Ian Cushway Job: Editor Fleet: VW Polo Mk6, VW Passat B6, 1985 T25 Westfalia Club Joker Jobs this month: fitting new tailgate struts, buying a new leisure battery and doing another oil change My Westy’s pretty much been in constant use over the winter period; it doesn’t get run every day but most weekends it’s loaded with bikes on the back and driven to a local bike race. You see it’s perfect for ferrying the kids around for stuff like that with the portapotti installed, space for all their bike kit and its stove for a much needed brew after their races have finished. A ticking off Despite being carbon, the weight of…

Vent your spleen or just be sociable, say 'hi' and introduce your Bus by emailing: camperandbus.ed@kelsey.co.uk Nervous about a breakdown Hi team, thanks for the great read and for all the inspiration you've given me over the years. You've got me into trouble though because having sold my T5 last year, I am now on the look out for a Split Bus. I've always wanted one and with what's been going on with Covid, etc, it's prompted me to finally realise my dream. It's sort of 'now or never' I guess. The thing is, I am worried about it going wrong. I love reading about technical stuff, but am hopeless when it comes to doing it myself. Please be honest – will something as old as a Split Bus be…

EARLY DAYS Bus body looked sound but Steve ended up replacing most of the bottom half and spent ages getting everything looking straight GOOD WOOD The original wood was ‘refaced’ before Steve revarnished it NOW WE’RE MOTORING Because the 1641cc lump in it was leaking oil from every orifice, a 1956cc Type 1 unit based around a brand new Autolinea case was fitted instead BUILT TO LAST There’s been lots of blasting and powdercoating done underneath, as well as the application of Neptune blue anti-chip paint…

This isn’t an easy story to tell, but if you take two things from away from the next few pages it should be that life doesn’t follow a script, and that there are some bloody good people on this planet who will go out of their way to help you if there’s a VW involved. This 1965 Split Screen belongs to Joe and Paula Lungley and was bought as a project in 2017, fulfilling a lifelong ambition to own an early Bus. The couple previously had a Bay Window before kids came along, but having sold it to fund a house there was a van-shaped hole that needed filling once more. And that’s exactly what Joe bought, a Bus with lots of holes. In fact it became known by Paula…

For a number of years, VW Camper & Bus has been eager to visit Buses by the Bridge (BBB), a Type 2-only meet with a reputation second to none. For one reason or another, stars never seemed to align for a trip… Our plans even fell through last year due to – you guessed it – the pandemic, which caused promoters to cancel the event altogether. Thankfully the 2022 show season has returned to its pre-Covid-19 pace (well, almost), hence BBB became the first Stateside happening we chose to cover for you this year. The four-day get-together takes place in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, about 300 miles east of Los Angeles. This community of 60,000 has turned into a popular holiday destination since the 1960s, being located next to a…

I've got a confession to make. Despite having five kids, I am not great when it comes to school holidays. The internet at home is rubbish and when they all click onto the wifi, everything slows from snail's pace to virtually stop. So, in the first week of Easter I dropped everything, kissed the wife on the cheek and took myself off in the T25 to a local beauty spot for a night away. After all, the weather was fab so it seemed rude not to make the most of it. In no time at all I'd fired up the 1.6D and dawdled my way, avoiding any big hills, to the lakeside campsite destination less than an hour away, got set up, and was supping a brew while enjoying the…

In celebration of Ben Pons' 1947 sketch that went on to become the Type 2 a few years later, Corgi has released a new 1:43 scale diecast Bus model into its Vanguards collection. Available in a variety of colours, including this striking new Palm Green and Sand Green combination, it's priced at £35.99. Visit uk.corgi.co.uk for more info. Incidentally, our resident Bus historian Richard Gunn has written a fascinating account of Ben Pons' famous sketch, done 75 years ago this year, starting on page 62 – so don't miss it!…

Camping stoves have come a long way from the crude two-burner affairs of old – not least because they need to be flexible, as well as look good and be easy and efficient to use while on your travels. That’s why, with two hungry twins to feed, I was particularly excited to try out the Campingaz 360 Grill CV. Alas, not on a campsite as such – but in the luxurious surrounding of our back garden. Having unpacked it from its box I begun assembly, starting with the enamelled pot stand, heat diffuser, the large bowl and griddle. At this point I reckoned the stove would look more at home on a posh patio than a campsite. However, despite its swish appearance I was about to discover there was a…

Fifty-something Andreas Berger hails from Wuerselen in Germany and is what you might call a prolific collector of old VWs. He’s owned some pretty rad rides over the years and he has a penchant for utility vehicles such as this fabulous, unrestored fire engine. His passion for VWs started pretty much as soon as he got his driver’s licence. His first car was a tidy ’65 Beetle followed by a string of cool cars over the next 30 years. At present he’s also enjoying driving a very tidy T25 California and a lovely Oval, whilst his partner, Josi, has a lovely ex-ambulance Bay Window (still with the flashing light etc). Knowing his passion for great, and mostly factory-spec VWs, we were excited to see what he had picked up this…

Back in January 2009, I spotted a 2007-plate T5 for sale at a VW main dealer in Cardiff. It was an ex-parts van and was slightly more that I could afford. Though, for a virtually new vehicle with only 7000 miles on the clock, it was an opportunity I couldn’t afford to miss so I bit the bullet and paid the £500 deposit. Having owned a Mk1 Golf GTI in the 1980s, I’ve always been a big VW fan. I had been searching for a T5 for around two years but until then nothing had particularly grabbed my attention. Thirteen years on, and still with just 51k miles on the clock, we have taken her to France, Spain and Ireland on various camping trips. During the first five years of…

I’m sure that Buses imported from the US now vastly outnumber other Buses on this fair isle of ours, and what’s not to like about not having to patch up a rotten Bus for the MoT every year? That said, imports generally need things checking over when they arrive in the UK, especially due to the lack of any vehicle inspection laws in many US states. One area where every import needs work though is in the wiring and lighting department. With US-spec front sidelights incorporated in the indicators and amber sidelights not being legal in the UK, along with the rear lights on Early Bays having a combined stop/tail and flasher function, a couple of hours needs to be spent with a crimping tool to keep on the right…