Innholdsfortegnelse for October - November 2023 i VWT Lifestyle

WEEKEND GETAWAY This is my white LWB T4. I’m originally from Manchester, but I now live and work in Central London and the van is stored in Berkshire. I usually pick it up on Friday after work and spend the weekend in it, exploring the south of England – a proper escape from London life. I’ve had it since January 2020 and over this winter I’ve updated the plumbing, gas and electrics and it’s all working perfectly. Kate Oldham MAKING MEMORIES Our Bus is a 1967 Westfalia SO42 with original interior, awning and roof rack. It’s has been owned by myself, my partner Jade and our two boys, Oliver and William, for the last 10 years. It had an external refresh back in 2014 and has taken us all…

1. IT’S A WRAP Bored with your current colour-scheme? Then consider a wrap – it’s a great way to change the look of your Van without resorting to a respray. Get either the whole van or sections covered with a vinyl film which can be overlaid with different colours or printed graphics for a bespoke effect. A full wrap can cost anything from £1800 to £5000 and takes a couple of days to apply and you can choose from a variety of finishes, including gloss, matt, satin and textured. Best of all, wraps are fully removable and classed as temporary so you don’t even have to register the colour change on your V5. Visit www.wrapyourcurves.co.uk for more info. 2. TAKE A PEW Chances are the perches in your T5/ T6…

Lee Fairclough has always been a huge fan of old VWs and camping, yet strangely only recently did he ponder the option of buying an iconic Type 2 Transporter. Previously used for weddings and requiring an interior makeover, this rare and practical 1975 twin slider now suits his needs perfectly. Working as a sales and parts advisor for the well-known VAG tuning company, Awesome GTI, explains why Lee lives and breathes all things VW. Perfectly placed at a company specialising in performance parts for newer vehicles from the VAG stable, it’s no surprise Lee has gone on to own and modify an impressive list of desirable water-cooled VWs over the years. “I’ve had no less than six Polos ranging from Mk2F coupes through to a GTI 20VT,” Lee tells us,…

If you dig through the events that occurred across the world in September 1954, your findings throw into sharp focus just how different life was back then. Eager listeners were tuning into the wireless to hear the final instalment of The Lone Ranger, the Miss America pageant was broadcast for the first time, William Golding’s Lord of the Flies was published; Judy Garland’s cinematic comeback in A Star is Born pioneered the Technicolour format, while the music press was murmuring about an up-and-coming new talent by the name of Elvis Presley. British kids were reading about Roy of the Rovers in the Tiger comic, while their parents tuned into a new sketch show called Running Wild, featuring a pair of fresh-faced young talents named Morecombe and Wise. Over in West…

FEATURE BUS “As many T5 owners will appreciate, these things need a little maintenance as they age” With an ex-racing background, and a keen eye for detail, Darren DuRose has become well-known for producing professionally built, stylish camper conversions over at DCD Transporters in Bury St Edmunds. His choice of weapon is almost exclusively Volkswagen. When we heard he’d freshened up a 2010 T5.1 with a few new tricks, we had to get a closer look! “I bought this little T5 to complement the fleet,” says Darren. “It was a support vehicle for a race team with high mileage from travelling Europe. The engine had been tweaked though so it has a fun 170bhp underfoot! At the time we still owned our Crafter camper conversion. The Crafter is a great…

SAFARI WINDOWS When most ‘Average Joes’ in the street think of a Split Screen VW Bus, you can usually guarantee that opening windscreens (or Safaris to those in the know) are part of the equation. Although only a small portion of Buses were ever supplied with safaris as an option, most owners have them on their bucket list somewhere. Sure, they do leak, but they add much needed ventilation to the poorly ventilated cab area of a Split Bus and look super cool to boot. With the introduction of superior seals too from www.buttysbits.co.uk, you have more of a chance of not getting wet knees when the usual UK summer weather kicks in. Creative Engineering (creative-engineering.com) sell front window kits from £579.17. Rear window safari kits start at £408.33. PULLING…

As we move into the colder months, the lighter foods of summer get swapped out for heavier, richer and more satisfying meals. This chicken and chorizo stew is one of our favourite one-pot dishes that ticks all the boxes at this time of year. Traditionally, a Spanish chicken stew would be allowed to cook really, really slowly in the oven. But to make it more Camper van (and budget!) friendly, we’re going to cook it on the stove top, in less than half the time. Need to know ■ Prep Time: 10 mins■ Cook Time: 20 mins■ Total Time: 30 mins■ Servings: 2 Ingredients ■ 2 tsp oil■ 25 g chorizo – finely diced■ 1 onion – finely diced■ 4 garlic cloves – minced■ 1 red pepper – finely chopped■…

Guy Deacon has Parkinson’s, he’s been living with it for over a decade now. For the last 30 years, he’s been living with something else, too; a dream of driving to Cape Town in a VW Transporter. Why? Firstly, because he wanted to prove someone with Parkinson’s could. A personal challenge, if you like, a battle against his condition. But more importantly, he wanted to highlight the plight of people with Parkinson’s in Africa and the terrible stigma they face, and as a long-term goal, raise money to help find a cure. The last time we caught up with Guy, he’d abandoned his T5.1 California 4Motion in Sierra-Leone. Covid had hit the African Continent big time and he’d been repatriated by the British Embassy who’d told him to wait it…

BUS TECH Ian’s back to basics take on Transporter ownership is paying dividends at last I am lovin’ the simplicity of my T3 right now. And at the same time, I’ve had it up to here forking out on the newer vehicles in the Cushway household. One of them of Italian origin, no not the ’90s Vespa, has cost me a lot of dosh recently due to an aircon fault. It was £50 to diagnose there was a problem and it wasn’t just a case of re-gassing, £120 to find out what it was, and another £600 to replace the duff evaporator and section of pipe to get it blowing cold air again. With the Wedge, I simply crack open the front quarter light glass... Next day, son number three…

FEATURE BUS What’s great about old VWs is they can be one thing to one person, and a few years later something different to someone else. They might stay with one family forever, get passed owner to owner and remain in good usable condition, or in other cases fall out of favour and sit dormant for a while, perhaps even stripped down into parts until another enthusiast or a specialist mechanic comes along and rescues them: breathing fresh life into their metal once more. This crossover Bay belonged in the ‘once loved but lost’ camp. Originally built by the team at VolksMagic in Oldbury it used to be red, initially running a 1600cc Type 1 motor and later powered by a Subaru conversion. However, whilst it fell on hard times,…

FUEL COVERT Fuel Off-Road make a plethora of stunning wheels and these all-terrain bias wheels have been specifically developed and manufactured for the T5 to T6.1. Like most of their range, these boast bold rugged edged looks with state-of-the-art design and look like they could survive the apocalypse. The Covert features 10 intricate concaved webbed spokes and an overland style riveted outer lip. Although designed as an out and out Swamper wheel, we’ve seen these also fitted on dropped vans for a really unique look. Priced from £1250 (per set) www.fueloffroad.com WHEEL SPECS:Diameter: 17/18inWidth: 8.5JOffset: ET34Bolt pattern: 5x120Colours: Matt Black, Matt BronzeLoad rating: 960kg (per wheel) ROTIFORM SGN Those boys in California don’t mess about when it comes to rims, and here’s one of their latest drops, the new monoblock…

GET THE ‘LIFESTYLE’ Dial out the worry of not being able to acquire an issue of your favourite magazine by becoming a subscriber. Check out p 92-93 this issue, or visit shop.kelsey.co.uk. You know it makes sense... VOLKSWAGEN T1 CAMPERVAN 1000-PIECE JIGSAW PUZZLE Chill out and get puzzling with this quality Ravensburger puzzle. It carries an ‘Official Licence’ from VW, so it must be good and we reckon it would be a great item to take along with you on your next camping trip. £14.99www.ravensburger.co.uk OUTWELL ARCTIC CHILL Thanks to global warming, abnormally high temperatures are likely to be a more common occurrence in future so there will be more reason than ever to get your hands on a compressor cooler, like the new Arctic Chill and Arctic Frost models…

BUS SHOW Located about 40 miles south of Los Angeles, Huntington Beach has gained an international reputation as a must-visit destination for surf aficionados, thanks to the quality of its waves. The city offers about 10 miles of wide sandy beaches, sprinkled with handball courts, most of them near the renowned pier that stretches over a quarter mile. The surf culture emerged locally almost 100 years ago, with a few brave souls hitting the waves with homemade redwood boards, measuring 10ft long and weighing 135lb! More enthusiasts joined the fun after WWII and the town’s first surf shop opened in 1956. In ’59, it welcomed the first US Surfing Championships and even television executives took notice, choosing to cover the event a year later. This helped the city become synonymous…