Sommaire pour Issue 99 de VWt

Hello and welcome to issue 99 of VWt magazine. I hope you’re staying sane in these somewhat unpredictable times. I sure am trying, but I’ll be honest, I am finding the lack of shows, meets and real-life interaction a tad strange. As someone who has been around the car scene for a couple of decades and worked at events for the best part of that, this year has really hit me just how much the scene and the people mean to me. I really, really miss it! Sure, I’ve had those moments when a project goes wrong on the way to a show and I’ve shouted “I’ve had it with this piece of crap” and “why do I bother?” But I honestly can’t imagine not having something on the driveway…

As an author of two books on Patina – Patina Volkswagens and How to Build a Patina Volkswagen, I often feel the full force of people’s negativity when it comes to fake patina – there’s even a word that’s been invented in the car scene for such fakery – fauxtina. As much as I’m personally a fan of old or original paint on my own cars though, I’m also a fan of customisation of anything automotive; I tend to see faked patina as this – it’s an extension of car customising. I’ve spent a lifetime in the VW scene. OK, 34 years (since I started buying magazines), but it’s felt like a lifetime. I’ve spent the vast majority of that time favouring air over water and patina is my thing.…

The Crafter is having something of a renaissance ever since VW took the entire project back in-house in 2017. The style and detail bring it in line with the rest of the group and all for the better at that. It now has the appearance of being what it is, the big brother of the Transporter. With acres of space in comparison and with the prospect of more easily available custom parts coming to market soon, the Crafter is literally set to be the next BIG thing. For further inspiration go checkout the Grand California. Much want!…

When Joe James asked if I wanted to go on a weekend camping trip with the Lowdown crew, you can imagine I jumped at the offer! Plus, it may just be the closest thing to a show I get to go to this year. It’s been a strange one hasn’t it? I still don’t quite know what to make of it all. I’d just seen an advert for a campervan show at Malvern that weekend, Busfest didn’t go ahead at the same venue but that show was, on further investigation actually a caravan show. So I guess the difference between that show and Busfest is the nightlife? The good thing for us van owners this year is we’ve still had the opportunity to get away for a day trip or…

Experience is a wonderful thing; newcomers to the VW scene will often go for the alternative quality parts when they buy parts for a project vehicle, but those of us who’ve been around the block a bit have learned from our mistakes and will often happily spend more money for better quality parts. The difference in the quality of parts can be like night and day; Genuine, OEM or, at the very least, German quality parts can be the difference between parts fitting and working as intended, or just being junk that should be filed in the nearest bin. This doesn’t only apply to mechanical or trim parts, but it applies to camping interior parts too. Sure, you could spend your money with any number of a growing list of…

I If you’ve seen the mag the last few months, you’ll already know that I’ve recently got my mitts on a new long-term project van. And, that my current plan is to upgrade, update and change some of the smaller things whilst saving up for some bigger mods a bit further down the line. Last month I sorted out the seats, this month I’ve turned my attention to the cargo/sleeping area of the van. When I bought the 5.1, fortunately it came packing a full S+S dropdown bed conversion, well obviously as it’s their old demo van. But, what it didn’t have was any type of curtains or a blind in the tailgate. What with a few postlockdown shows and some camping on the horizon (or so I hoped) I…

ROBERTA LOVELAND’S 2014 T5.1, West Yorkshire Hello VWt, I am Roberta Loveland and this is our 2015 Volkswagen T5.1 that we call Black Beauty... for obvious reasons. We purchased our van back in March 2019. We bought the van with pretty much all the modifications already done. All we had to add was a new front splitter and some valve caps. We feel like everything has been done to such a high standard, that we don’t need to do much else. It’s the perfect van and is perfect for our family, so much so we use it on a daily basis. Our future plans for Black Beauty are to enjoy some trips to the coast and to enjoy as many VW shows and meetups as possible, once this virus thing…

For Mark Crawford, the three months he spent staying safe at home and protecting our NHS (you know the mantra) was the final piece he needed in the puzzle to get his dream project, and probably more importantly his dream photo shoot, over the line. “I live for the lake,” admits Mark. “In fact, I pretty much live AT the lake,” he laughs. The lake in question here is New Forest Water Park in Fordingbridge, Hampshire. “Ever since a conversation I had with Ben Jury (who runs the park) about using it as a location for a shoot, I’ve been building towards this moment, “ says Mark. Rest assured however, this 2010 T5.1 is more than just a prop. The colour-coded mountain bike on the other hand – yes, total…

VIRTUAL SHOW Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles took part in its first-ever virtual exhibition at the Commercial Motor Show 2020, along with nearly 100 other exhibitors. Held over three days, VW had its entire range on display including the Crafter, Transporter and Caddy vans as well as a range of conversions and aftersales products. Volkswagen’s first fully electric van, the ABT eTransporter 6.1 was also on the virtual stand and members of the product team were present (virtually of course!) to answer any questions about the new eTransporter alongside the rest of the range. In addition to seeing the latest vehicles, products and services, visitors were invited to sit in on a wide range of interactive webinar sessions covering a range of subjects such as ‘the road to zero emissions’ and ‘barriers…

You may remember Joe’s green early static T4 from a few issues back. This is his new project and it’s awesome – rat look rides tread a very fine line. They are my favourite vehicles, but at the same time it can be very easy to do them wrong. Everything about this is right though. It’s on hydraulics and is on the deck, the steels and hub cabs give it that retro vibe. And, the arches have not been trimmed! The paint work is something else, it’s got some badass sign writing and logical rusty paint on it, but the coolest thing is as they were distressing the ‘new’ paintwork they found some old original sign writing underneath – it actually has history and character, love it!…

In recent years, the addition of a night heater has gone from being something luxury that only a few have to the norm or even a benchmark. It’s just one of the components that have been added to an ever-increasing tick list when building a van. There are tons of options when it comes to heaters, from the eBay Chinese diesel heaters (there’s even a Facebook group telling you how to get the best out of them) to Webasto, Propex and Eberspacher ones. If you’re into air-cooled VW’s then you’ll be familiar with Eberspacher, as they were the OEM supplier to Volkswagen for auxiliary heaters for the air-cooled models when supplied to cold climates. Tech has come a long way since then; the Eberspacher fitted to the van you see…

If you’re old enough to remember the ol’ days of Fast Car, Max Power, Redline and Revs magazine, we’re talking late Nineties to early Noughties here, you’ll recall seeing lots of vans splashed across their pages. Back in the day, vans rocked – and I’m not talking about the Transporters that people are driving today. I mean bog-standard stuff based on cars, like an Astramax, Escort and, of course, a Caddy. If you fitted your van with a lairy bodykit and a set of TSW Venoms, you were a hero down McDonald’s on a Friday night. The holy grail was to secure a spread in one of the big modified car mags, where each feature began with a van-based pun – something like “Vandalism”, “Vanny Magnet” and my personal favourite,…

Own an awesome Transporter and want it featured in these very pages? We would love to see what you’re driving! Please e-mail a selection of good quality images that show the exterior, interior and engine bay of your van to glenn.rowswell@kelsey.co.uk along with a full spec list and add the subject title ‘Feature me VWt’. If we like what we see, we’ll get back to you and talk about the possibility of a VWt magazine feature shoot. So, what are you waiting for? Get snapping and show us what you’ve got!…

Wheels and suspension are not a build… But wow! What a difference they make. So, this month (in my twisted sort of view) is one of the most important modifications to have been done. A set of SoLow coliovers and a set of Stitches + Steel 18x8.5” steels have also gone on. And, these two additions have completely transformed the look of the van. The thing that attracted me to the T5 is how simple it is to get it sitting nicely and not only that, but you can actually have decent tyres. By all means I am not part of the load rating Police, but I am all up for a tyre that is suitable for your vehicle, which the T4 rarely had and resulted in bulges, popped tyres…

TALLULAH HALLELUJAH Hello VWt , “Erm I’ve booked to go to Wales, that ok?” Was the first my long suffering (and beautiful may I add) wife Jem had heard of our latest jaunt in Tallulah our 1996 VW T4. The weather looked nice and Jem had a week off work, so I thought hey ho off we go! Having neglected to check just how far our latest trip was, I keyed the sat nav co-ordinates in and it came back with 290 miles... as the frown descended upon said wife’s (beautiful) face. I started looking for a stop over halfway. I know these modern vans can cover some miles, but as Beau our little boy, was one and a half at the time, anything over 200 miles is a bit…

TRANSPORTER HQ GOLF GTI STYLE FABRIC Everyone knows it’s what’s inside that counts right? So why not take your interior game up a level with the help of some Transporter HQ Golf GTi style tartan. You could retrim your front seats, your back bench, make some pillows, hell you could even do all of the latter and make some matching underclangers. Alternatively, you could order a set of THQ’s awesome tartan seat covers and use this for the doorcards and the headlining, the choice is yours! Available in Blue GTB, Red GTR, Orange GTO, Grey GTG, Green GTG or Yellow GTG. Tartan never looked so damn good. Price £29 (per metre by 1.4m wide) www.transporterhq.co.uk T5/T6 JUST KAMPERS CROSS BARS An awesome accompaniment to the JK Roof Bars we featured…

Since production of the original big VW ended with the LT2 in 2006, its replacement model – the Crafter – has been manufactured not by VW but Mercedes-Benz. Although still knocking around under the moniker LT3 at the VW plant, the only thing that could sleep easily at night was the 2.5 TDI CR engine – it being the only true Volkswagen element in the dressed up Mercedes van. In 2017, Volkswagen decided to take back control and so the second generation Crafter is now a true thoroughbred of the VW stable. It only makes sense then that, seeing as Volkswagen themselves are taking the big van seriously once more, then we should too. Way ahead of us, however, is Gavin Black who runs Blackline Performance out of Lisburn, Northern…

Seeing as there was no fun fair at the camp site like most shows, the guys from Slambassador improvised and offered rides with a couple tow straps and a giant inflatable unicorn called George. On the boggy grass the slammed Bay did very well as did George as he slid sideways around the field – he didn’t do so well going over the rocky road though and unfortunately is no longer with us #RIPGEORGEUNICORN. The Bay Window was originally a single cab and is running a static drop! The rear storage box was found on a farm and fits surprisingly well, in fact it looks like it should have always been there. Nuts!…

Name: Wayne Mason Age: 39 Occupation: Design and Technology Teacher/ VW van converter Instagram: @uberwagon Website: www.uberwagon.co.uk First car: VW Polo 1043cc mk2 Dream car: Aston Martin DB5 Hardest part of the build: the Uberwagon designed door mounted table Favourite modification: Versatility of the VW California sliding seat What lesson learnt from this build would pass on: Do not cut corners, it’s all in the detail What’s next? Working on a VW T6.1 DSG 150 highline and an Edition+ conversion.…

This month I’ve done something I’ve wanted to do for a long time, that’s right I’ve finally got hold of some new wheels for the family bus, our T6 Caravelle. Why has it taken me so long? Truth be told, I’ve always been a bit hesitant about sticking aftermarket wheels on it, as it gets a lot of abuse, thrown up curbs and driving around on curbed wheels make me cry like a fat kid whose just dropped their Mr Whippy. The other reason, is also the fact that I can’t slam it over the wheels, as mentioned previously this isn’t some vanity project, it’s our main family wagon. Also, most importantly it’s a WAV, that means Wheelchair Accessible Vehicle by the way, for those that aren’t au fait with…

Owned since Sep 2020 Mileage: 197k Current modifications: Solow coilovers and 18x8.5” Steel wheels from Stitches + Steel Spent this month: SoLow coilovers £1350 S+S Steels £525 Total: £1875 Contacts  www.transporterhq.co.uk Instagram: @transporterhq www.stitchesandsteel.com Instagram: @stitchesandsteel MENTIONS: Thanks to the guys at Transporters HQ for fitting the SoLow coilovers and doing the extra work to future proof the van. Also a big thanks to Oli from Stitches + Steel for getting a set of wheels and tyres out to me in time for the coilovers to go on – these two mods have completely transformed the van!!…