Table of contents for Issue 85 in VWt

Putting together this issue has been a blast, and it’s really inspired me to get organised and plan some more adventures. And I’m not just talking about fair-weather trips through the summer season, I think it’s time I tried a few more winter road trips, too. Having sweated my way through three countries at the start of August, flicking through the photographs of Carol, Joan and Peter Spencer’s snowy Scottish tour (p96) really struck a chord. Yes, of course it’s lovely to sit around outside your Van with the BBQ on and sun beating down, but perhaps it’s time to try something a little more challenging? This was something I discussed with a few of the team just recently when rain stopped play and we were forced to take cover…

VWt: How did JK come into being? MW: I set the company up on my 22nd birthday (1 Sept 1989) because I could not get motor trade insurance at 21! What followed was a succession of, with hindsight, lucky events. As the business grew, I remember moving to the Wrecclesham workshop and thinking we’d have to sub-let 50% out as it was so big, but within a year we’d outgrown the building. VWt: What were the nuttiest things you did over the years? MW: We ran used parts out of a scrapyard in LA to the UK and Europe, shipped NOS parts from the UK to LA and sold them to buy used parts to sell to Mexico. We then turned that local currency into parts…

“Like Bagpuss, no one wanted him, until we came along” Love you to the moon and back. Or so they say. Well, the distance to the moon is… 238,900 miles, or thereabouts. Meaning this Van is only 57,600 miles away from having driven there and back, on its original engine! Not a bad accolade for a 2005 1.9 Transporter, eh? We are Nick and Catherine Hatfield, and this is our Van. Actually, it is my (Catherine’s) daily ride as Nick has his own conversion in progress. We bought ‘Olly’ in 2015 for £3,250. He was a sad, sorry-looking Van with an attractive green stripe along the sides. Like Bagpuss, no one wanted him, until we came along. Nick was keen to get cracking on insulating and carpeting it himself. Not…

There are two distinct types of people within the Transporter scene we love so much – those who build Vans and only use them occasionally, and people like Ollie Chatten and partner, Emerald Dunn, who have covered 40,000 miles in the year since completing the build of Ollie’s Van. And no, I didn’t add too many zeros. At the tender age of 21, we’re sure we’ll see a lot more builds from Ollie, but for now let’s fill you in on this one, the home from home featured in our Welsh road trip starting on p82 of this issue. I’m sure most of us (well, except my ex-father in law) have acted on impulse at some point in our lives. Ollie had always had a passing interest in T4s and…

“I didn’t want a white’n, so I asked if they came in any other colours” Andy Clayton is a car-mad retiree from Barnsley, and when he went in search of a converted T5, his only prerequisite was that it wasn’t to be a white one. This bright orange Van is the result, and we think you’ll agree he’s done a mighty fine job of ex-RAC-ing it. There’s quite a few weird links to the feature Van you’re currently looking at and my own current situation. I’m just finishing writing this feature while broken down in my own VW in The Netherlands. Orange also happens to be the Dutch national colour. My Bus is a yellowy-orange colour…, I digress. When Andy retired early from his job at the Barnsley local authority,…

2019 marked the third Volks Weald event, and it’s fair to say this one just gets bigger and better each time we visit. It’s a full weekend of fun and includes an impressive number of trade stands and more food outlets than we’ve seen at some long-established events this year. As you might expect, there’s a good spread of show vehicles, too. Saturday this year was ‘Beetle’ themed, hence the central show area was filled with a mix of rusty and shiny Bugs, which certainly looked pretty cool. Transporter fans simply had to walk through the campsite to find more T4, T5 and T6 Vans than you could shake a stick at. Sunday, however, was the show ’n’ shine proper, and the field was packed to the hilt with an…

• Driving licence This may sound obvious, but make sure it’s valid, that your home address is correct and that you are licenced to drive the type of vehicle you are in. • Proof of ID You will have your passport for overseas travel so this is an easy one. • Motor insurance You must have valid Van insurance, and make sure it covers the countries you are travelling to.You must also print a hard copy of your insurance certificate and keep it with you. • Travel insurance As with motor insurance, this must be valid for the country you are in and you must have a printed version with you. • Vehicle registration Make sure you take your V5C certificate along for the ride. • Tax and MoT These…

VWt: So Steve, can we start by you telling us how CamperVanTastic got off the ground. How did it all begin? SL: The idea for the company was born during our first Campervan road trip over 10 years ago. I was offered voluntary redundancy and had already decided it was time to buy a Campervan and embark on an adventure. We were able to afford a VW T4 California made by Westfalia and, over the course of one winter, I equipped our Van and went for test runs to local campsites. By April, on a rainy day, we packed our one and three-year-old boys into it and headed off to France. Over the next 14 weeks we toured Italy, Sicily and Greece, including the islands of Skiathos, Skopelos, Lefkas and…

“a seriously well sorted machine” Vans are not meant to be this much fun. It was only as we glanced down towards the speedo that it dawned on us why the BMW 325i that was flashing us to get out of the way just seconds before wasn’t doing so any more. “we felt rather conspicuous driving around town in a Van that attracts attention at every traffic light” Journalistic integrity prevents us revealing the speed this T6 had gathered in such a short space of time. That and the fact there’s a good chance the lovely, endlessly talented folk from Forge Motorsport in Gloucestershire might not ever lend us one of the company’s demo vehicles again. Ever. So we’ll just say it was enough to get us into rather a…

Camping on your own, or with your partner, or with a like-minded group of mates is very different from travelling and camping with babies and young children. Suddenly, the precious space in your fridge for beer and cider is lost to milk, pureed food and sterilising solution. However, don’t think that means you have to stay at home, or stay within easy reach of home, travelling with young kids is great fun, it’s just a bit different, and involves more kit. My rule of thumb is to make things as easy as possible for yourself (it’s your holiday too remember). And to that end, here are some tips from my own experience of camping with our daughter, Scarlett. Travel cot An indispensable item to have when travelling with a baby.…

They’re forming a nice habit up at camper_versions in Darwen, Lancashire (www.camperversions. co.uk) of producing high quality conversions that keep their customers happy and, on occasions, even find their way into the pages of this mag. Not to mention coming up with unique products and one-off builds in a marketplace saturated with convertors ready to help you realise your dream. If there’s one person that is living the dream already, however, it’s Graham Radnedge, the owner and entrepreneur behind the success of camper_versions. So, this time around we’re not only going to bring you the lowdown on this latest retro-themed creation to roll out of the company’s fifth incarnation workshop, we’re also going to give you a peak behind the curtains, as it were, to see just what it takes…

Shut that gas! Dear VWt,I’ve recently purchased a T6 conversion and have some questions about disconnecting the gas bottle. I have no idea whether or not it’s safe to leave the gas bottle connected when not in use? If I am not using the hob, do I have to disconnect it? And is it safe to drive the Van without disconnecting the gas bottle? Simon Foster Via email VWt: Ideally Simon, you should disconnect the gas whenever it’s not in use, and certainly if the vehicle is going to be left standing for a while. And you should always disconnect the gas supply when driving (many insurance companies actually insist on this as a term of cover). The photo above shows the aftermath of a gas bottle explosion in a…

Hi there, I’ve been a VW fan and owner for many years now. I’ve had five Golfs in the past – one being a much-loved R32 – but I thought I’d share some pictures of my first Transporter with you. After starting a family, my wife and I decided to buy a Passat. However, in the back of my mind I knew I really wanted a Transporter. After some discussion, I managed to persuade my wife into the whole Van life thing, so we set a budget of £15k and started looking around. Of course, once we started shopping around, and looking into extras, we ended up spending a fair bit more than that, but I think it was well worthwhile as we now have a far nicer Van than…

The Suffolk Bugrs VW Club has this event nailed. Not only is Haughley Park in Suffolk a great location, it’s perfectly suited to a family Volkswagen gathering. Alive & V-Dubbin is a full weekend of fun, with many families arriving after school or work on Friday and making the most of the busy schedule of events and entertainment, which runs all the way through to Sunday evening. Of course, there are also day visitors on the Saturday and Sunday, and that’s the category we fell into this year. So, we set off from sunny Southend on the Sunday morning and enjoyed a leisurely jaunt up the A14 into Suffolk, arriving just as the gates opened. The campsite area was already buzzing and, according to friends we bumped into, the previous…

September 01 Wolfsburg Bus Crew 4th Birthday Bash Ace Cafe, Stonebridge, London NW10 7UD www.facebook.com/ events/387571561947589 06-08 Busfest Three Counties Showground, Malvern, Worcestershire WR13 6NW www.busfest.org 13-15 Grill-n-Chill The Hop Farm, Maidstone Rd, Paddock Wood, Kent TN12 6PY www.grill-n-chill.co.uk 13-15 Vdubs in the Valley Lion Lane (off A442), Bewdley, Shropshire DY12 1SU www.vdubsinthevalley.co.uk 20-22 Doncaster VW Festival Parklands, Wheatley Hall Rd, Doncaster DN2 4LT www.doncastervwfestival.com 20-22 Dubs Collective – Party in the Park 2 Himley Hall, Dudley, West Midlands DY3 4DF www.dubscollective.com 20-22 Retro Dub Suffolk VW Festival Trinity Park, Felixstowe Road, Ipswich, Suffolk IP3 8UX www.retrodub-suffolk.co.uk 27-29 Dubs of Anarchy Ashdown Farm, Evesham, Worcestershire WR11 7EL www.dubsofanarchy.co.uk October 04-05 Brighton Breeze From Epsom, Surrey to Madeira Drive, Brighton www.brightonbreeze.co.uk 04-06…

I can already hear you all saying “Why Wales?” So let me tell you why. We first discovered our love for Wales in October last year when my partner, Ollie Chatten, and I decided to spend our five-year anniversary finding out what hidden beauty Wales had to offer. So successful was that trip, the day we got back home we looked at each other and said we should do it again some time. So guess what… How else could you start any holiday than with a restless night’s sleep, an early wakeup call and some gloomy English weather? Consequently, we were eager to jump in the Van and head off on our six-hour, 300-mile journey up to the top end of Wales, with Anglesey for our first stop off. The…

• Warning triangle These are compulsory in most European countries. • First aid kit Compulsory in France, Germany and Austria, and recommended in many other countries. • High-vis jacket You must have a reflective, high-vis jacket on board for each person travelling in your Van. That includes children. • Breathalyser If you are driving through France, the law says you must have a working breathalyser in your vehicle. • GB sticker If your number plates do not have a Euro symbol and the GB ID symbol, it is the law that you display a GB sticker. • Emissions sticker Countries including France, Italy, Germany and Belgium have strict emissions laws in some cities, hence you may need to purchase a ‘sticker’ to prove you’ve paid the necessary charge to drive…

“my elation was short lived…” A few months back, one of my neighbours knocked on my door to let me know he’d accidentally backed into my T4 and knocked the nearside rear bumper section off. Fortunately, he was happy to cover the cost of repairing it, so I called up Just Kampers and ordered a fresh plastic corner section, the mounting bracket and a new fog light. The biggest issue was the new corner section was black plastic and needed to be painted. I called a local accident repair specialist, SprayArt in Southend, and booked the job in. Andy McAvoy there prepped my bumper section by first sanding the textured finish slightly before applying a plastic primer to promote paint adhesion, followed by a few coats of high-build primer. Once…

After nine years and 100,000 miles, my trusty 2010 California 2.0 BiTDi (180bhp) finally needed a new exhaust as both back boxes were shedding their outer skin down the road and the inner structures had started to blow. I went to Volkswagen first to enquire about a replacement but, after being staggered by VW’s quote of around £780, I went in search of aftermarket systems and came across PPTuning in Louth, Lincolnshire. I was familiar with the name, having read it on numerous occasions in the magazine, and was pleased to find Jason Rix, PPTuning’s owner, every bit as enthusiastic about doing the job as I hoped. The company specialises in manufacturing stainless steel exhausts and performance tuning for the VW Transporter (as well as other vehicles), and Jason is…

Forge charge cooler for 180 / 204bhp T6s Stay cool in your T6, and keep your auxiliary component cooling under control with a Forge Motorsport charge cooler radiator. Can be used as a standalone upgrade or with a Stage 1 and above ECU re-map where the additional boost pressure will really feel the benefits of a 50 per cent increase in surface area. Price: £779.99 (p/no. FMCCRAD10) From: www.forgemotorsport.co.uk PICNIC ESSENTIALS AT HERITAGE Everyone likes a picnic, right? All the more if there are chilled drinks and snacks, somewhere to sit and a bottle opener to hand. The good folk at Heritage Parts have perfected al fresco snacking with this range of picnic items endorsed by your favourite Van manufacturer. That’s right, genuine VW camping chairs, bottle openers, thermal…

Hey VWt, I was wondering whether or not it’s okay, or legal, to camp in car parks overnight? I’ve never done it myself, and I thought generally speaking it wasn’t the thing to do, but just about every Road trip article I read in VWtand online people seem to be doing it. Adam Travers Via email VWt: The first rule about car park camping Adam is to check for any notices. In particular, do not use coach bays, unless specifically told you can do so. Sometimes, even where overnight parking is allowed, there may still be a ban on sleeping in the vehicle, so check first. The Park4Night app is really handy to have on your ’phone as it tells you where you can park overnight legally, and you can…

Praise the lowered, and all hail the high priest Volkswagen folks, we’ve saved another couple of souls! Let’s all welcome Nigel and Sasha Ashley to camping enlightenment. They have shaken off the shackles of pulling a box on two wheels in favour of riding around in an infinitely cooler box on four. So let your exhaust valve be seated for a moment while we take a look at how it all came to pass. Caravanning obviously has its positives. My own family has always owned a caravan, and some of my fondest childhood memories revolve around it, or a hired ‘static’ for a week or two. That said, no matter how bright they paint them, or how huge they make the windows, unless it’s an Airstream a caravan is rarely…

In November 2008, a group of like-minded VW Karmann coachbuilt owners decided to set up a dedicated forum and website - The Karmann Coachbuilts (www. karmann-coachbuilts.com). From that came the Karmann Coachbuilts Club, which has operated on a non-profit basis from the start. The ethos simply being to create an informal and friendly community, which welcomes new members and offers help and advice for all. In 2010, the club decided to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the production of the Volkswagen Type 25 Karmann coachbuilt by organising a Karmann Treffen (treffen being German for meeting) to give owners a chance to meet up. And so, in June that year, 16 Type 25 Karmann Gipsys, five Karmann Cheetahs, three LT Karmanns and one Foster and Day gathered together in Derbyshire at…

Our story started 35 years ago in Yorkshire when Michael and I first got together and had our summer holidays down in the south west of the country in the Cornwall and Devon area. We both instantly fell in love with the Van life culture, along with the beautiful beaches, cream teas and stunning coastlines. We vowed – and then spent endless time dreaming – that one day we too would own a VW Van and drive it through the winding, tree-lined country roads, park on the headlands above the scenic coves with their turquoise sea and golden sand beaches and enjoy the whole experience, minute by minute, that is the Cornish way of life. Three boys later, a number of holiday trips up, down and across the country to…

Taking your Camper outside of the UK and exploring the delights of the Continent is an exciting way to broaden your travel horizons. This guide will help you avoid some of the common pitfalls and ensure your journey is hassle free. Driving in Europe is easy – it’s just that some rules of the road are different and some countries are very strict about certain aspects of driving and safety. So our best advice is to know where you are going, be informed and you won’t have a problem. “be informed and you won’t have a problem” A lot of what we will cover here is common sense, but some things are still worth repeating: make sure you have all the relevant paperwork with you, have the appropriate level of…

Unless you have ben living under a rock, you must by now know the UK is due to leave the European Union on 31 October 2019. As it is all still a frightful mess – and looks to remain a mess for years to come as politicians try to extricate our country from 40 years of integration – we may be jumping the gun trying to answer these questions at this point, but there are some things we are able to give some clarity to at this time. Here goes… Q:Will my current European driving insurance still be valid after 31 October? A: The answer to this is… We’re not sure. Sorry. Some insurers we have spoken to have said they will guarantee full cover, others have yet to confirm.…

Whether you are new to camping or a seasoned professional, it’s always good to get some tips about accessories that can make a camping trip more comfortable or easy. Some of the items listed here are small in terms of size and expense but, in the VWt crew’s combined experience, can make all the difference to enjoying your camping experience. Awning An awning is a great addition to any Camper, for a number of reasons. They provide additional storage space, offer somewhere for kids to play or for you to relax and / or take cover should the weather take a turn for the worse. Should you plan to head out for the day, a drive-away awning not only marks your camping spot (important in open space campsites / car…

Having grown up with air-cooled VWs, I’m more used to narrowing the track of a vehicle than widening things and pushing the wheels outwards. That’s more sub ed Mike’s department with his American motors! In fact, it felt quite alien to be ordering a set of hubcentric wheel spacers via eBay, but after living with the T5 for a while I’d had enough of its wide front / narrow rear look, so something had to be done. I started by jacking the rear end up and having a good look around to get an idea of how far I could go without causing interference issues. I quickly ascertained the outer wheelarch lip would be the limit, and with a two-finger gap between the tyre and ’arch, concluded 20mm should be…

Jason Rix certainly knows his trade, and has a wealth of experience in the exhaust business. In 1989, PPTuning was the first company to offer carbon fibre silencer bodies for racing motorcycles, and much of its early work was in the motorcycle sector, building systems for and doing noise dynamics testing with Triumph and Motad, plus development work for Micron exhausts. PPTuning then progressed into making its own range of silencers from exotic materials such as carbon fibre, titanium and Kevlar. From there, PPTuning moved into the automotive marketplace and these days specialises in VW Transporters, offering many types of exhaust for all models, from full engine back systems to dummy de-cat and DPF delete systems (for off-road use only of course) and custom exit / tail pipe choices for…