Table of contents for Issue 150 in VWt

WET... BUT WORTH IT A warm welcome to our November issue. To be honest, it’s been a bit of a slog putting this one together because being press week, by the time I’d survived a night of torrential rain, rambled around Busfest, driven from Malvern to Portsmouth, got the overnight ferry back to France and driven home, I was pretty spent. In fact, I hardly had the energy to turn on my laptop. Still, it was well worth it because despite the iffy weather, the annual gathering of VW Transporters was as impressive as ever. If you’ve not been before, in a nutshell – Busfest involves thousands of Vans of every description from all over Europe with family entertainment thrown in. It’s mega. It’s tough on the old tootsies because…

There’s a fairly natural crossover between cars and motorbikes. OK, two-wheeled mischief may not be everyone’s cup of tea but the visceral thrills of opening the throttle and heading for the horizon are shared by both groups of enthusiasts with equal aplomb. Swapping an accelerator pedal for a twist grip, and four wheels for two, is largely immaterial in the greater pursuit of letting it all hang out, forgetting the world and just heading off to atomise some hydrocarbons. Whether your journey’s end falls at a cars-and-coffee meet or a greasy down-low biker bar, the strength of passion is just the same. Sitting right in the middle of this cars/bikes Venn diagram is Ash Manton, lifelong car modding enthusiast, irrepressible bike nut and all-round petrolhead. If it’s got a motor…

Mark Leather’s love for VWs started at the tender age of 17 when he was given a yellow Mk1 Polo which he duly nicknamed Pineapple Chunk’. Don’t ask! Anyway, he got into reading all of the car mags that were around in the mid-’90s, pouring over articles about engine conversions and modifying, and this got his creative juices flowing. Unfortunately his early Polo wasn’t the right vehicle to fiddle with, but fast forward a few years and the ideal project presented itself involving dropping a 2.8 VR6 lump into a Mk4 Polo, adding a frankly outrageous Reiger bodykit for good measure. After parting ways with the Polo Mark still had an itch to scratch so next up he tackled a 1.8T swap into a Mk1 Caddy. It had been done…

TRANSPORTER ARCHIVE RETRO After three generations of rear-engined, air-cooled, rear-wheel drive Transporters (even if the T25 did switch to water-cooling part-way through its production run) Volkswagen finally went conventional with its light van range in 1990. The T4 finally brought Volkswagen’s medium-sized commercial load-luggers into line with its passenger cars, with front-mounted, coolant-veined engines powering the front wheels. It was a bold and dramatic, albeit inevitable, move for Volkswagen but it worked; the T4’s versatility, practicality and conventionality made it very successful. More than 1.9 million examples were sold over 13 years, a European production run second only to the 17 years of its T1 great grandmother. The T4 also gave Volkswagen a great basis to build on, and that’s precisely what it did with its successor, the T5. The…

Own a super-tasty Transporter, Crafter or Multivan and want it featured in these very pages? Then show us what you’ve got! Please e-mail a good selection of images that show the exterior and interior of your van to ian.cushway@kelsey.co.uk along with a spec list and add the subject title ‘Feature me VWt’. If we like what we see, we’ll get back to you ASAP about the possibility of a full VWt magazine feature shoot. So, what are you waiting for? Get snapping and show us your van, we’d love to see it!…

CAMPING GUIDE FOR DOGS We all love our hounds, so naturally wherever we go in our vans – they go too. Handy then that Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles has just published the ‘Canine Campervan Guide’ to make taking your dog away even more fun and rewarding. It combines tips and tricks for campervan getaways and a range of dog-friendly, lesser explored destinations to discover. Find a copy of the guide online at www.volkswagen-vans.co.uk T4 AUCTION BARGAIN Recently we’ve been banging on about how hard it is to find a tidy T4 these days. Then, as sod’s law would have it, we spot a real gem go through at auction. Bodily the 1996 example looked pretty good and even came with a rock ‘n’ roll bed already installed. Having entered the Anglia…

BREMBO GT BIG BRAKE KIT A decent brake setup can reduce your stopping distances and improve overall braking performance. But that’s not the only way a cheeky performance brake upgrade can help. No matter how good your factory stoppers are, if your Transporter’s fully loaded with family members, camping gear and bikes, better brakes will pull it up with more confidence. And you can’t put a price on that, can you? To that end, Brembo has recently released its GT Big Brake kit which fits the T5, T6 and T6.1. It boasts some pretty huge stopping power utilising Brembo’s M6 six-piston caliper and a choice of either drilled or TY3 slotted 380mm x 34mm two-piece floating discs. The TY3 pattern is actually derived from the Brembo Racing Division and is…

The four-day show, which is predominantly a Volkswagen and campervan event, is open to all – regardless of what you drive. Winnebago motor homes, caravans and even motorbikes with a tent were in attendance. After all, not everyone who love Volkswagen’s Buses, owns a Volkswagen Bus. The weekend was a sellout with around 3000 campervans filling the the fields. It all started with the festival goers arriving on the Thursday. By 2pm a 1km queue of Split Screens, T4s, T5s, Bays – and yes the odd Transit – had formed but they were quickly checked in and ushered through the ticket point and onto the fields. SLOW BURN There’s a very smooth build up and a crescendo to Dubbed Out which you don’t find at other festivals. Thursday is a…

OUT AND ABOUT LIVERPOOL Whether you’re a fan of the ‘fab four’ or just fancy a wander around the shops or numerous free museums, there’s plenty to do out of season in this Merseyside gem of a place. Oh, and did you know that Liverpool also has miles of coastline to explore as well as loads of leafy parks? Beatles fans will head to The Beatles Story, an award-wining museum located at The Royal Albert Dock. It will take you through the band’s rise to fame, featuring interactive displays and numerous fascinating exhibits. Then head off to The Liverpool Beatles Museum on Mathew Street, where you will find the biggest collection of Beatles memorabilia in the world before stepping inside the Cavern Club just up the road. There’s live music…

HOT VANS “I originally bought the van back in February 2020 for its hydraulic suspension,” shrugs 32-year-old Joe James, when we meet him in the shadow of the iconic Blackpool tower to photograph his unique T4 Transporter. “I was going to fit it to another T4 that I already owned, but by the time I’d driven this one back home, I’d already decided I was going to keep it.” As a life-long VW fanatic with numerous T4s notched on his bedpost, Joe knew his way around a van, and there was something special about his latest acquisition that he felt compelled to explore. “The previous owner had an issue with the suspension, which I identified as a broken balljoint and snapped driveshaft,” explains Joe. “As a fellow member of the…

For as long as he can remember, Lee has been a diehard petrolhead. “My dad was a mechanic which probably explains my passion,” he smiles, “I’ve always liked my fast cars and I’ve made my way through quite a few of them over the years.” These include some legendary icons such as a Mk2 Astra GTE 16v, a rare G plate Mk2 Fiesta XR2 and a Subaru Impreza WRX, “later on, I became more sensible with a BMW 330 and a MINI Cooper S”, he says, “but my keen interest in driver’s cars never faltered.” In fact, he had full intentions of spending a sizable wad of savings on a hot hatch. “I’d saved enough to buy a Focus RS,” he recalls, “I planned to use the car during the…

According to the excellent service history we have with our 2010 Volkswagen Caravelle, the DSG oil and filter change was last done in 2020 at 177,788 miles. The official gearbox oil and filter change regime is every 40,000 miles – the 25,000 miles travelled since 2020 is well within guidance but a recommended four years is given as a time schedule. The service book ticks the DSG oil and filter change in 2016 too – at 137k – but naughtily nothing is listed prior to this (whilst it was with its first owner). A seven-speed DSG unit fitted to smaller displacement VAG cars is different to what we have here. Despite officially being a ‘sealed for life unit’, for those gearboxes just 1.7 litres of gear oil is replenished. This…

MARCUS AND ANA SAWKINS, 2022 T6.1 Hi VWt, my wife Ana and I own a T6.1 Transporter with a Camper King conversion – we purchased it brand new from Winchester Caravans, it having started life as a Startline Panel Van. We’d spent hours looking for the right Transporter but at that time, in 2022, there were only black, white or grey new vans on the forecourts and they all looked a bit boring to be honest. Then, when travelling to Marwell Zoo to take the grandkids out, we passed Winchester Caravans entrance and saw the bright orange front of a T6.1 campervan. We did a swift U-turn and went back to have a look. Half an hour later we made a deal and paid a deposit and five days after…