Table of contents for Issue 126 in VWt

Exciting times ... Hello and welcome to issue 126 of VWt magazine. It only seems like yesterday that I jumped into the driver’s seat of VWt for the first time, it was pretty daunting, this was already a well-established magazine with a great editor and a very loyal following. However, despite the new face at the front and quite a few changes to the mag, it seemed you, the good people that pick up this ‘ere magazine were well onboard, still. Fast forward a few years and VWt is going from strength-to-strength, growing sales at newsstand (which isn’t easy these days), a strong and loyal base of subscribers, tons of fantastic advertisers and nearly 60k engaged followers across our social media channels. Not bad for a magazine about vans, eh?…

Afar cry from what it looks like now, Jack Cadogan’s T4 was white with purple bumpers when he purchased it – looking to all intents and purposes like a Milka cow. Fortunately, he could see beyond this to the van of his dreams and purple being the colour associated with ambition, it couldn’t have been more apt. It helped, of course, that the van needed work and was a lot cheaper than most of the other vans being advertised at the time. Notice I said cheaper and not cheap; this is because, when Jack bought it, it was at the height of the Covid pandemic, when everything van or camper related went through the roof price-wise. Jack was new to the world of vans, but not new to VWs, having…

SEND US YOURS: Ever dreamed about seeing your van appear in the pages of VWt? Make that dream a reality! Simply e-mail a selection of good quality high-res images of your van to glenn.rowswell@kelsey.co.uk along with a full spec list and add the subject title ‘Your Vans’. But please remember, if you didn’t take the photos, you MUST have permission from the photographer to use the images in the magazine, and all images should be free from watermarks. By submitting an image you assume responsibility for any copyright infringement. So, what are you waiting for? Let’s see those project builds! CHRIS NEWNHAM’S 2010 T5, DORSET Hey VWt, I thought I would send in some photos of our T5 T32. We’ve always enjoyed travelling and being involved in the modified car…

HOT VANS We’ve seen some interesting conversions over the years in this magazine. We’ve had one built around a pair of Lamborghini front seats, and another that took inspiration from UPS of all things! But, we’re taking you one stage further with this unique build. At its heart - a coffee machine! As you’d imagine, it’s no ordinary coffee machine and its owner is no ordinary barista. Former Michelinstarred Scottish chef and restaurateur, Alan Murchison has forged a new career path providing nutritional support and advice to athletes via his website performancechef. com. He doesn’t just hand out the advice, he lives it. As a keen cyclist and duathlete, Alan spends as much time out on the road as he does off it. In his eyes, no other vehicle than…

If you were reading the 99.9% of articles published anywhere these days – be it online clickbait or print – and you saw a first sentence teaser like the pages previous, you’d be kept waiting either most of the way through the article for the full story, or the story wouldn’t even come at all, but I’m not gonna do that to you; this isn’t clickbait after all. You may have guessed from the title and opening image to this feature that the bumpers on Marcus’ T5.1 aren’t plain Jane ABS, but have been painted with UPOL Raptor textured Bedliner paint. If you’re not familiar with Raptor, it was invented as a hard-wearing spray-on liner for pickup truck beds in the good ol’ US of A as a black textured…

HOT VANS Before we dive into this, can we please just have a moment’s silence for our photographer Ade’s camera lens and editing equipment? Their final act was bringing you this eye-searing, fluorescent yellow creation from Dan Sprigg in Cumbria. May they rest in eternal peace in the great media room in the sky. It’s known that the human memory has a particular way of stamping major events in our minds forever. The famous question is ‘where were you when JFK was shot?’ Anyone around at the time will be able to give you an instant answer. The same theory goes for the first time you set eyes on Dan Sprigg’s camper. It’s a moment that will stay with you forever. For me, it was Busfest 2021. It was my…

I don’t have any experience of driving a VWt van off-road, but I do have experience of driving a T4 and a T5 in heavy snow and ice and both times it was a positive experience, despite the fact that on both occasions the roads were considered bad enough for most people not to even bother venturing out. Regardless of this, I’ve always considered a 4Motion (or Syncro in terms of a T4) the ultimate van and when I saw the photos of Serge Rau’s 4Motion – in a nice skirt nonetheless – I immediately thought “What a nice bit of kit”. This is no standard 4Motion either, but one of the last versions produced with a manual gearbox – essential for Serge as he planned to fit a Seikel…

DECEMBER 2022 2nd – 4th DUBS CHRISTMAS CAMPOUTCroft Farm Water Park, Nr. Tewkesbury, GL20 7EEwww.dubsinthemiddle.co.uk 10th THE VEE DUB CHRISTMAS CRUZ - SATTower House Car Park, Nailsea, BS48 2XXwww.veedubfamily.org 11th THE VEE DUB CHRISTMAS CRUZ - SUN Marine Parade, Weston Super Marewww.veedubfamily.org JANUARY 2023 20th – 22nd JANUARY CAMPOUT Croft Farm Water Park, Nr. Tewkesbury, GL20 7EEwww.dubsinthemiddle.co.uk FEBRUARY 2023 5th CAMPER MART The Telford International Centre, Telford, TF3 4JHwww.campermart.co.uk 10th – 12th VALENTINES CAMPOUTCroft Farm Water Park, Nr. Tewkesbury, GL20 7EEwww.dubsinthemiddle.co.uk MARCH 2023 12th ULITMATE DUBSThe Telford International Centre, Telford, TF3 4JHwww.ultimate-dubs.co.uk APRIL 2023 13th VEE DUB FAMILY BIRTHDAY WEEKENDERCoast Rd, Burnham-on-Sea, TA8 2RBwww.veedubfamily.org 28th – 1st (May) VW CAMP OUTBudle Bay, Nothumberland www.vwcampout.uk 28th – 1st (May) THE ONLY MEET IS ESSEXThe Orsett Showground, Essex RM16 3JUwww.vw-tomie.co.uk MAY 2023…

VWT FESTIVAL COMING 2023 We literally live and breathe Transporters at VWt Towers. In fact, some say our breath even smells a little bit of diesel... sorry about that! Over the years we’ve given our support to a few select shows by laying on some VWt special displays, where we’ve showcased the best T4s, T5s and T6s in the country. Well, after much demand we’ve decided to launch our very own event that will take place at the Kent County Showground. The VWt Festival will be the ultimate show for all models of VW Transporter. Yep, so that’s all-things air and water cooled, from old timers right up to the new kids on the block, this is the show that encompasses them all. At the moment the finer details are…

SHOWS As I sit at my desk to write this it’s the day after Bufest - Europe’s biggest Transporter event - and unfortunately (at least for me) it’s also Monday. I am not usually a whinge about Monday kind of a guy – after all I am lucky enough to have a job I love - but Mondays following big all-weekend shows are certainly getting harder going than they used to be, I guess that’s my age showing. Though it could also be down to drinking too much cider, too much dancing (if you can call it that!) and sleeping two nights in my panel van, which has a very basic set up at best. However, despite the aches and tiredness I am positively beaming, as it was an awesome…

OUR VANS With the success of fitting an early front end to the T5.1 a few months ago, I decided it was finally time to fit some other parts that have sat in my unit for well over a year now… it was time for the T6 dash conversion. I’ve wanted to do this for years, ever since I saw Kieran’s T5 which was featured back in issue 78. There wasn’t much information online on how to perform a T6 dash conversion to a T5.1, I searched long and hard for photos and other related work to try and find out as much as I could before taking the cab apart. However, it still resulted in me having very little information or guidance before taking on the job, but hey…