Table of contents for Issue 164 - December 2025 in VWt

WALK OUT TO WINTER... Hello and a very warm welcome to the December issue of VWt. As Radio 2 plays Last Christmas on repeat and the festive ads kick off on TV, we all need to start thinking about prepping our vans for the winter season ahead. I’ve already started by touching up the proliferation of stonechips that have been there all summer on my bonnet and sills and will inevitably become scabby rust patches once subjected to salty road spray. Of course there’s a lot more you can do before the really rubbish weather sets in, and we’ve put together a top 10 hit-list of essential pre-winter jobs on pages 63-66 this month. It’s worth a look if you want to keep your van in rude health when it…

VOLKSWORLD SHOW 2026 The legendary VolksWorld Show is back for 2026 and promises to be bigger and even better than last year. And the brilliant bit of news this month is that our friends at Heritage Parts Centre have come in as Parts Partner. Welcome aboard! Set to take place on Sunday 22nd March 2026 at the South of England Showground in West Sussex, prices start at just £10 for a display pass for any air-cooled VW, which includes driver and passenger. And if you’d prefer to stay over, a camping pitch is just £30, and that’s for two adults and two children for two nights. The 2025 event marked a turning point in the show’s 30-plus year history as it was only the second time that it has moved…

We usually find modified Transporter owners are self-confessed petrolheads, gravitating from cool cars to an equally cool van, albeit with the added practicality. Yet despite having this stunning 2010 LWB T5 stacked with lots of custom features in their possession, Lee and Debbie Green don’t count themselves as petrolheads one bit. Bucking the trend, they just happened to see this van advertised in the unlikeliest of places and immediately fell in love with it. That said, in typical Transporter owner fashion, they’ve since added a few of their own personal touches so perhaps it does sound like the inevitable modding addiction’s kicked in – there’s just been a slight delay! The Green’s reason for purchasing a Transporter was to bag themselves a comfortable and practical van to replace the micro…

JANUARY 2026 1st CAMPER MART Telford International Showground www.campermart.co.uk FEBRUARY 2026 17th-22nd CARAVAN, CAMPING & MOTORHOME SHOW NEC Birmingham Ccmshow.co.uk MARCH 2026 22nd THE VOLKSWORLD SHOW South of England Showground, Amberly, West Sussex www.classicsworld. co.uk APRIL 17-19th ALIVE & KICKIN Haughley Park, Suffolk See facebook MAY 2026 5th STANFORD HALL VW SHOW Stanford Hall, Leicestershire Stanfordhallvw.com 21st-25th DUBS IN THE MIDDLE Hanley Castle Country Estate, Worcestershire WR8 OAA Dubsinthemiddle.co.uk JUNE 12th-14th BRISTOL VOLKSFEST Birches Farm, Bristol, BS48 3RN Bristolvolksfest.co.uk 19th-21st VANLIFE FEST Scampston Hall, Malton, North Yorks Vanlifefest.co.uk JULY 2026 2nd-5th VANS IN THE VALLEY Reeth, North Yorks Vansinthevalley.com 3rd-5th European Bug In Chimay, Belgium Europeanbugin.com 10th-12th VOLKSWEALD Penshurst, Kent Volksweald.co.uk 19th ENDLESS SUMMER VW SHOW Vicargage Farm Park, Basingstoke See facebook 24th-26th BUGJAM FESTIVAL 39 Santa Pod Raceway, Northants…

“Paul’s story isn’t just about one van, though. Like many in the VW community, it’s about a lifelong relationship with the brand” There are some vans you stumble across and never forget. For Paul Moore, that van was a 2001 VW T4 Multivan finished in Ontario Green. The first time he spotted it was almost two decades ago, tucked away in a neighbour’s garage, gathering dust. It would take 18 years, a few other Volkswagens and some persistence before it was finally his. Today, after a careful restoration, that Multivan is on the road where it belongs. Paul’s story isn’t just about one van, though. Like many in the VW community, it’s about a lifelong relationship with the brand. Over the years he’s owned air-cooled Beetles from 1966 and 1975…

T5-T6.1 DIY FLATPACK FURNITURE KIT Create a fabulous camper interior in your van with the minimal of fuss with this classy, flatpack DIY furniture kit from CMC. The Hembil Oasis is inspired by Scandinavian design and combines clean lines, smart storage and the use of premium materials to create the perfect living space in the rear of your van. The precision CNC-cut units have been specially designed for the T5-T6.1 and are suitable for 1120mm seat widths, making them ideal for a wide range of campervan layouts and there’s a solid bamboo worktop included which adds a natural, high-end effect. The gloss white finish is enhanced by silver knock on trim and smart silver push lock door catches. The layout of the units cater for a 50-litre 12v compressor fridge…

Spend nights sleeping in your van? Even during the winter months? In which case you might have discovered that it gets a bit cold, even with insulation, sleeping bags and blankets. What you need in your life, and your Transporter, is a diesel heater. Afterall, a log burner in the back of a van is not really a sensible option. A diesel heater is fairly straightforward to fit, as this step by step feature will confirm, although if you question your skillset, get a professional to do it. Talking of which, once again, we are watching Sam, the boss at Moore’s Campers, get his hands dirty. We are fitting a 2.2KW Eberspacher Airtronic S2 D2L system from the top end of the market; other manufacturers are available, including some very…

“I wanted a M2 BMW to replace my Audi Q5 but my wife, Venetia, said it was a hairdresser’s car so I went for a T6 instead,” smiles 54-year-old IT solutions director Pete Staveley-Hunt. Good call Venetia, and the van in question is the awesome 2018 BiTDi you see here. Call it serendipity or just sound thinking but as well as keeping his better half happy Pete realised a van would also prove pretty handy in another respect. “We’ve had a caravan on Anglesey at the time and the van could tow that if needed and would be perfect for storing paddle boards.” And if you think this last bit sounds a tad lame, you’ve obviously not tried to inflate and deflate a bunch of paddle boards by hand! So,…

NEIL & PAULINE CHARLES Hey VWt readers, this is our T5 Sportline Transporter. My wife (Pauline) and I bought this T5 a few years ago part converted into a camper but in need of some TLC. Our dream was to go touring around the UK and attend festivals with the van, which we have done plenty of in equal measures now. Having seen it for sale online and making contact with the owner we knew it was the one for us. A deal was agreed and flights were booked for early the next day. We travelled from Glasgow to Bournemouth to collect the van and drove it home that day. This gave us plenty of time to talk about the modifications we wanted to carry out, the places we wanted…

Busfest, massive, and with a history stretching back over 30 years, is one of the most established van-based VW shows on the UK calendar; if you have never been to this event – it started as VanFest in 1994 – at the base of the stunning Malvern Hills, you have certainly missed out. However I had a minor heart attack as I rolled up to the front gate this year (I think this was my 10th year) as the Show & Shine display animal pen was totally empty aside from a display of monster-sized VW Grand Californias who seem to have taken it over. Had I cocked up and planned my appearance for the wrong day? However, as you can see from the photos I was in the right place…