A history of Waffle - poptops ramblings take yer pick !.

When i finish the resto dude! .

 

Ohh bugger it that will do its nine oclock best get some tea

i fixed that brake luv don't you know

shh, its Jamie olivers food show .


The brakes are done so too are the lights

best do the horn

or she's stay sorn .


"I need some money for the kids school trip "

from the cash point

round to tesco's i nip .



Gawd thats low Where's it all gone

get a extra thirty

for the van old son .


i best tot up the total cost , i'd forgotten that

ohh and that

and that and that and that !.


Never mind the summer will soon be here

wonder where to go

"i hope its done this year "


i wish i could weld it would save some dough

i want new seats

for when we go


A paint job would finish it off great

some heating too

but that will wait


"D'ya know luv we could soon use it -

a weekend away "

" you do talk sh%%"


"This my dears our pride n joy our break away

our little dream "

" ohh yes , so you say "


"it will be done before you can blink

and away we will be "

" ohh yes , i don't think ! "


"Oh ye of little faith m'dear

next month -"

"she will still be here ! "


"Ahh but you will love it when its done

and camping "

" dream on son "

> "But that day is near all is not lost"

" ahh , there's a question -

how much has it cost ?"


"More than i thought my sweet i cannot lie

welding mainly

and the odd bits i HAD to buy "




Would i do it all again i wonder

probably not

But a Devon - i ponder !.[/

 

So i bought a camper !.



So you're sat there at the old laptop wondering where life is going , the jobs ok , the Mrs and kids seem to have everything they need ,you're happy enough coming home from work eating tea ; turning on the computer and checking out your favourite sites .

But the kids seem bored , the mrs a bit down , whats wrong ? you ponder !,( what you should do is stop here and think about the time your spending on this here laptop ;talking to those ever so friendly cyber friends ) However being the eternal fixer you decide a campervan is what you need to sort out all them family woes , the Mrs will love cooking on a two ring calor gas stove ;crouched down in a van juggling the pots and producing a cordon bleu meal fit for a king while adimiring the view over a soggy field in may , the kids will just jump at the chance of ditching the xbox controls ;donning their wellies and heading out on a five mile hike with dad ,wrong ( they won't ) but you think they will !.

So with this life changing plan in mind you log in to that omnipresent ebay ,that provider of all things wistful , you type in vw camper and bingo they appear just like magic upon the screen , green ones, orange ones , red ones too and you're hooked , " wow look at this " you call to the Mrs , she hardly moves her head from watching coronation st , " yes love , i'm sure its lovely " she's twigged what you're at and is taking the ultra patronising non interest approach , Blow her ;you think and resolve to win her over , " hey kids , have you seen this vdub camper here on ebay " now this is a low blow , the kids love em , their mates dad has one and they're pretty .

Eventually the Mrs succumbs to the constant barrage of new found love and even begins to believe its a good thing , she consoles herself with the thought that he will have a interest other than that damn computer , she begins to imagine the little knick knacks she could buy for it , the meals cooked in pubs and restaurants along the way and the peace and quiet of a fully equipped camp site ( she has it wrong too ) , what she does'nt twig is he's making friends with internet nutters who's sole intention is to camp in a damp field and get bladdered .

Eventually you settle for the best ebay has to offer within your budget , its moted taxed and ready to camp .

Only , it isn't really ready to camp ,it has a noisy exhaust , the interior smells like your Grannys wardrobe and the lights don't always do the things that lights should do which; you only found out on the drive home because you forgot to check that when going down your check list .

Once home she sits proudly on your drive and the neighbours begin to pass comment , some will love it ;others will discreetly ask the Mrs if you're having a midlife crisis and some of them will phone the council and tell them there's a abandoned old camper on your front and could they kindly send a scrap man around to collect it .

Your new found love will from hence forth be treated like a mistress ,she will have presents and love and care lavished on her until she begins to sag under the weight of the love bestowed upon her ( i would check the rear torsion bar where it goes through the chassis at this point ,thats why they sometimes sag ) , the wax on the paintwork gleams in the April rain and you congratulate yourself on a job well done , you also secretly smile at the time you have spent not sitting at that ruddy computer , you are at this point a committed family man , " i must take some pics and post them up ; you think to yourself !.

The first break is usually a local affair , after all she's 40 years old and you haven't tried it on a run yet , " No , you can't take your nintendo lads , yes we have everything Love " and off you set .

At the end of the first weekend reality is dawning , the beds uncomfortable , its cramped and its cold , the kids don't really like walking , you need a big awning and some of those camp beds that fold away because you were sick of the kids climbing over you all night to go for a wee and the mrs gave you devil eye's when you suggested eating in the van rather than wasting money on a pub meal , you did give in and get a macdonalds on the way home though because you were starving .

Where did you go wrong ? .

Well , it woud have been a good idea to sound the family out first , see what they thought of holidaying in a forty year old knacker , you could have hired one for a few days if they were uncertain .

You could have looked around at all the different conversions , spoke to people who own them or joined a internet forum ( sorry " internet " isn't that where all this trouble began ?) and read up on the ins and outs of campervan holidaying , people are more than willing to share their experiences and knowledge and camping doesn't need to become a ordeal , speak to people with kids and dogs , think about the possible difficultys , toilets , break downs , weather conditions and the different types of camp sites , it all helps when thinking of spending your hard earned !.

Ooops you lot already have one , i forgot that , so you already know what i'm on about - get off that bloomin computer then !.

 

72 HIGH LIGHTS A DISTINCT MODEL .

My restoration project was a grueler from day one , i am not a seasoned restorer or mechanic but i fear nothing and decided to have a go , the model is a 72 late bay with early westfalia conversion , simple really - find out what parts were missing or rotted through , order the replacements , chop out the old rot or remove the none standard or worn out part and fit the new bit , the only problem with this apart from the fact i am mechanically challenged , did not have the tools , work space or patience , was- the parts that turned up , quite often did not fit ?

I began to ask questions , like - why ? then some people began pointing out the differences between what we regard as a late bay and my van , it appeared i had a sort of mish mash , not a prototype bay or a crossover but a late with early bits , what could this odd vehicle be i wondered ?, it looks like a late but not a lot of late bay bits fit , the new steering wheel just would not fit , the rear brakes were a pig to get working and the new ignition lock was different to the old one !

I telephoned vwh , A Schofields and justkampers and asked the question , some said it was a late bay because of the high lights and others said it was a sort of parts bin motor , a mish mash of parts that vw had lying around that year , i found both theorys to be odd , first of all the bits from late bays never fit and secondly vw never really did - parts bin motors , it just is not in the German physcie , no. there was more to it than just throwing bits ad hoc onto a van that was in full production and i had to find out what went on in 1972 re the change over from late to early .

I spoke to friends that knew , i read up on vw's and i looked at hundreds of 71/72 and 73 vans at shows , on tinternet etc , This soon showed the obvious similaritys between my van and crossovers , the doors are the same , the wheel arches , windows, hinges , vents , slider , locks , steering wheel , steering box and a load of other bits , basically from the A post back my van was a crossover no doubt about it , i then began to look at other vans made between Aug 72 and feb 73 - they were all the same , crossovers with a late bay front , this includes front panel , deformation panel and inner valance .

Ok so t'is is all a bit geeky for me i know and it probably is for you - unless you have one and have experienced the same frustrations as me , i am not usually one for casually strolling up to some strange person at a show and asking things like " are those early hinges on that door ? , do you find the drums on your bus hard to source ? " , i often offset this nerdy question with - " i am not a anorak , i have one and find parts difficult to order right first time !" apart from the odd ( well most people actually ) person that told me to feck off , i did actually gleam some very useful information from my fellow dubbers .

There was it seems a definite plan in the metamorphis from early to late , it was a two staged plan over a two year period , firstly as we all know the prototype bay was upgraded for want of a better word due to US government safety regs for saloon cars , this effected early bays as they were classed as people carriers , The modifiations included larger rear vents for bigger engine air intake , larger rear engine bays to accommmodate larger engines , non removable rear valance , larger more visible rear lights , flared front arches and disc brakes on the front , basically these were the only changes , this model or revision went on until Aug 72 , then vw added what we now call a late front end forward of the a post , it included , inner valance , deformation panel , new shape front panel with high more visible indicators and a square bumper , doing away with the wrap around front bumper ( not the most aesthetically pleasing change imo but eh oh ! ) , we now had what looked like a latebay and indeed probably should be classed as the first late bays , but under all the glitzy changes they were the same as a crossover - from the A post back , windows , doors , hinges the lot .

Ok to redeem myself , this nerdy insight into the peculiaritys of a my van was forced on me by frustration , i am not a geeky , nerdy anoraky type" HONEST - I AINT NORMALLY , NO WAY jOSE ! " , usually i don't give a fig about my ride , if it goes, great - if it breaks, fix it ! is my motto , but trying to fix mine with the wrong bit inverably lead to flying spanners and parts , trailed by a string of expletives and a rollocking from the Mrs , so i delved a bit , i didn't have to delve too much thankfully , it's all there for anyone to see !

i would add that some original parts are nigh on impossible to source for 72 high light , usually they are the early bits for the steering and some panels , but most other bits are easily obtainable if you remember you have a crossover that is late from the A post forward , good hunting !

So what shall we call our 72 high lights , late crossovers , 72 high lights , early latebays or parts bin 72 ?.

 

Can you pm me some pics of your van tw all sides if poss.