VW T2 74 Devon - Orient Blue

Hi – New member to the forum here from the Highlands of Scotland.
I have been involved with air cooled VWs in one way or another for the majority of my teenage and adult life being a (very rusty) Beetle owner. It’s in need of so serious restoration works and this was the year I had saved up enough mula to get the project rolling. Anyway long story short – my dad got wind of my intentions and the serious wedge in my saving account and offered an alternative. Over 1000 miles of driving later and over 6 vans viewed we “co-purchased” a 1974 Orient blue Late Bay Devon – Sorry Beetle……maybe next year mate? See my Dad and I have both wanted a van for as long as I can remember but he not being able to justify due to working out of the country and myself due to lack of funds – this agreement works out perfectly!
We purchased “Otis” the van in early July from a nice chap Andy in Littleborough and drove it the 400 odd miles up to the vans new home near Inverness in Scotland. Picture below taken at a service station near Manchester I think?



We had set a budget and this van came in at the lower end but ticked all the boxes. I wanted a pretty original bus and thankfully it was myself doing all the viewings as my old boy would of bought something with a roof rack and betty boop upholstery . I read up on what to look for and looked at the very useful material on this site. I very quickly found it was a bit of a mine field - Two vans I viewed had “belly pans” – no thanks, one had freshly been “resprayed” – no thanks and one was 1 part van and three parts filler!! I was wondering whether I’d ever find one I was comfortable with buying. Last one we viewed was Otis; although not perfect I was comfortable that the owner had made no attempt to hide his imperfections and he was very honest in a "what you see is what you get" sort of way. I put a cheeky offer and it was accepted! Pretty original with no silly “modifications” that I could see, standard engine, tinware, exhaust, standard sus and wheels, interior original (ish) even with the Devon table and legs in the back – I’m a sucker for all that - I love it!
So we picked it up a week later and drove it up the road – van didn’t miss a beat! It did however stink of fuel in the cab. Thankfully there is a very useful thread on here regarding the breather pipe joints that need replacing. I did that right away and BINGO no more fuel smell so thank you to whoever started that thread.



Inside the van was hanging to be honest – it hadn’t seen much TLC so we stripped it all out and began to clean, paint and replace a large majority of the interior.





New carpets and flooring from Mad Matz was laid, new cusions, covers and curtains handmade by my mother, replaced the horsehair padding in the front seats, sourced a media player for 11 quid on ebay & wrapped and padded all the door cards and kick panel. The list goes on, basically the whole interior of the van was stripped out, cleaned painted and put back in or if required replaced. Some photos below.








The two pride and joys after a wash, polish and wax



There is some body work that will require some attention at some point maybe before next season in the form of the driver’s side jacking point, lower front panel where the floor, chassis and front panel meet and there is a small hole in the engine bay where the body sits on the rear chassis rails. I know if these aren’t sorted soon ish they could turn pretty bad. Anyone know of anywhere in the north of Scotland that would do this?

Anyway so after 6/7 weeks or so last week I had a week off and we embarked on the first trip to Glenmore Campsite near Aviemore for three nights. It was absolutely excellent and there was something extremely satisfying living in the van which we had essentially refurbished the interior of. See some pics below.





Please comments/judgements and advice all welcome!
Thanks for looking,
Tom

 

Hello & Welcome from The Colonial Contingent

A sausage supper, that's living the life.

 

hello from down saaf.

 

bonjour

lovely looking van...

 

Hello nice van

 

very nice

 

Guys thanks!

Sausage supper - perfect camping food when you forget the pots and kettle!

The footwell boards are just black plastic wrapped in pvc from Dunelm Mill.


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Nice choice of camper and colour
Welcome to the madhouse.

 

Welcome along. Looks like you are making good use of TLB

 

Looks nice looks like a eurovette ?

 

Hi from West Lancashire

 

Looks like you bought well, and your right, there re some right hum dingers out there for silly money.
Nice van, nice colour, nice interior, go enjoy.
Hello from sunny Wiltshire..

 

Thanks - nice bus you got there! Is it standard height?

Yes it's a Eurovette - I have the original Brochure for the bus will post pictures next time I'm home. It didn't come with the van it purchased separately.

Thanks - yeah there was a low point where I didn't think I would find one I was confident in buying. It's truly a minefield. Love the colour, done about 1000 miles in it this summer so been pretty well enjoyed


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Yep. Stock for the win!


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It looks really neat man - the rack is cool. I was sure how one would look with the Devon top and standard height but looks pretty slick. Where did you get it?


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Nice bus hello and welcome. Like your standard attitude .

 

yeh mines a stock eurovette

 

Great looking snorker and chips , oh yes , interior pretty smart as well . Good afternoon from Cornwall .