For all you fans of rare Bays, this is the moment you have been waiting for! I am very reluctantly selling our beloved 1979 VW Type 2 (Bay Window) Silverfish camper van as I have moved to Switzerland and I have nowhere to keep her anymore, so this is the perfect opportunity to get your hands on a piece of VW history. Yes yes, I know I should have been more involved on the forums and I shouldn’t just appear by magic trying to sell the Silverfish, but I’ve worked overseas for years and only used the van for holidays back home and now the time has come to part with the old girl. Working away also meant I missed all the shows. Trust me, this is a genuinely very reluctant sale of a much-loved Bay I have owned for over seven years. I will post a proper advert as soon as I find time to write more and take better photos. So, I guess this is more of a notice of intention to sell rather than a dedicated effort to find a suitable (and vetted) buyer ... I really don’t want to see her go. That said, she is for sale and is available from now if you’re interested as I have to come to terms with waving goodbye to the wagon. The spec is as follows: • 2 litre type 4 engine, Porsche 914 spec version, twin Webber 40s, K&N, electronic ignition ... cruises all day at 70 mph with plenty to spare for overtaking • External oil cooler – engine oil temp rarely gets above 90 C (great for keeping the engine cool in the middle of summer, not so good for 1,000-mile trips in winter!) • Solid professionally waxolyled chassis • Professionally repaired panels ready for a respray • Front black leather electrically-adjustable Saab seats – can be heated if you want to wire them up (I have the switches somewhere) • Camper converted with double rock ‘n’ roll bed, double gas cooker with grill, sink and draining board, Propex heater, plenty of storage, curtains all round • Sunroof in black vinyl with interior sliding headliner • Lowered suspension for superb handling – dropped spindles (Transporterhaus) and coilovers on front, lowered spring plates (Red 9 Design) on rear • Brand new custom made 16” x 7" Compomotive alloys in anthracite fitted 3rd December 2011 with brand new low profile Pirelli Sotto Zero winter tyres (205/55/R16 rear, 205/45/R16 front) • Three seatbelts in rear (one on buddy seat, two on rock ‘n’ roll bench seat) • Kenwood stereo with six speakers, CD player and iPod dock • Deluxe dashboard with fitted VDO speedo, voltmeter, oil temperature and oil pressure gauges, as well as a tachometer in pod, plus unfitted digital cylinder head temperature gauge by Dakota Digital with pod • Double exit sports exhaust • UK registered with MOT and tax up to September 2012 • ... and much more! I’ve only posted two photos for now as that’s all I have to hand on my work PC – they were taken on my phone after an overnight stay during the drive I will mention later. I can send some older photos if you are genuinely interested and I will take some new ones over the next few days. FYI, the van is called Joolz (named after my wife) hence the number plate. The number plate is also for sale and I’d prefer it to go with the van. I want to be perfectly honest from the outset – the Silverfish won’t suit everyone. VW purists may be offended by the modifications (almost all done by the previous owner, so don’t shout at me). She’s pretty low. Actually, very low. If I were keeping her I’d stiffen the front a bit more to stop the tyres from scrubbing the wheel arches on bumps and maybe shift the oil cooler which can catch on steep approach angles or bigger speed bumps. I can confirm that she made it onto the Eurotunnel train without catching, so it’s still practical. Also, before anyone says it, I can remove the rear wheels with a bit of jacking and wiggling, so that’s no problem. Purists won’t like the 16” wheels with low profile tyres either. Each to their own! Now the complicated bit. I drove Joolz to Switzerland from West Cumbria a few weeks ago without the slightest hiccup on the 1,000-mile journey, so at least I can say hand-on-heart that she’s an excellent reliable, fast and smooth runner. It does, however, mean that the Silverfish is in Basel and not in the UK! If you’re really interested you’re more than welcome to come over to Basel to view the van and enjoy a short break. If you buy you can drive her home. If not, I will be driving Joolz back to Cumbria sometime in the New Year, probably around the end of January. I’ll close for now as I want to post the advert to get the word out there and I have to get back to work! Please please please no timewasters if you email me to express an interest. As I said, it’s not for everyone so consider that before utterly slating me publicly. If you're wondering what a Silverfish is (you really shouldn't be), then look at this link. I forgot to mention earlier that they're all left-hand drives as they were only made for the German market. Anyone interested, please PM me and we’ll take it from there. Offers around £10,000. Thanks for listening, Nick
Quick update as I knew I'd forget something! I know there's a post elsewhere on this forum discussing Silverfishes and collecting photos of all those still in existence. As far as I can tell mine is number one on the list as I recognise the photo from when I bought her in 2004, taken before the previous owner did some more mods. Also, I've found some other photos so I can email them if needed - I won't post them as it's got my mother-in-law and son posing by the van before we drove to Basel, and they probably won't be happy! In addition, I have a couple of photos taken after she was lowered last February with the old wheels on - I can send them if you want to see the ground clearance. Cheers, Nick
A quick update for you. I've still not sorted new photos but have dug out some older ones from last year. The only difference is the wheels to be perfectly honest. The lowered suspension is shown here. See, it can go over speed bumps! The wheels are the old ones, by the way, as is the number plate. Here's the dashboard, gauges, CD player, steering wheel, etc. And now the leather electrically-adjustable seats. And now the back, showing rock 'n' roll bed, cupboards, jail bars on window and hound. The seats have been cleaned! More to follow when I get better photos. In the meantime, specific questions or requests can be emailed to me any time. In addition, I'll probably be driving the Silverfish back to Cumbria over the weekend of 14/15th January ... not far off so hurry! Cheers, Nick
**** UPDATE **** I've drove the Silverfish back from Basel to Cumbria, via Amsterdam and Newcastle, at the weekend and she'd now locked up safe and sound in a dry garage, placed on trickle charge ready for the next outing or for someone to view her. So, in a little over a month Joolz has been driven from Cumbria to Switzerland, carrying a precious cargo of me, my mate, my dog and cat, then back to Cumbria without any dramas at all and without the engine missing a beat. ;D Please email me if you're interested. Here are some more photos, taken over the weekend. > Hope you like it ....
And to prove I did the journey, here's the evidence of my overnight stay in Germany last Friday night. A very cold night indeed! Yes, that is a very large porn shop in the German struck stop. I had to keep warm somehow. > Seriously, it was 2am by then, I was tired and had little choice as I passed by Karlsruhe. Honest. ;D
