I always wanted a project to work on. I was going to start with something simple like a Mini, then it became a beetle. My wife does a lot of triathlons and the idea turned to a camper. Chuck the stuff and bike in the back Friday night, slow drive down to the event on a Saturday, race then camp, pootle back on Sunday. I like the idea of driving off each weekend for a mini break.
My wife was running in meetings all over the country and we packed up the Metro every weekend with the big tent and everything else for one night away - a real pain. We drove past a garage near Gloucester one weekend and ther was a 76 Devon sat at the back of the forecourt. We swaped my old Jetta with 200,000 on the clock and £600 for it. Turned out to be a one owner with a Vege re-con in it -park up, wife runs and comes back to a dry warm and comfy B&B set up by your truely and we drive home the following day. Never looked back, had that one for 5 years then went to a T25 Hightop, then a 79 Moonraker. Bit of a gap then as the kids got to their Teens but back now with my 79 Tintop. Without one the drive feels bare!! B
I lived in one in Australia for 2 whole years, 1999 to 2001. Never knew anything about VW Bay campers till then, but my brother always had one and suggested I buy one in Oz. I remember the day I went to see it. I was on the mobile phone to my bro in the UK and he talked me round the (1977) bus, around all the common problem areas. Rock solid it was with not a spot of rot or rust anywhere, you'd think it was a 5-year old bus, so I bought it there and then. The rest is history. Had the greatest time of my live, driving round Oz twice, then up through the middle, South to North, then right across the centre, West to East, thousands and thousands of miles. The bus never missed a beat despite being constantly thrashed. And ever since that, I've dreamt of owning another one and eventually imported another (1978) rot and rust free beauty from Oz 2 years ago. You'd think it was a 10-year old bus, and over the last 2 years it's been slowly transformed to 'as new' condition, recently hitting the road for the first time. And it drives exactly as I remember. And all those wonderful memories came flooding back. Just wonderful, it is. I have no doubt the bus will now stay with me for life. I hope to retire to Australia in 25 years time. If so, the bus will come with me. I'll take her home again. Cheers.
I had a panel van in the late '80s, It was an ex Pan Am owned one (you could still see the logo where the stickers had been removed, would be highly desirable now I guess) probably used at Heathrow which is down the road. I had planned to use it for odd jobbing and garden maintenance while I took some time off one summer between jobs. It had a double mattress in the back and the back seat from a 2cv perched on the raised bit at the back (not bolted down). I never got much work done, too lazy enjoying the summer, I never slept on the mattress either, but I did like the quirkyness and character of it and thought it would be nice to have a camper one day. I sold it to a mate in the end for £70, he had a new engine put in and was using it for work until one day the engine fell out on the M4 elevated section. I only found this out a couple of months ago when I bumped into him again. I must have mentioned wanting a camper at some point to the missus because she brought it up last year and said why dont you get one. As well as normal camping, we go to festivals and I go mountain biking. For me It's ownership of a classic vehicle which can be used for things that my daily driver or other classic cars cant do - ie camping, two for the price of one
I had a brand new out of the factory panel that came with a job . i really enjoyed the feel of it ,the drive was different from anything else i had driven , i just felt good driving it . Fast forward 30 years and we are sitting in bed one sunday morning having a coffee and in the conversation Kate mentioned she had seen an old camper van on the way home from work the previous evening and remarked on how different it was and how retro it looked and some other stuff I asked was it a vw , and before she could answer i found myself looking on flea bay 2 days later find us in stoke on Trent were we meet a woman manically trying to close the sliding door on sodden, down at heel pile of rust and sorrow I was in love, starry eyed and unknowing we did the deal and brought to her new rusting place resting place
I had a '69 bug about twenty odd years ago and Ive always regretted getting rid of it but there was no room for the pram and shopping! I mean, really!!! Now the wee man is all grown up and out with his mates, I went away camping as soon as time off work. I'd just go, tent in car, all the boxes of food and stuff. It all gets abit much when you arrive, it's peeing down with rain and youve still gotta set your tent up! Then you've gotta come home and the tent is soaked. Just to go back to work is depressing enough without damp tent and repacking all your stuff into the back of the car. But hey that's all part of the experiemnce isnt it?? So answer is that to have a camper I can still just get up and go when I like, I can arrive and I'm always set up, and of course not really much packing away of damp stuff, unless she's leaked lol. The only thing is she's still off the road since i got her, hopefully as I write this my new door and roof seal kits are winging their way to me for installation today! Now that's something to smile about as that atleast should solve the damp issue
I was brought up on holidays to the coast in my mums bug, always wanted one and I have managed to own a couple in my younger years, one never made it out of the rented council gargage but my second was my daily until I went over a speed bump and the floor pan dropped out with me and the seat attached, that was interesting! We love camping and generally we can manage a holiday abroad every other year with the years in between having to be cheaper holidays away in the tent, we have had some good camping trips but the last couple of main camping holidays have been complete wash outs. It all happened down in Fowey two years ago, we were camped in Polruan up on the cliffs, sea views and non stop rain for the whole two weeks! We spent most days trekking over to the oposite coast as they had nicer weather and thats when I was struck with the idea of a camper, we could of chucked all our gear in the back and set off to chase the sunshine. I have spent the last two years dreaming about getting a camper & I must admit I was all set on a T4 or T5 and kitting it out myself to suit our needs and was willing to wait until we could afford one but then Molly came along, my honest thoughts were we can do this now and not have to wait two years, we can get out there and see if this is for us before shelling out on a more expensive T4 or T5, what I didn't expect was by parting with my cash and taking delivery of Molly was about to change everything, we have had our hearts stolen by Molly... There is something magical about these campers, our kids adore her and now all VW campers are Molly's and they spot them in places as we drive along, they say good bye to her whenever we leave & say hello & give her a kiss when we return, I dont think they will ever let me change her for anything else...
As a kid we had a Commer Camper van, went absolutely everywhere in it, pretty much the entire memory of my family holidays up until i was about 13 revolved around being out somewhere wild in the back of that van... I also do a lot of walking and the appeal of just throwing the gear in the back of the bus and disappearing off with somewere warm and cosy to stay at night was far more appealing than putting the tent up and down and all the gear that went with it! Commers are pretty rare these days and tbh its always been VW for me anyway , Been down to RTTS in my mates beetle a few years back and always wanted to get a bus for the above reasons .. my ma passed away and i was lucky enough to have a few quid to buy one... so i went out and bought the first thing i saw after obsessing over 100's on eBay first .. classic heart over head purchase : That said i intend to have as much fun in hector as we did in the commer , go as far as it will take me - enjoy as many road trips as possible and bring my girlfriend (soon to be wife) and others along for the ride so they can share in the share in the good times with me.. because "Thats Campervan Living" 8)
I have always been a bit of a petrol head and amateur mechanic/DIY person and have hankered for a classic car for ages. I played fantasy garage for ages deciding what I fancied or could afford but always hit the problem that I work long hours, am away from home a fair bit and wanted a classic that we could enjoy as a family. We have always liked camping and a camper can was actually Linda's rather inspired idea. Why didn't I think of that! After about a year fannying about researching looking at campers etc. we did the deed and bought Myrtle and the rest is history as they say. We had engine issues last year which limited us a bit but since they have been sorted we have been away in her lots of times and all of us love the camper thing to bits. Linda's view is that VW Campers should be provided on the NHS as a cure for depression as Myrtle is such a blast. That said we have yet to experience the roadside breakdown/recovery part of the deal. I am also loving doing servicing, upgrades an generally sorting out the details and niggles. I just don't have time o do a resto so Myrtle was in pretty good physical nick, with no rust and good paint/interior just mechanically needing some TLC. Which has been a good balance for me. Would we recommend one? Absolutely.
It was a mixture of wrong place, wrong time followed by right place, right time : We'd always gone light (ish) camping and after a series of weather induced disasters (floods in Dungeon Ghyll, high winds in Bude etc) we needed a change and something a bit more robust to extend the camping year. The tents we had (have) are strong, waterproof and reliable but sitting in soggy clothes inside a 2 person tent in the freezing cold isn't fun. I know we did it often enough ;D One particular weekend I really remember was arriving in Keswick after an M6 journey lasting at least 4 hours on a Friday night and having to put the tent up solo because Julie was sooo knackered. Forward to a rainy Saturday at Julie's mum's house just before Christmas and we were laying some laminate flooring and chatting to her brother about camping and seeing those 'little boxes on wheels' around Cornwall. Next thing we know, Ian had set up three viewings for campers and found Wilma for us the following January. That was 12 years ago, all our sanity and money but we've never looked back. Yesterday whizzing down the motorway going home from K&M Acoustics, I thought 'This is the best thing we've ever spent money on'
I used to climb in my teens and camping was part and parcel of the deal so camping became my thing , when i was in my mid teens i used to help a neighbour do up Bedford dorma's for resale , i also had a mate who did air brushing on anything vw and i helped prep them . When i met Lou her dad was selling a 71 Danbury so i bought it , used it for years then regrettably sold it , bought a Devon a year later but never used it so much so eventually sold it . 15 years later i bought a t25 and restored it , didn't like it that much so sold it and bought Rhubarb , i have also owned a very tidy Bongo , if its a campervan i like it .
Ours has been a sort of evolving and upgrading of our camping and outdoorsy lifestyle. Me and the missus started camping around Europe in our late teens in a '75 super beetle. It never let us down...even after being side swiped and spinning into a lamppost in France it just kept going. I can still remember smiling as the engine fell back into place as we drove back to Portsmouth. Fast forward and it's been better tents with modern cars, quality 4 season gear and a dear old dog... but always we had promised ourselves a Van. We set up a savings account and 5 years later we got our Westy. I was about to say 'you wouldn't believe how much they've gone up since we first started saving' but I imagine all of you would. 15 years after having to get rid of the bug I'm so happy to have an aircooled again. And what a lovely bunch!
I just like taking things to pieces . My bus has done more service as a builder's van than a camper. TBH, if I wanted to camp, I'd buy a proper motorhome. Bays are mighty cramped.
i was out driving in London 2005, saw it , at a distance parked up with a for sale sign in window wiv no price, i concluded at one drive past glance it was scrap and continued driving, at 1st roundabout i spun back ,parked up and had a look , and decided i was right , it was scrap, but i took the phone no. anyway, 2 days later called owner arranged a meet , and for some weird ??? unlike me reason handed over £2650 and drove off into a very weird love affair !!! cos i had never wanted one ,never noticed them, campers simply were not on my wish list .... try and part me from her now !!!! this is the most lovely relaxed helpful etc etc... scene ever...!!!!!
