One Careful Owner For 44 Years!
Continuing the new addition to Transporter Talk magazine from the last issue, the second instalment features Club member Ian Crawford’s van “OTK 666J”.
OTK 666J is a ‘71 Bay Window, Danbury conversion with a tin top roof.

Ian bought his camper in 1972 with 9,381 miles on the speedometer for £1,270 and has a current agreed value of £14,000, not a bad investment! The speedometer now reads 92,249 miles, meaning that in 44 years of ownership Ian has covered an impressive 82,868 miles. Ian’s camper has been garaged all of its life and every winter it is “Put to Bed” and then emerges again in April. Maybe this is how he has managed to keep the bodywork and paint completely original! The paint has never been touched up and there is no known rust. All door and window seals are also original, apart from the Windscreen and Tailgate seals as these were replaced when new glass had to be fitted
due to vandals throwing bricks! Ian’s secret to keeping the rubbers soft and pliable is Talcum Powder (don’t tell everyone!)

The 1600 AD Twin Port engine is still the original that was fitted at build and it has seen
some work carried out over the years. In 2000, Ian decided to fit a re-conditioned 34 PICT 3 Carburettor as it would have fitted originally and what a difference this made to the running of the engine, starting first time, every time! The first major service that the engine received was in 2001 at 60,547 miles. This service consisted of a top end overhaul with new valves, guides, push rod tubes, flywheel oil seal and a new clutch. Work was carried out by F Tuthill of Wardington.

In 2003, OTK 666J was back to F Tuthill for more work. This time around work included replacement of all fuel lines due to petrol smell when driving (always worth doing), a new clutch return spring, brake fluid and another flywheel oil seal. The engine was also treated to some fresh Fully Synthetic 20W60 oil.
Lastly, despite all of Ian’s efforts with the previous work carried out, in 2014 the engine
was out and taken apart for all internal bearings to be replaced. Once again, this work was completed by F Tuthill.
The interior is that of an original Danbury, but over the years Ian has tailored the layout to suit his own needs. These personal touches include a gas fridge, 2 ring gas cooker, water supply using a 12v submersible pump, a porta-potti and a 240v inverter for using a razor (no electric hook-up). As well as these customisations, Ian also designed and fitted his own IR Beam security system and in 2001 he refreshed the interior with some new cushions and curtains from Individual Interiors of Upton-upon-Severn.

It is clear to see that Ian has looked after his camper during the 44 years of ownership and his efforts were recognised in 2004 when it was voted “Van Of The Year” by members of The Volkswagen Type 2 Owners Club. Well done Ian, we hope you have many more happy years of T2 ownership.

With all work completed, we have had another excellent summer of camping and looking forward to a winter where the work required on Bluebell is reduced somewhat!
Despite all the hard work and effort, we wouldn’t change our campervan and the memories we have with her.
Here’s to more memory making and we wish our members happy memories in their vans too