Continued from the last issue. Having sold the old interior…

After clearing out all the detritus and giving it a good wash, I started work on the front panel.  Fortunately, a new front panel was included in the sale, albeit a 4-piece kit that includes a late bay panel that is modified to make up the Early Bay front panel.  Getting the panels welded together and fitting correctly took many weekends, but it was very rewarding by the end when Henning started to resemble a T2a again.

Over the following few years Henning underwent a complete ground up restoration, every part being removed, overhauled, or replaced.  There are many very satisfying jobs when restoring a T2 but the absolute worse is scrapping off the hard and dried out under seal, what a ball-ache of a job that was!  My long-standing best friend (the one with the 70’s beetle) had also recently restored a T2 and advised me that I would need ‘patience, time and deep pockets’ – how right he was!

In 2021 the mechanical & electrical restoration was finally complete, and Henning was capable of self-propulsion.  However, the first outing was a bit of a disaster.  We had decided to drive Henning to our daughters’ house, that it just on the other side of town, filling him up on the way.  When the time came to head home Henning simply would not start.  After about an hour of fiddling about and head scratching, we managed to eventually get him started and limped home.  The problem turned out to be a blocked carburettor due to rust in the fuel tank that got washed off when we filled Henning up for the first time.

After this incident we decided to replace the fuel tank and at the same time replace the original engine (that turned out to be a bit of a ‘duffer’) with a 1776cc from The VW Engine Shop (that I can’t praise highly enough).  At the same time, I invested in twin Weber ICT carbs, a Vintage Speed exhaust and electric fuel pump setup.  Needless to say, it was a complete transformation, and I am very happy with the results.

Now that the various mechanical bits and bobs had been sorted it was finally time to address the multi-coloured bodywork.  So, in the autumn of 2021 I started to look around for local spray shops in the (naive) belief that it would only take them a few weeks to complete.  How wrong I was as everywhere was fully booked up for at least 6 months!  The bodywork eventually took 9 months to complete but I have to say I am absolutely delighted with the results.  We don’t have any regrets about keeping the original colour scheme of Pastel White and Cloud White that now positively gleams!

When Henning was finally complete (if a T2 can ever be considered as fully finished?) in 2022 we had our first proper trip away to Busfest.  We were made very welcome by the T2 Owners Club and spent a lovely weekend talking and having fun with likeminded VW enthusiasts.  What a truly great club and to cap the weekend off, we won a bottle of bubbly for ‘Best Interior’ (more about the interior to come in the next issue).

Since then, we have had several very enjoyable and memorable trips away in Henning, including a week away on the North Norfolk coast where we were the envy of others on the campsite in their modern and anonymous motorhomes!

Finally, you may be wondering why we call our Camper ‘Henning Van’.  Well, we are big fans of the German Comedy Ambassador ‘Henning Wehn’ who is from Westfalia in Germany.  At a recent ‘after show book signing’ we told him that we had named our camper van after him.  He gave us a slightly perplexed look, said ‘very good’ and gave us a German Comedy Ambassador badge!

Next issue, Simon will give us an update on how they changed the interior of Henning to scoop that Best Interior at Busfest 2022!