This event has proved to be so popular that we are now operating a waiting list as we are over-subscribed! If you are not already on the list, please do not book with the site.
The 30th Anniversary Club Camp (delayed a year), BBQ & AGM will be
held at Barnstones Caravan & Camping Park, Main
Street, Banbury OX17 1QU.
Please get in touch with our Events Manager Lorna at
events@vwt2oc.co.uk, or on our Facebook page with any questions.
For this edition of Member’s Motor, we look at Helen’s Bay, called “Delilah”. This is what she
had to say about it. Why would any sane person want to buy, let alone suffer the ongoing trauma of owning a VW T2 camper van? Firstly, as well as the initial hit of buying the thing, they cost a ridiculous amount of money to keep on the road. They simply do not go uphill unless they are in 2nd gear and
labouring at 10mph. They break down in the most embarrassing and inconvenient of places and no matter how many gaskets and cables and bits and bobs you carry on board – you never seem to have the part you need to get them going again.
Then there is the small matter of hypothermia, induced as you’re trailing along the road at 22mph. There are indeed two sliding things on the dash for hot air – a red thing and a green thing but what do they do? By the time the warm air gets from the back to the front to warm you up, it’s gone stone cold anyway and you end up chugging down the road in a vintage refrigerator wearing a full ski suit and matching bobble hat. The exception is when it’s a baking hot day. On baking hot days, your air-cooled engine serves as a stifling sauna and even reaching for the air conditioning that exists in the form of a window winder, you definitely still get a good sweat on. Not only that, but on hot days, you have to pause your journey, not for a coffee or even a toilet break, but to let your engine cool down! Generally, this happens about ten miles from your home! Perhaps these monsters were indeed designed for travel on the back of a low loader!
The answer is that T2 owners tend to think ‘outside the box’. Perhaps we are slightly insane, but T2s’ tend to be driven by ‘freedom seeking’ folk with such a sense of adventure and love of more simplistic times gone by, that even the hours spent on the side of the motorway waiting for the low loader to arrive are an experience to be cherished.
It’s like owning a grown-up’s Mechano set. Everything on your beloved T2 can be taken apart with a spanner (or some tool or other) and easily bolted back together again. Rusty panels can be cut out, replaced and lovingly repainted to match the original colour. Everything can be restored to original. Who would even want to travel at 70mph and be nice and warm, when you can pootle and be freezing and wave to folk at a top speed of 45mph? And as an added bonus, when you do stop, your gorgeous T2 leaves behind it a gloriously, glossy puddle of oil. Nothing could be better!
I’ve had the best adventures in Delilah. Delilah is my pride and joy. I can’t even look at her without grinning maniacally. She is a 1973 Westfalia Continental. Everyone has a story about how they ended
up owning a T2. I ended up single at the tender age of 50 and rather than trawl through dating websites looking for a new fancy man, I decided to push the boat out, fulfil my pipe dream and get myself a VW camper instead. Delilah was being stored in a garage and although sad and rusty, she was in ok shape for her age and was fitted out with most of what turned out to be a Westfalia Continental interior. The interior did have denim and Barbie pink fluffy fabric glued all over it and it did smell of mould but nothing that couldn’t be sorted out.
The basic restoration to get her back on the road took around ten months. I wanted to keep her as original as possible but also needed her to be reasonably practical and reliable. With that in mind, I had a
new air-cooled engine fitted with the larger twin Weber carbs, jetted correctly. It gives just that little bit more oomph going uphill and on motorways I can pootle at around 55-60mph. Everything else mechanical wise was cleaned up, checked and put back. A must have, is an oil temperature gauge. It is definitely worth having one. The needle only ever moves on hot days, but it gives peace of mind!
The bodywork was stripped back, rusty panels replaced and a full respray and triple Waxoyl underneath had her looking ship shape. The next step was to get the interior restored and put back. I love the look of the 1970’s original interiors. Westfalia literally thought of everything. To have a full-sized double bed, a wardrobe, sofa, cooker, sink, kitchen cupboard, overhead locker, storage cupboards, a “not quite a fridge” and an upstairs bedroom with a double bed in such a tiny space is a remarkable piece of interior design
The interior all got scraped, cleaned up and put back in. New cheerful orange canvas completed the pop top. Sadly, the original mustard upholstery did not survive restoration. My travel companion is a crazy collie called Dobbie. He likes sitting on the furniture with muddy paws. Therefore, I took the furniture to be
covered in dog proof pale grey vinyl and I did give strict instructions to keep the mustard fabric on underneath. The poor lady doing the stitching job couldn’t cope with the rancid smell of the mould and
removed the mustard fabric….and burned it! I had to agree with her that it did smell awful! Over the course of the following year, I acquired a door for the wardrobe, a primitive hand pump, water tap contraption for the sink and even a table to sit and work at and eat my beans on toast off. (Martin Dorey would be horrified at my campervan cookery.) Original Westfalia Continental items are difficult to find, so I was really chuffed to have been able to source some of the pieces I was missing via the T2 forum on Facebook.
Finally, just to get it completed, I actually bought a complete interior and sold on the pieces that I didn’t need.
In 1973 people must have been hardier or perhaps we had warmer weather back then. I could not cope with the cold journeys. It was no fun rolling out of the van in a frozen lump at the end of a long drive. So, after looking at the various options including the diesel heaters, I finally went for what I felt was the safe option and got a Propex heater installed in the cupboard under the buddy seat with a digital thermostat fitted to the back of the wardrobe unit above the driver seat. It is a real game changer. Pricey to buy, but it doesn’t seem to be desperately greedy with the Camping Gaz and having heat when driving and when camping without electric hook up has made it worth every penny. Even on the coldest of days, the van is beautifully toasty in a matter of minutes and it keeps everything onboard dry. Whilst on the subject of comfort, I like my comforts. I can live without hot running water in the van but there were a couple of creature comfort things that I needed to sort out. Sleeping on a bed with gaping cracks in the mattress where the cushions fit together isn’t great. Nor is waking up tied up in an impossibly twisted sleeping bag. The back of my van stores a memory foam mattress topper, decent pillows and a goose down duvet. I slumber in comfort, all nicely tucked up between the dog and the spare wheel!
I learned the hard way not to sit up and crack my head on the overhead locker. I keep my bottle of gin in the wine rack under the driver seat. And as for a toilet, I decided that being on my own, I needed a toilet on board. I very accurately measured the space between the two front seats and after some diligent research found that the smallest chemical toilet that Thetford makes, fits perfectly. It was the final thing I wanted. Imagine my joy at finally having onboard toilet facilities and my despair when I realised that although the toilet fitted in the space between the two seats, my backside would not! Naïve, I was at the beginning. I thought after this wonderful restoration and new engine, there would be no further problems and I’d just sail off into the sunset. This was far from the truth. Delilah had lots of little problems. One of the rocker cover gaskets was loose, resulting in oil dripping onto the exhaust and rancid smoke belching
everywhere. Being a newbie, I thought I was on fire! Thankfully not! I eventually limped home and replaced the spring cover with a bolt on one and by tightening everything up every few journeys, the oil leaks are a thing of the past. Then she was pulling to the left. Every little problem takes a bit of investigating and trial and error to sort out, but it turned out that the pulling problem was the brake callipers binding. New brake callipers were fitted to keep her on the straight and narrow and new Spax shock absorbers made the ride more comfortable. Her battery died and no sooner than I replaced it, her starter motor gave up. Fortunately, some kind soul pushed me and her down a hill to bump start and we managed to get home.
To be honest, I lost confidence in her. I could never figure out what was wrong with her and I did consider selling her. Then I realised that my VW coping mechanism was relying on the RAC. This was no good! I bought ‘How to Keep Your VW Alive’, navigated the Haynes manual and got a genius mechanic to do the impossible and teach me! To own a T2, you have really got to have some understanding of the mechanical side. Although my knowledge is somewhat limited, it has meant that I now know enough to have confidence in what needs to be done to keep the old dear on the road.
I love to hike, so Delilah is a welcome sight for me and Dobby at the end of a long day of walking. Somewhere to sit and chill, cook, eat, watch beautiful sunsets and sleep. You are always guaranteed to meet other VW owners to chat to. Just being able to jump in the van on a Friday night and go on an adventure. What’s not to love about owning a T2? I’ve had so many absolutely wonderful adventures in mine that I could write a book! It keeps me sane.
Helen Brown
For this edition, we join John and Ruth and their adventures in Spain.
Back in 2007 my Wife Ruth and I embarked on our first major foreign jaunt in our Type 2 that we’d
owned since 1993. We had previously visited many parts of the UK but decided that now was the time
to be more adventurous. The ‘van had been reliable other than a very occasional hot start problem, but that always resolved itself after a few minutes, but we still felt we needed breakdown cover for this trip abroad. Once arranged, we booked the Portsmouth-Bilbao ferry and in mid-July headed off.
We had a fairly loose itinerary but had arranged to be in Madrid to meet up with Spanish friends for a couple of days. Having successfully achieved that, we decided to head to Cuenca, of the famous ‘hanging houses’ and La Ciudad Encantada fame. We had earmarked a site in advance and found it readily enough. It was a scorching hot day and so we parked in the shade of an enormous tree outside reception, while Ruth walked onto the site to have a look at the facilities before we committed to stay. She came back and said it looked good, very good in fact and so she went back to book us in while I fired up the van. It wouldn’t start! “Aha” I thought, I‘ll just leave it for a few minutes and all will be well… It wasn’t. It refused to offer any signs of life. After an hour or so of trying, leaving it and trying again we realised that it was not going to start. What to do now? We decided that we had to call for breakdown assistance.
At that time the breakdown cover was with Europ Assistance, so there was an English speaking
number to call. They passed on our difficulty to a local garage and a further hour went by before a
flatbed ‘relay’ type truck appeared. Panic. We did not want the van to be taken away. Ruth speaks
some Spanish and explained as best she could that we needed the van for our holiday to continue. He
seemed to understand so we relaxed a little. His first act was to get under the FRONT of the van
before hauling himself out looking a bit sheepish. Under the back he went, fiddled about, presumably
looking for the starter motor (I wasn’t sure that he found it) and after several minutes he surfaced and
with a faint smile and went to his cab. He started to reverse his truck to the van, at which point much
flapping of our arms and shouts of ‘no’ took place. He stopped just short of the front, raised the flatbed
of the truck and then proceeded to winch our van onto it. By now we were beside ourselves but, with a shrug of the shoulders he clambered up into our van, put it in gear and let the handbrake off. We looked on in horror as it very quickly rolled backwards down the ramp with the tailpipe missing the pebbly ground
by no more than half an inch, before he let up the clutch and it started. He had been oblivious of how
close to wrecking the engine it had got, but all was well it seemed. Our van was now running but what
if it happened again? A brief discussion took place and the gist of it was that a new starter motor was needed. He couldn’t provide one and all he could offer was ‘to was always park on a slope’. Now us seasoned campers know that flat surfaces are best, but for the rest of that holiday we were the only campers looking for sloping pitches. Did we have any repeat performances? Yes we did, but fortunately not too often. Usually it started when cold without any difficultly, but petrol stations were an issue as that
would almost always be a stop when the engine was hot and then it didn’t always want to start. Ruth
became very good at pushing after several such occasions, much to the amusement of onlookers.
We did however complete our intended holiday and once back home had a new starter motor fitted.
At this point the van was 34 years old, had done 100k and had the original engine and ancillaries so I
thought I’d write to VW UK and ‘complain’ about the poor quality components. This was firmly tongue in
cheek and I expected a humorous reply, but to my disappointment the joke wasn’t spotted. We still have the van and have since taken it on several trips through France and Spain.
Post Covid we hope to be able to do it again, but probably not this year
With the UK’s first Covid lockdown lifted in July
2020 and some travel restrictions relaxed, we
decided to make the best of the situation and use
the time we had booked off for our now cancelled
wedding, to travel some parts of the UK in our ‘79
Bay. You can’t get much more socially distanced
than travelling and sleeping in your own vehicle.
We started our road trip by following the Welsh
coast from the Gower Peninsula in the south, to
the Isle of Anglesey in the north. The countryside
on the Gower is beautiful. Unfortunately we don’t
have long to explore as we have some miles to
cover before our next stopover and other sights
to see on the way but have just enough time
to head to the far point of the Peninsula to a
spot called Rhossili. Rhossili Bay is famous for an
excellent beach and beautiful views over the bay
to Llangennith and Worm’s Head. The beach is
popular for surfing and the surrounding area with
walkers. Rhossili is also famous for sunflower fields
that engulf the area during the summer months.
After a quick stop to appreciate the view, we head
off and make our way to Pembrokeshire. There is
some fantastic countryside here and it reminds me
very much of Devon and Cornwall. Having done
some research, we head to a spot called Martins
Haven in the hope of some seal and dolphin
spotting, maybe even some Puffins.
We walked Ruby (our Springer Spaniel) down to
the seafront, but don’t spot any Seals, or Dolphins,
or Puffins! But the trip wasn’t wasted, on our
way out of the area we spot farmers digging up
Pembrokeshire New Potatoes, also known as
Pembrokeshire Earlies, which are famous for their
distinctive, delicate and almost nutty flavour.
We come across a handwritten sign advertising
them for sale at the side of the road. We like to buy
food for our travels in this way, it’s a great way to
support local business and get an authentic taste
of the area you are visiting. We stash the “earlies”
with a plan to enjoy them with some fresh, local
fish – the search is on!
The next day, we decided to have an early-ish start
and hit the road, setting off on our route up the west
coast of Wales towards Aberystwyth. I had scouted
a few places using Google Maps that I think might
be picturesque but quiet and with somewhere to
park. One such place was Abercastle; a beautiful
bay with fishing boats bobbing on the sea. With
a break in the rain, we headed down to the water
and did some coastal foraging whilst Ruby had the
run of the beach to herself. We didn’t find much to
forage, but Ruby found part of a lobster’s head that
she paraded proudly for a while!
WONDERFUL WALES PART 1
Jumping back in the camper, we continue our
scenic route, climbing higher and higher towards
cliffs where we can see the weather rolling in from
the sea. Our destination is a working lighthouse
at Strumble Head. The lighthouse was erected in
1908 and replaced a light-vessel that moored in
the nearby Cardigan Bay. The tower is 55ft high
and one of the last lighthouses to be built in Britain.
When we arrive at the lighthouse there is one
other Motorhome there that looks like it spent the
night, the rocks under their wheels are a giveaway…
I don’t blame them though!!
The cliffs here are shear but beautiful. We watch
the lighthouse flash for a few moments before
continuing off along the coastal road to Fishguard.
Fishguard has a lovely little Harbour (presumably
the original fishing harbour) in an area called
Lower Town and you are able to drive all the way
along the harbour edge which is lined with pretty
houses and yachts bobbing gently in the water.
We park up and make a cuppa, watching the
surroundings for a while; there are gulls preening
on rocks and a cormorant fishing too. On our way
out of Fishguard, heading towards Cardigan, we
pass a dairy farm that is selling milk direct to the
consumer via vending machine! Another roadside
food purchase, perfect!
We decide to take the back roads between
Fishguard and Cardigan and end up on roads with
grass growing in the middle, the best kind for slow
paced Campervan driving, allowing you time to
appreciate the views and surroundings. On arrival
at Cardigan (and still in search of fresh fish!) we spot
a fish restaurant… closed. Ending up at a nearby
chippy for lunch, our search for fresh fish continues
as we head off from Cardigan to our campsite.
The next leg of our journey takes us further
North along some beautiful coastline and into
Snowdonia. Join us next time with more tales from
the driving seat
We are excited to announce that our first club camp and BBQ is booked in! Join us from Friday 22nd to Monday 25th April at Petruth Paddocks, Cheddar in Somerset.
You can come early, stay later and we have arranged an excellent rate with the site.
Chill out, use it as a base for exploring, come and go as you wish. Read more about it in the next issue of Transporter Talk and see the Events page on this site for other club events this year.
What started out as a suggestion from long time club member Paul Turner (second page, bottom left image) for sitting in your van and having a cuppa turned into the largest meeting, albeit virtual, seen by the club in many years.
We even got the event featured in Volkswagen Camper and Commercial magazine.
If you want to buy the magazine, you can get just the one from
https://magsdirect.co.uk/magazine/vw-camper-commercial-no-151/
or just take a look at the club article here
http://vwt2oc.co/wp/wp-content/uploads/coffeemorning_C151.pdf
Another wonderful turn-out from the Club! Dressing up and Stone Henge appeared in many of our members’ photos, to celebrate the Summer Solstice, in lieu of our planned Isle of Wight Club Camp. That’s been put off till next year, but you can spend a few enjoyable minutes looking over these photos instead. No ice creams, though, I’m afraid…
See more on our private Facebook page, or on our Instagram page
Virtual Coffee Morning brings people together by Events Manager Lorna Williamson
In these strange times, it’s easy to feel lonely. Even the passion you feel for your VW Campervan is not always enough on its own, let alone the frustration of knowing that the open road is still out there, waiting…
Enter stage right the VW Type 2 Owners Club. This British Club decided to create a feeling of togetherness when people can’t actually get together, with a simple event built around the joy that only a VW Campervan can bring.
Using the Club’s Facebook and Instagram pages plus good old email, the VWT2OC encouraged its members to take their Sunday morning coffee out to their van, and get a picture.
“Nick and I had been joking for weeks about camping out on the driveway,” said Events organiser Lorna, “…we always sleep better in Poppy! Combined with input from a member who wanted to feel connected, and the fact that you can never have too many photos of vans, we came up with the virtual coffee format. We’ll be trying something similar on VE Day!”
Not everyone had access to their van – some being in storage, in the workshop, at home while people were away caring for relatives, or simply not available on the oil rig where the member was based! But people valiantly entered the spirit of the thing, with well over 100 photos shared, and these are some of the results…
The write up for the 2019 event went like this:
When several people tell you they’ve had a great weekend, including some more skeptical folks, you know you’ve got a good formula. Our club’s annual general meeting, BBQ and camp was again this year held at Great Bourton, just a few miles off the M40.
This again seemed to include a willingness to sit, chat, walk to the local pub (5 and 30 minute options), watch the footie or Eurovision, learn a new craft and drink Tea, coffee and more. Club participants on our spacious rally field this year included 21 vans, 33 adults, three dogs, one toddler and one parrot. There were also seven portions of delivered fish ‘n’ chips, 50 burgers and over 100 pieces of cake.
We had visitors from Norwich, Swansea, Sheffield and Maidstone; Four corners indeed! The essential business of the weekend (the Annual General Meeting itself) was conducted smoothly and efficiently… Thank you for supporting your club. This left plenty of time for the other important activities mentioned earlier! Many members walked away with valued, if not highly original, prizes in our Wrapped Up Raffle… I am making fine use of my Outwell bottle, kindly donated with a number of other prizes by member Ian Crawford.
Other attendees also brought along splendid and amusing options to help raise funds. Thank you all for supporting your club!
I think Kevin’s Craft workshop may have created a new sharing tradition. Who ever heard of Flower Pumelling? Not me, for sure… But along with four other ladies and one young man I became quickly addicted to perfecting the arrangement, taping, turning and subsequent bashing of foraged blooms to create something approaching art.
Mine was far from the best offering, but gives you an idea (see photo). Fab idea, Kevin, thank you so much for sharing!
Is it March already? I have barely had chance to remember to write the correct year and already we are into March, the clocks “spring” forwards this month and next month was to see our first camp!
April 4-19 – Easter Club Camp, Petruth Paddocks, Cheddar, Somerset (Club camp)
Sadly due to the Coronavirus, this has had to be postponed.
Head over to http://vwt2oc.co/wp/events/ for details of other events happening this year. If you are interested in any camp, contact our lovely Events Manager on events@vwt2oc.co.uk. She doesn’t bite.