In about 1988, my wife Susan and I moved from the Midlands to Devon. At that time, we had travelled to Devon and Cornwall many times for camping trips or other short holidays. My brother and I, being familiar with Falmouth, as we were keen amateur divers at the time, borrowing our parents Bedford CF Campervan or driving down for a long weekend in a mini Clubman with our diving gear.
Somewhere near and around Falmouth we used to wild camp a little. Not much fun sharing sleeping space with smelly wetsuits back then, but it was still an adventure. No-one bothered us as we always parked out of the way and never ever left rubbish about, or blocked others enjoyment with our dive gear. Being students at the time, we were quite short of money, sometimes with only enough petrol money and always made our own food. Always praying that we would never break down or need to spend any money other than for our diving cylinders to be filled with air at the local dive shop in Penryn.
Falmouth is a popular spot for offshore diving. Whilst there, I always liked the VW campervans parked near us, jealous of other divers sat in the sliding door areas having a coffee and a mars bar after a dive, the doors wide open to take in the fantastic views across Falmouth bay – I wanted one !
It was now 1994, and I was researching VW campers. A splitscreen van was really desirable, but even then, the prices of them were rising beyond my reach. We had two children by then. Daughter Catherine (about 3yrs old) and son Patrick about one and a half. A camper would provide good family transport and holiday opportunities – this was not going to be our only transport, but a fun vehicle!
The search began for a Bay window van. Many could be found quite cheaply back then. Even so, their prices began to rise steadily. For those who could not afford a splitscreen, you bought a Bay window!
It is no exaggeration to say that I visited about twenty Baywindow buses. Being no stranger to owning older cars (I cut my teeth on restoring Standard 8 cars of the 1950’s, and always kept a fleet of cars running on a shoestring to get to and from work), so I knew roughly what to look for and what to avoid. Many were bodged vans, rotten bodywork and structural areas poorly welded.
Then I found one. A 1974 (later found to be an error and made in 1973. Important as you will find later). It was white and Sumatra green paintwork, a Devon pop-top conversion, two spotlights on the front bumper and the spare wheel carried on the front. Original Devon furniture within with tiny sink and cool box. The engine was a 1600 cc Vege unit and there was a tow bar. The roof went up, and two bunks came out on sturdy bars while the seating converted to a double bed space below. The original front seats had gone, and in their place were two small seats. Think they were from a Renault.
The van had already had six owners. The last being a young couple from Exmouth. They had been made redundant from work, and their van had to go. We bought it for £2,000.
Sounds a small amount now, but even then this was the best van I had seen and most original. My wife and I paid the money and drove it away with the former owners in tears. Before we left, they made us promise to offer it to them first if ever we were to sell it in the future. They were not to know that we still own it today in 2022, with no intention of selling just yet. We simply have too many great memories in the van, and places to which we have travelled.
We later found that our ‘new’ van was converted to a ‘Devon’ at the works in Sidmouth, just nine miles from where we live in Honiton.
Why ‘Libertine’ as a name for the van? Well, even before there was a Band called ‘The Libertines’, we were travelling around the Republic of Ireland. We met an elderly lady who, when talking of our travels in the van, said “Oh, you’re Libertines then?” The name stuck.
When first taking ownership, we decided that we would pack the van with our young children and head off into the unknown. The plan was simple. Head off from Devon up one side of the country and get as far as we can go with two small children, a simple map book and a bit of petrol money. No mobile phones, Internet bookings and satnavs back then!
Our adventures took us up to Lake Windemere, onward through to Scotland. Beautiful Oban and Fort William. Occasionally wild camping for the adventure of it, but really because we had no money for camp sites. One night we camped in a field, and much noise was coming from the fields behind where we were camped. Small huts occupied the hillside. We later found that this was a film set village for ‘Rob Roy’ with Liam Neeson. The noise was from the end of filming party.
We even got to attend the Edinburgh Festival by accident more than design. Our journeys took us south again, then home. In all that time (two weeks) I am not aware of the van letting us down. It rained almost constantly, only stopping when we did. Then blue sky, see the sights and back into the van for more rain to fall. We were all so wet once, and all our dry clothes used up we had to find a laundrette to dry some.
The van had proved itself, the kids enjoyed themselves and it was a great first adventure. In fact, our children (now 31 and 29) have campers of their own and love wild camping – so something has rubbed off!
To be continued…
Thomas Feeney
