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It's been stuck down t'farm waiting for me to do something with it.



Last year I paid £800 for this '81 VW Danbury camper. Its got a 1600 aircooled (slow but reliable) engine and is pretty much original. Its got a cooker, sink, wardrobe and 2 double beds, plus 240v/12v and gas fridge, so you can have a wash, a meal and a cool beer - then watch a DVD on the laptop!









The sills were rotten (factored into the buying price) so I have new ones fitted by Andy @ Busfreaks. The tailgate and cab doors are shot so they will need swapping and the roof doesn't close right so its either investigate and fiddle or swap it. Luckily a mate is breaking one so all the fiddly bits I need and the roof are available cheap.

My intentions were to sell it on at a profit, but having camped in it once I fell in love with its practicality and retro looks. I have toyed with doing something retro/rat rod like Olstars Caddy but while sorting my vast horde of bits I came across the old bumpers and kit from my Caravelle (which I miss loads).

I had a play on Photoshop and I think with the kit and the Porsche Cayenne 18" rims languishing in my shed I can really make this one a head turner.



I have also gathered some interior material to retrim the panels and seats, plus a mass of camping equipment in matching colour scheme.

I'm going to use cream and brown (the original exterior colours) with turquoise, white and black to give the bus a retro 70's feel, but with a modern twist. Vinyl, satin painted surfaces and light wood will give it a cosy, clean feel.

Sazzle has kindly offered to donate a skimboard for use as a table - something I have wanted for a while - thx Sazzle!!!!!

Got to get busy with this one. It's in for an MOT late this week and I want it ready to enjoy :-)

Here is some of the interior stuff

WoW!

Awesome!

Something a bit different innit

luv it! get moddin

i love it, i wanna do a camper up, well actually i want me bf 2 do it 4 me lol not got the funds tho yet

oooooh lookin smart... that bit of summin is gonna look awesome in the van... what you on with today and i'll meet ya somewhere or bring it over xxx

I'll give you a call hun :-)

That's gonna look so sweet when it's finished

One day i'll have a Camper Van all of my to play with

will have a word with my mate about that stand hunny and see what he says xxx

Thanks Sazzle. Good to finally meet you today.

yeah was great to meet you too hunny... ty for the wine xxx

More good news. Had a nose around the Danbury my mate is breaking and there are a few bits that I can rob to make mine better. The roof will be useful as well as some ratty, but solid door panels, the original table top and the tailgate, maybe the doors too.

#The roof on mine doesn't close properly, has a few minor trim parts missing, doesn't raise itself as it should and has a bow in the front panel so I am going to take that, the cushions and some of the roof trim to make mine A1. Probably not an easy swap, but if I take a day or so to do it properly mine should look 100% better, be watertight, raise itself properly and be somewhat more original. Cost £100.00 for the entire roof - a steal for a poptop these days! And I will sell the spares I have onto another buyer to recoup a bit of that.

#The interior panels will come in handy as mine were missing down the passenger side and I need to retrim them anyway. Cost £0.00

#The table top is a good reference for whether the skimboard Sazzle donated a) is the right size and b)would be mounted best on the proper Desmo table bracket. Looking at it the board is almost perfect widthways and maybe won't need anything off the length either. Just need a table leg now. Cost £0.00

#The tailgate is the proper early one. Its in the original colours which is good from the POV that the top half already matches too. Certainly better than mine with rot in the bottom and handpainted crap all over it. 5 minutes to fit. Also means I can sell on the late tailgate I was going to have to use to replace it. Cost £20.00.

The doors on mine have been handpainted, dented and are pretty shitty. The ones on my mates are OK but the bottoms are gone, no bodging though so a small repair panel would fix them. They are cream/red so an easier option to paint too. Cost £30.00

BTW...its in having the brakes looked at today. AFAIK its the only obvious thing it needs for the MOT.