Most popular member of the family!

Hi. I'm Lee and the new proud owner of what I assume is an "early" proper late Bay. Built late 1972 and registered Feb 1973, "Rhubarb" was originally a delivery van but had a conversion done early on.

Why did she appeal? Because after a dalliance with a '93 T4 Caravelle a few years ago that made me think about what would work for me, by chance I saw this van driving along the road with a "for sale" sign and, in seeing the pictures in the ad, she was the partial 'blank canvas' I was after. Camper top but removable kitchen unit and a rock and roll full width bed. A row of removable middle seats will hopefully be the plan so the van is properly multi-purpose, if the van structure will take it, of course.

Rhubarb will need some gentle TLC as any 50 year old does (the reality of older vehicles) but I'm up for that as this van is the right one for us. The kids love it and my daughter (11 and full of fun) wants to sleep in it on the driveway!

I understand that this is not just buying a van, it's entering into a community and stimulates conversation from strangers in a way that other cars don't. Most people are happy to see, and happier to get a ride, in a VW camper or bus, as I'm already finding out.

We're aiming for the "Simply VW" event at Beaulieu Motor Museum in June and go from there. "Rhubarb" is our own little bit of mobile automobile history. So glad we bought her.

Lastly, thanks to the people behind this forum. What a great thing to do and I'm looking forward to learning about these brilliant vans as we enjoy and take care of Rhubarb.

 

Oh, I thought it was a question. I was going to say the dog.
Welcome along. Very shiny van. Enjoy

 

It was the dog until the van came along!!

 

G'day and welcome

Nice van

 

Ours is still the Dog. We go round the in laws and they always say hello Sam to the dog before Hello to me.

 

@6stringer67
Welcome aboard!
@Lasty posted an ad link the other day for an interior that's matching to the Westfalia continental roof you've got

https://thelatebay.com/index.php?threads/rhd-westy-interior.95917/

Maybe not what you're looking for...but if it is?

 

Welcome to the mad house

Nice Bus.

 

Welcome along

 

Very nice looking family member, welcome to the club

 

Welcome along!

 

Thanks for the link and the welcome. Thankfully the kitchen sink/hob unit we have with the van is likely to be enough as, should we do the proper camp thing, we'll have a tent too and various bits and pieces and am looking to keep the van adaptable for regular use when the weather's basically not tipping down, hence a 2 or 3 seat bench for the middle.

Appreciate you identifying the roof too. That helps as the canvas will need some gentle cleaning. Suggestions welcome too on that.

 

Welcome, nice van and the best colour combo

 

welcome - nice bus

 

Welcome aboard from sunny Northants, nice looking bus

 

Welcome

 

Thanks for the welcome. Really appreciated.

She's a great little van and shines up well. We'll be having some fun in her before the first round of some work to attend to her rough bits.

 

Welcome from sunny Devon. Very nice looking van.