Many thanks to Jon Edmunds from Hampshire for details of the loving restoration of his Type 2 Bay window camper.  What a great job he has done on it too considering its condition when he bought it (Check out the pictures below)

Jon writes: 

The bodywork restoration was undertaken by Bushaus (welding and panel work) in Southampton and Station Bodyshop (paintwork, rebuild ie fitting windows and generally putting it back together) in Portsmouth.

I removed and refitted the interior and have done all the rest of the bits and pieces. 

I have attached some photos of the restoration.  I hope they are good enough. A couple of them are photos pre restoration. The first is of it looking patchy which is how I brought it, and the second blue ones are when I coach painted it (a nice cheap way to restore the van for about £60 and a lot of sanding down :P).

The changes from the original van interior are seat covers in rear and the floor in rear (wood laminate). Engine is a standard recon with pan air filter, Monza exhaust and external oil filter (rebuilt top end when a fan belt overheated and cracked the heads). The rest of the van has opening side and rear windows, alloys and sun visor and the front lowered about 3-4 inches from standard. I think the rest is more or less standard.

Before 

The van is a 1972 VW Type 2 Bay window camper using the Dormobile conversion powered by a 1600 twin port engine.

The 1972 vans are also known as the ‘Crossover’ as VW was in the middle of updating during this time. The most obvious signs of this is that the van has the earlier style low front indicators but the later style large rear lights. It can get a little complicated as things like the front brakes were changed part way through the year so ordering parts can sometimes be tricky.

Vans of this year are commonly kept going more than others as they are at the end of the tax exempt period (meaning road tax is free) and allow them to wear the black number plates denoting a historic vehicle.

Cheers,

Jon

After 

I have actually seen the van myself and it is a real first class job.

Contact me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it if you would like me to get in touch with Jon for more information. 

Ken.