Heidi - 1971 Devon Sunlander - Update

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jagman

Member
Joined
May 15, 2014
Messages
19
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Location
Aberdeenshire
Well it's been a couple of years since I made my first attempt at posting on the forum and a lot has happened with Heidi since then.

Now I know from the comments made 2 years ago by you purists & originalists ( is that a real word ??) you advised retaining the original orange Sunlander interior but the method of converting everything to the double bed was a complete pain in the butt and took forever. In addition we really didn't fancy sleeping on worn out saggy cushions full of the previous owners' 40+ years of sweat and whatever else ! So as it is otherwise in excellent condition the whole interior apart from the overhead locker and wardrobe which I've kept in the bus have been removed and stored carefully in my loft (could be persuaded to sell but would want a firm £500 - buyer arranges collection from North East Scotland) and replaced with the ubiquitous Rusty Lee rock 'n roll bed along with new cushions made by my wife and a new single seat with storage made by myself.

As well as this fairly major change, a lot of other bits and pieces have been replaced including carpets, curtains, rear vinyl flooring, steering wheel,door mirrors, stainless steel exhaust tailpipe, battery, starter motor, alternator conversion, engine fan, pop up springs and have put in Noise Killer sound insulation which has made a huge difference. The fuel gauge stopped working shortly after I bought Heidi and as usual it was the tank sender which I have just replaced after plucking up the courage to cut a hole in the engine cover. I replaced the elderly tyres with a new set of whitewalls from Vintage Tyres which really make a big difference to the whole look.

My son machine polished the whole exterior but the original Pastel White was quite badly faded and just wouldn't take on much shine and there was a lot of little bits of surface rust all over the roof and gutters so all the white has been re-painted. Not having cash to have this resprayed professionally but having a lot of experience with rattle cans going back to the 1970s I plumped for re-doing the white with Halfords Pastel White aerosols. The paint quality is really good although, as mentioned by other folks on here, their version of the colour is creamier than the original so once I started I had to carry on. I like the creamy tone and think it is warmer and gives a more retro feel. Lost count of the number of cans I needed and the staff at my local Halfords never did ask why I kept buying 3/4 cans at a time for months on end !

Next job is to correct the saggy rear end with a new set of torsion bar bushes to level things out and possibly electronic ignition before doing the local classic car shows in the Spring. Not a fan of kerb scraping lowered buses but may think about a little lowering job by a couple of inches or so with dropped spindles etc.

Bought Heidi for £6000, stole it really considering it's overall condition, and have spent a further £4000 on her so reckon I'm still quids in based on what she's probably worth now.

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The last pic is my other motor - XJR 4.0 litre supercharged V8 370 bhp and 0-60 in 5.3 seconds! Original price in 2000 was nearly £54k. I bought it 3 years ago for £4000 ! Probably still worth that as mileage is lowish at 85,000.It struggles to get more then 18 mpg around town but up to 27 on motorways (not many of them up here though !) Although it's been really reliable despite what many think about old Jags, I don't use it a lot, less than 3000 miles a year, as I work just 10 mins walk from home but when I do I still get such a buzz from it even after 3 years.
 
As I've mentioned above, I have stored the original interior including all the orange fabric/black vinyl cushions in my loft apart from the overhead cupboard & wardrobe which I've retained in the bus.Have a look at my original post for photos of what it all looks like.
 
My son Andrew who is a graphic designer & digital drafter recently gave me this print of Heidi as a birthday present. Delighted with it ! He has set up a little sideline offering these prints in various sizes and of virtually any car.

Have a look under the Non Early Bay For Sale section for more info.

 
Heidi was registered on 8th March 1971 having been bought new from the local VW dealer in Aberdeen by the family I bought her from2 years ago. She was built at VW's Hannover factory in December 1970.
 
Getting Heidi ready for her winter hibernation, removed all the cushions & curtains before putting her cover on. The replacement plastic curtain hooks I fitted earlier in the year are a real pain as they don't 'hold' the curtain header tape and come off too easily when you don't want them to ! Anybody out there know where I can get more of the original metal hooks as they can be crimped to hold on to the curtain
 
Well didn't get any response to this thread in the 'General' section so hopefully 'Gallery' watchers can come up with some info.

As many of you will know the Devon Sunlander conversion was only produced in very limited numbers for one year only in 1971 and despite loads of research via various sources over the past few years I have been unable to come up with any definitive information on how many Sunlanders were produced at the time and more importantly how many are left either on the road or on 'SORN'.

My local motor museum,Grampian Transport Museum,are holding an event in May called 'How Many Left ?' (referring to the website of the same name which we've all probably dipped into from time to time) highlighting rare classic vehicles that have less than 500 still existing. I plan to take Heidi, my Niagara Blue/Pastel White Sunlander along and it would be great if I could include in my display estimated info on how many Sunlanders are still around.
From a Google image search I've come up with the following Sunlanders in addition to my own :-

JHC 282J - All white
GLF 823J - All white
OBP 785J - was Red/White now Blue/White
YOJ 176J - Blue/White
AHT 562J - Purple/White
????? - Orange/White - for sale as a restoration project 2013
OHW 529J - All Blue (Neptune ?)

So including mine that's only 8.They're obviously much rarer than I ever thought ! Anyone know of any more ? If so please post some info with colour/interior details and whether on the road or on SORN
 
jagman said:
Heidi was registered on 8th March 1971 having been bought new from the local VW dealer in Aberdeen by the family I bought her from2 years ago. She was built at VW's Hannover factory in December 1970.

Hi jagman, mine is 21 April 1971,and i bought in 4 June 2014, in Portugal.
 
Hi, I have literally just joined the forum and can add my Devon Sunlander to your list - EVB 793J, all Neptune Blue. Its on the road and apart from the pop top and beds replaced with a sunroof, the van and the interior is all original and present. Very tired though so I am gradually using as templates to replace like-for-like. The original panels are stored in the loft (like your own) as they are replaced. I haven't read anything else on here yet, but I will do and add what I can to contribute the Sunlander topic.
 
Hi Martello

Great to hear from another Sunlander owner. Got any pics ? Just had a letter about my Sunlander search published in the latest issue of Camper & Commercial Mag so hopefully that will generate any other owners to make contact. That's 10 we've got now. The revised 'unofficial' register is :-

JHC 282J ALL WHITE
GLF 823J ALL WHITE
PSA 541J BLUE/WHITE
OBP 785J BLUE/WHITE
YOJ 176J BLUE/WHITE
AHT 562J PURPLE/WHITE
GPD 917J GREEN/WHITE
OHW 529J ALL BLUE
BHA 324J YELLOW/WHITE
EVB 793J ALL BLUE

My Sunlander is due to feature in the motoring supplement of the local Aberdeen rag 'The Press & Journal' this Wednesday 3rd May so will post a link to the article when it's published. Got Heidi booked in for 10 local classic car shows this summer with the first in Inverness in a couple of weeks. Lots of classics of all types on show. So big the local council close off a few of the city centre streets as display area , on a Saturday !
 
Hi Jagman,

Very nice tidy Bus.
I enjoyed reading the piece in the P&J about your camper.
I'm up your neck of the woods too, although my camper doesn't get out much these days due to two young kids on the go.
 
Hi Ali

Good to hear there's another bus owner in the area. Not that many around. You been in Inverurie with it recently ? It looks familiar - think I may have seen it outside G M Garage Services a few weeks ago possibly ? I'll be showing Heidi at the "How Many Left ? Show at Grampian Transport Museum on 21st May if you're around. Be good to have a blether. The P & J piece was a bit corny. Written by a 12 year old or the girl who did the phone interview with me sounded about 12 ! Didn't have any final input into what was published and as a result a few inaccuracies crept in but they say there's no such thing as bad publicity. Got quite a few folk talking about campers which is no bad thing I suppose.
 
I'm not far from Inverurie, but unfortunately I've not been out in the bus for a decent while so its unlikely to have been me. Need to go and replace a couple of the brake lines before I next take it out. At the minute I've got a leak as the feed pipe goes into the top of the master cylinder so need to sort that out.
I do see a couple of campers now and then on my way out to Oldmeldrum every day.
Would be good to get a blether, I'll have to check with 'the boss' and see if I can get out that way.
 
In my quest to find out how many Devon Sunlanders were originally produced, a couple of months ago, I had a letter published by the Sidmouth Herald, the local paper nearest the old Devon factory, and yesterday out of the blue I received a letter from a Mr Pat Mitchell who still lives in the Sidmouth area and started the Devon business with Mr J P White in 1957. Pat worked there for 21 years and in that time was the designer of over 40 variants of the VW Transporter. Included in his portfolio of designs was the Sunlander and he was able to confirm that they only produced 80 production versions plus 3 prototypes, even less than previous estimates. During his time with the company he also took on a commission to design and build a bespoke camper van for Prince Rainier & Princess Grace of Monaco in 1969 based on a Mercedes van, the kind of van you see old Hymers based on. He also did some work for DAF trucks and designed the very first truck 'camper cab' so that drivers could sleep more comfortably in their trucks overnight. Pat left the company in 1978 when the T25 came out as he felt it wasn't best suited to camper van conversions for some reason. Amongst other work, he also went on to design truck cabs for Ford.

Amazing what you can find out if you dig deep enough !
 

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