Rippers
Well-known member
For Sale Benji a LHD 1970 VW bay window three birth Westfalia tin top weekender. A very original van with a genuine German factory fitted Westfalia interior (has the original plaques etc) which was built in Germany and imported new to his first owner in Los Angeles, California where he has lived for the last 42 years! He has 60k on the clock and I have no reason to doubt this but as an import I obviously can't prove it either. The van is very dry and had been undersealed in its past so has an excellent chassis. The only welding I am aware of is the battery tray which has been replaced which is common. It is a walk through model so you can get between the front seats to the rear without having to go outside. He was MOT'd and was registered in the UK last year and being 1970 Benji is obviously road tax exempt and the insurance on a classic policy cost us £115 for a year! with a guaranteed value of £15000. So very cheap to run. The MOT runs out on the 12th August 2013.
The interior is a Campmobile 90 interior which is in very good condition and there are no obvious rips or tears in the original Mustard vinyl, the original units are all there and are in excellent condition for the age and have escaped the numerous drill holes and speaker up grades that people seem to do to these vans. The original front hammock or cot as they are sometimes referred to is included and despite it supposedly a three birth my two children have slept in it fine together. The sought after ice box/sink unit is included (this is removable) I re-plumbed it all and sterilised the tank and it works perfectly and the spice rack and pop up table is all there (I will be honest and say there is a slight burn mark on the pop up table where someone has put something too hot on it. The wardrobe is great and you can hang your clothes in with ease, backing on to this is a deceptively large laundry/ storage cupboard. The rear bench seat/bed known as a rock and roll bed works fine and is a seriously comfortable double bed even for me being 6ft, there is storage underneath this rear seat and I fitted a lap belt and three point seat belt for a child's seat. Opposite the bench seat is a rear facing single seat with storage underneath and magazine rack behind it, this is known as the buddy seat. Between the seats is the fold out table which is nice and sturdy. Finally it has its original walk through stool which is often missing in these interiors. Being a Westy weekender means no pop top roof which is something we really didn't want when we where looking for the van as tintop's look so much better for one and also non of the drafts and wind problems when camping, plus you can fit a decent sized rear roof rack!
Body work whilst Benji is very presentable and looks good, he has at some point had a blow over paint job which was probably not the best but I find it a lot less stressful owning a van like this where I don't have to worry about every nick and scratch and not be on my kids case all the time and I can just enjoy the experience of camping in a vintage VW van, we get a lot thumbs up and smiles when driving about and its a really nice experience.
Benji is running on original steel wheels with VW logo chrome caps and some lovely white wall tyres for that original USA look, (tyres are like new)
Since owning Benji I have serviced him very well, in the last year I have fitted new vented disc brake conversion (was drums!) to the front at a cost of £900, changed all the brake flexi pipes, master cylinder, complete brake fluid, rear shoes, adjusted the handbrake, checked the wheel bearings and replaced one of the rears with high quality German parts. Changed the front steering arms and drag link with new German parts and had the alignment done. Replaced the gearbox oil. Replaced the grease in the front beam. Adjusted the play in the steering box and got the heating working (front and rear) properly through the heat exchangers.
Suspension wise he is totally stock which seems to be rare these days!
Engine wise Benji is lucky enough to have fitted a 1776cc engine with a weber carb which is nice and strong and runs really well, we did Brighton Breeze last year and recently drove to St Ives Cornwall and back to London and had no issues at all and did the Stanford Hall show last weekend which was excellent and again Benji was faultless!. I have done the following with the engine:- changed spark plugs, changed to leads (proper Bosch leads) done the valve clearance, adjusted the timing, reset the carb settings and idle, fitted a oil breather, changed the oil, fitted a brand new standard exhaust and changed all the fuel lines and fuel filter. He cruises at 65 with ease and never feels sluggish. One added bonus is I fitted a new accelerator linkage and the pedal response is now very strong. Electrics wise everything works, bar the original Factory Sapphire Radio as I didn't want to put a modern job in and cut holes for speakers etc and we just take our Roberts DAB radio with us instead. The original US electric hookup all works and I will include a hook up which allows you to use it on UK camp sites and UK to USA plug adapters inside the van.
Benji is ready for the next family to enjoy, everything on the van works and he doesn't really want for anything, included in the sale will be a set of interior window thermo blinds and and exterior windscreen and front cab window silver screen which makes it nice and dark when camping in addition to the curtains.
For those worried about LHD really don't as its really easy to adjust to within a few miles, it was my first LHD van and I don't even think about it now. Its a reluctant sale and we are purely selling as we have a Splitscreen van too and sadly can't keep both as we don't have the space!
Couple of notes.. the number plate will be put on retention and is not included in the sale and I will not release the van before the retention comes back.
Price:- £keeping it now
The interior is a Campmobile 90 interior which is in very good condition and there are no obvious rips or tears in the original Mustard vinyl, the original units are all there and are in excellent condition for the age and have escaped the numerous drill holes and speaker up grades that people seem to do to these vans. The original front hammock or cot as they are sometimes referred to is included and despite it supposedly a three birth my two children have slept in it fine together. The sought after ice box/sink unit is included (this is removable) I re-plumbed it all and sterilised the tank and it works perfectly and the spice rack and pop up table is all there (I will be honest and say there is a slight burn mark on the pop up table where someone has put something too hot on it. The wardrobe is great and you can hang your clothes in with ease, backing on to this is a deceptively large laundry/ storage cupboard. The rear bench seat/bed known as a rock and roll bed works fine and is a seriously comfortable double bed even for me being 6ft, there is storage underneath this rear seat and I fitted a lap belt and three point seat belt for a child's seat. Opposite the bench seat is a rear facing single seat with storage underneath and magazine rack behind it, this is known as the buddy seat. Between the seats is the fold out table which is nice and sturdy. Finally it has its original walk through stool which is often missing in these interiors. Being a Westy weekender means no pop top roof which is something we really didn't want when we where looking for the van as tintop's look so much better for one and also non of the drafts and wind problems when camping, plus you can fit a decent sized rear roof rack!
Body work whilst Benji is very presentable and looks good, he has at some point had a blow over paint job which was probably not the best but I find it a lot less stressful owning a van like this where I don't have to worry about every nick and scratch and not be on my kids case all the time and I can just enjoy the experience of camping in a vintage VW van, we get a lot thumbs up and smiles when driving about and its a really nice experience.
Benji is running on original steel wheels with VW logo chrome caps and some lovely white wall tyres for that original USA look, (tyres are like new)
Since owning Benji I have serviced him very well, in the last year I have fitted new vented disc brake conversion (was drums!) to the front at a cost of £900, changed all the brake flexi pipes, master cylinder, complete brake fluid, rear shoes, adjusted the handbrake, checked the wheel bearings and replaced one of the rears with high quality German parts. Changed the front steering arms and drag link with new German parts and had the alignment done. Replaced the gearbox oil. Replaced the grease in the front beam. Adjusted the play in the steering box and got the heating working (front and rear) properly through the heat exchangers.
Suspension wise he is totally stock which seems to be rare these days!
Engine wise Benji is lucky enough to have fitted a 1776cc engine with a weber carb which is nice and strong and runs really well, we did Brighton Breeze last year and recently drove to St Ives Cornwall and back to London and had no issues at all and did the Stanford Hall show last weekend which was excellent and again Benji was faultless!. I have done the following with the engine:- changed spark plugs, changed to leads (proper Bosch leads) done the valve clearance, adjusted the timing, reset the carb settings and idle, fitted a oil breather, changed the oil, fitted a brand new standard exhaust and changed all the fuel lines and fuel filter. He cruises at 65 with ease and never feels sluggish. One added bonus is I fitted a new accelerator linkage and the pedal response is now very strong. Electrics wise everything works, bar the original Factory Sapphire Radio as I didn't want to put a modern job in and cut holes for speakers etc and we just take our Roberts DAB radio with us instead. The original US electric hookup all works and I will include a hook up which allows you to use it on UK camp sites and UK to USA plug adapters inside the van.
Benji is ready for the next family to enjoy, everything on the van works and he doesn't really want for anything, included in the sale will be a set of interior window thermo blinds and and exterior windscreen and front cab window silver screen which makes it nice and dark when camping in addition to the curtains.
For those worried about LHD really don't as its really easy to adjust to within a few miles, it was my first LHD van and I don't even think about it now. Its a reluctant sale and we are purely selling as we have a Splitscreen van too and sadly can't keep both as we don't have the space!
Couple of notes.. the number plate will be put on retention and is not included in the sale and I will not release the van before the retention comes back.
Price:- £keeping it now
