paul_loves_borbons
Active member
Hello everyone, it’s taken me a while but I’ve finally got round to setting up a blog for my camper. It’s a 1969 Devon Torvette and it’s currently undergoing a pretty full on restoration. Hope you find this interesting and any hints or tips would be much appreciated.
I thought I would start with a little background about how I came to own it.
After uni I went on a trip with a few close friends, surfing the coastline of South west France and northern Spain between Cherbourg and Santander. We did the trip in my Ford escort van and my friends almost luminous green/blue Kia Pride. We all had an amazing time and loved every second of the trip.
After the holiday I couldn’t help thinking having a camper would make that kind of trip even better and would encourage me to do that sort of thing more often. I’d always been a fan of VW’s and really liked the campers I’d seen at the surf spots around north Devon and Cornwall.
So when I came home and got a job I started looking for a decent VW camper I could buy. I decided I would get a bay as splitty’s were all way out of my price range and there was something about the big curved windscreen and rounded edges of a bay I really liked.
One day my brother came home and told me a guy who he worked with was selling a really nice bay for some friends. He said it sounded like a really good one and would probably be a bit expensive for me, but the guy had invited us over to have a look so I might as well go just to get a good look around one.
It turns out my brothers workmate was selling the camper for a friend in his village. They wanted to put it up for auction on ebay but didn’t know how so he had offered to do it for them. It was actually the friends Dad’s camper but he didn’t use it anymore as he was in his 90’s. The son wasn’t that interested in it himself being in his 70’s and wanted to see it go to someone who would get some good use out of it.
The camper was a 1969 Devon Torvette and had only had the one owner from new. It had done 72,000 miles and had a full service history to go with it. After having a good look around I was amazed at what good condition it was in. The interior was fully original and looked really good and the engine even started better than my escort!
When we went to look at the camper I had no intention of buying it as I knew it was a really good one and would be out of my price range. However, after having a good look around it I had been seduced. It was such a good example of a bay and it was everything I wanted from a camper van. Seeing that I was so into that particular camper my parents said they would lend me the extra money to buy it for which I am incredibly grateful. I set myself a maximum bid and went for it. In the end I actually won the camper for £100 over the limit I had set myself (so much for maximum bids) and couldn’t have been happier.
I had it towed back to my house the next week and had a chance to have a really good look around it.
Seeing as it is such a good example of a camper in original condition I decided I would go all out with a full restoration. I knew I would never want to get rid of this camper so I might as well completely strip it down and do the works on it before getting it on the road. I wanted to get it back to pristine condition!
The first job was to strip it of all the interior and electrics, leaving in the running gear so it could still be mover around easily. This work was done in the evenings after work and I have to thank my brother for giving me a hand with it.
Once the camper was stripped it was off to Pedro’s to get the bodywork in tip top condition before having it sprayed inside and out. Pedro is a friend of a friend who has his own bodywork business nearby. He’s well known for his very high attention to detail with bodywork and spraying so it was an easy choice to ask him to do the work.
At this point in time the camper is still at Pedro’s getting the work done. I went to see him last week and all of the welding has now been completed! The new panels that have been welded on are: Lower front panel inner and outer, all four wheel arches, all four seat belt anchors, lower sections of the two rear corners, large sections of the cab floor and inner front drivers side wheel arch as well as several little holes in the underside of the van. I’m also having a new front grill and rear bumper put on as the old ones were a bit tatty.
The underside has been stripped down, welded up, waxoyl’d and stone chipped and is looking as good as new.
I’m having it re-sprayed in the original lotus white (L282) with the bumpers and wheel rims in cloud white (L581). I’ve also decided to have the interior sprayed lotus white instead of the original light beige (L275) to freshen it up a bit. I know this isn’t strictly original but I think it will be a nice touch.
As a quick aside I came across a very useful webpage for original paint combinations if anyone needs it; (http://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/info/colorstype2.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false
As of last week the wheels have been sprayed and now all that remains is to tidy up the bodywork inside and out, some good preparation and then spraying!
I’m really happy with the work Pedro’s done so far and it looks like it’s going so be something really special when the works completed.
I’ll try and keep on top of this blog and update it as more things get done. The next one will be when the spraying has been completed which hopefully won’t be too far away.
I thought I would start with a little background about how I came to own it.
After uni I went on a trip with a few close friends, surfing the coastline of South west France and northern Spain between Cherbourg and Santander. We did the trip in my Ford escort van and my friends almost luminous green/blue Kia Pride. We all had an amazing time and loved every second of the trip.
After the holiday I couldn’t help thinking having a camper would make that kind of trip even better and would encourage me to do that sort of thing more often. I’d always been a fan of VW’s and really liked the campers I’d seen at the surf spots around north Devon and Cornwall.
So when I came home and got a job I started looking for a decent VW camper I could buy. I decided I would get a bay as splitty’s were all way out of my price range and there was something about the big curved windscreen and rounded edges of a bay I really liked.
One day my brother came home and told me a guy who he worked with was selling a really nice bay for some friends. He said it sounded like a really good one and would probably be a bit expensive for me, but the guy had invited us over to have a look so I might as well go just to get a good look around one.
It turns out my brothers workmate was selling the camper for a friend in his village. They wanted to put it up for auction on ebay but didn’t know how so he had offered to do it for them. It was actually the friends Dad’s camper but he didn’t use it anymore as he was in his 90’s. The son wasn’t that interested in it himself being in his 70’s and wanted to see it go to someone who would get some good use out of it.
The camper was a 1969 Devon Torvette and had only had the one owner from new. It had done 72,000 miles and had a full service history to go with it. After having a good look around I was amazed at what good condition it was in. The interior was fully original and looked really good and the engine even started better than my escort!
When we went to look at the camper I had no intention of buying it as I knew it was a really good one and would be out of my price range. However, after having a good look around it I had been seduced. It was such a good example of a bay and it was everything I wanted from a camper van. Seeing that I was so into that particular camper my parents said they would lend me the extra money to buy it for which I am incredibly grateful. I set myself a maximum bid and went for it. In the end I actually won the camper for £100 over the limit I had set myself (so much for maximum bids) and couldn’t have been happier.
I had it towed back to my house the next week and had a chance to have a really good look around it.
Seeing as it is such a good example of a camper in original condition I decided I would go all out with a full restoration. I knew I would never want to get rid of this camper so I might as well completely strip it down and do the works on it before getting it on the road. I wanted to get it back to pristine condition!
The first job was to strip it of all the interior and electrics, leaving in the running gear so it could still be mover around easily. This work was done in the evenings after work and I have to thank my brother for giving me a hand with it.
Once the camper was stripped it was off to Pedro’s to get the bodywork in tip top condition before having it sprayed inside and out. Pedro is a friend of a friend who has his own bodywork business nearby. He’s well known for his very high attention to detail with bodywork and spraying so it was an easy choice to ask him to do the work.
At this point in time the camper is still at Pedro’s getting the work done. I went to see him last week and all of the welding has now been completed! The new panels that have been welded on are: Lower front panel inner and outer, all four wheel arches, all four seat belt anchors, lower sections of the two rear corners, large sections of the cab floor and inner front drivers side wheel arch as well as several little holes in the underside of the van. I’m also having a new front grill and rear bumper put on as the old ones were a bit tatty.
The underside has been stripped down, welded up, waxoyl’d and stone chipped and is looking as good as new.
I’m having it re-sprayed in the original lotus white (L282) with the bumpers and wheel rims in cloud white (L581). I’ve also decided to have the interior sprayed lotus white instead of the original light beige (L275) to freshen it up a bit. I know this isn’t strictly original but I think it will be a nice touch.
As a quick aside I came across a very useful webpage for original paint combinations if anyone needs it; (http://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/info/colorstype2.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false
As of last week the wheels have been sprayed and now all that remains is to tidy up the bodywork inside and out, some good preparation and then spraying!
I’m really happy with the work Pedro’s done so far and it looks like it’s going so be something really special when the works completed.
I’ll try and keep on top of this blog and update it as more things get done. The next one will be when the spraying has been completed which hopefully won’t be too far away.
