Where have we been, what have we done?

Since our last update, we’ve been busy as per usual. One of the latest cars to roll off the Vintage Vans production line is this officially licensed Meyers Manx “Manxster”, a 2+2 buggy, running a reliable but perky 1600 twin port, and kitted out for the customer and his kids to enjoy summer…

And talking of Meyers Manx buggies, we have another for sale: one that we built for a client last year – who is now passing it on (click to enlarge the image):

Meyers Manx "Manxster"

To see a gallery of its build, click here.

At the end of May we took a well earned long weekend and headed up to the north of Portugal for the 17th VW Classic, held in Caminha. Frantic last minute work to change gearboxes on my 1960 Westy paid off, and our convoy of four cars set off on the Friday for an 8 hour drive up north. Apart from the Westy, we took our 1951 cabriolet, our 58 sunroof, and Hugo from www.hugopecas.com joined us in his late model. An occasional hiccup on route slowed us down a little, and hitting the rush hour in Opporto did nothing to calm our nerves, but we eventually made it, checked into the hotel, and headed straight for a great restaurant…

Here’s a video of a few of the cars which showed up on the Saturday.

So, what have you got planned for the summer? Let us know, and if in Portugal, drop by for coffee.

For now, take care, all at Vintage Vans.

The Pseudo Samba – Finished!

Remember the ongoing story of the Pseudo Samba? You can read about it here…

Starting out as a humble mid sixties panel van, (converted to a nine window by Portuguese VW agent Geurin), we were commissioned to transform it into a 21 Window Deluxe. Here it is during conversion:

The client chose the colour scheme and wheels, and went for a Flat 4 Banjo steering wheel and CSP wide 5 discs up front. With the bus being used to transport family and friends, a hard wearing interior was assembled over an exact copy of the OG panels etc.

We took her out for a drive, accompanied by one of the “company cars”, our Porsche powered 2.4 litre 210 bhp single cab. Our mini convoy certainly turned heads…

Full spec of pop outs, full length sunroof, jailbars and deluxe trim, I think you’ll agree she’s a different prospect to her humble beginnings… The samba drives very well, and with all the windows and safaris open, sunroof pulled back, she’s a real sun magnet.

But that’s not the last of the sambas… we have another OG 21 window ready to be worked on, stay tuned: work will commence in September.

Important news is coming later this week, suffice to say something very rare is arriving soon, so keep coming back for updates.

For now, take care, all at Vintage Vans.

The show itself. (Show report part 2)

The Motorclássico show in Lisbon lasted three days, opening on the evening of Friday, and thus in the morning we finally positioned the cars, polished them up, hung our signs, and sat back for a well earned coffee. In all we took 9 vehicles, in addition to the 2 Cabriolets and 2 Zwitters, we had the Westy, a Fastback, Trekker, post 67 Beetle and our 58 Sunroof. (Click on images to enlarge).

Show cars

Oval Cabriolet and line up

We also took along two GRP shells – a Porsche 356 replica, and Manxter buggy, both of which we build for clients in the workshop. These certainly drew attention with many enquiries throughout the weekend.

356 replica shell, trekker etc

Fastback, Trekker, Late model

A lot of people were interested in the 51 Cabriolet of course, (who wouldn’t be?) even more so when they realised we’d shoehorned a Judson supercharger into it…

Judson Supercharger

But when things got too hectic for us, we could escape into the sanctuary of our Westfalia for a break:

1960 Split screen Westfalia

There weren’t many Volkswagens in the show itself, so our collection drew quite an audience, everyone loves to see a VW Beetle, especially one from the fifties, and it was a great chance for us to meet new friends.

Will we be back next year? Without a doubt. See you there! Take care, all at Vintage Vans.

Preparing for the show. (Show report part 1)

As mentioned in our last entry, this past weekend was the Motorclássico show in Lisbon, the annual classic car trade show, open to the public. Vintage Vans was of course part of it, and we took a number of vehicles along to debut, including the 1960 Westfalia Type 2, the 1951 Cabriolet, and our 2 recently completed Zwitters, slightly contrasting in style.

Leading up to the event was somewhat hectic in the workshops, prepping cleaning and transporting the cars, (3 journeys, there and back with the transporter) as you can see from these images: (click to enlarge)…

1954 Oval Cabriolet

Zwitter, 51 Cab and Westy

Ready to leave

Please nothing go wrong...

We'll see you the the show. Hopefully...

And here’s a short video of the mayhem…

More to come in Part 2, stay tuned. Take care, all at Vintage Vans.

Latest from the workshop…

We’re getting busy for this weekend’s Motorclássico show in Lisbon, and we hope to be taking 2 Zwitters along with a couple of other vintage Volkswagens. Therefore it’s all hands to the pump in the workshop, reassembling the freshly painted (mid brown) 1953 Zwitter, as well as working on clients projects. In this video you can see attention focused on the Zwitter, whilst the Mango / Seagull Grey 1959 and black single cab look down from their perches up on the lifts.

More detailed photos to follow: stay tuned!

Take care, all at Vintage Vans.

Our new Double Cab project.

This is definitely a long term project – our 1960 double cab, fresh in from the U.S via friends in Holland… You’ll see looking round it there is a lot of body work needed: but we have collected a lot of parts in advance. You’ll have to stay tuned for our plans, but it will consist of lowering, big engine and Porsche Fuchs at least.

(Portuguese commentary by Paulo, ahem…)

One of the great things to survive the trip across the Atlantic is the very funky spotlight, we’ll give it a polish and it will have pride of place following the restoration.

More to follow this week, updates on our fully restored Zwitter which will debut at the Lisbon Classic Car show in a couple of weeks.

For now, take care, all at Vintage Vans.

Our SO 23 Wesfalia.

Another great bus has come into our workshops: we have just purchased this Westfalia SO 23 camper: its last owner imported it from the States many years ago, and in his hands underwent this rather garish repaint… (click on the image to enlarge.)

Westfalia SO 23 as found

The first day in the workshop we started revealing OG Westy details, such as the seat coverings:

Stripping the seat covers.

We had to strip off two later layers to reveal the original checkered pattern

2nd layer

Dusty and dirty

All the read bench seats/beds came out nicely, and following a good clean, completely changed the look of the interior.

Cleaned and original

We had to do the same for the front bench.

Stripping the front bench

Although this will need a lot more work. But for now, we’re sitting on the springs…

OG front bench seat

You can see what a difference it made when we took her out for her first showing:

Westfalia interior.

We couldn’t live with that lurid green, so we gave her a quick repaint in Mango green, her original colour. Mind you, it was just a quick blow over so we could get the old Westy out on the road. She’ll need a full strip down and repaint when time allows…

Mango green Westfalia

We also colour coded the wheels, redid the bumpers, and fitted some original rear lights in place of those replacement trailer units… looks so much better now!

Westfalia rear view

You can have a better look around in this video I took: what do you think? Still plenty to do I agree, but parked up, sub hatch open, looking at the stars, (and hoping it doesn’t rain) what better way to camp?

Take care, see you soon, all at Vintage Vans.

Our 67 Samba and news from the workshop.

Do your remember our 1967 Samba? Here it was in its unrestored but complete state:

1967 Samba project

And I featured an update a while ago when it had just come out of paint, “Painting the 21 Window Samba” and one more as it was being reassembled. Well, a few days ago, on our first real day of sun, we took her out for the first time on the road, pop outs and Safaris open, sunroof pulled back, blue sky above, and she performed faultlessly following her restoration: it’s been a long time coming, but well worth the wait…

To see a full photo documentary of her restoration, click on the gallery here.

Always busy in our workshops – you’ll recall the Pseudo Samba, which a client has commissioned us to do, transforming an old panel van, well, here she is approaching readiness for the paint shop. There will still be a lot to do, interior wise, as well as mechanically and electrically, but the client will be very happy with the conversion, which is almost 100% to factory spec:

This monster 2.4 litre Porsche powered 1303s German looker came in for a tune up. A very potent street car I think you’ll agree. Don’t try and beat it at the lights…

And a quick look around upstairs. What do you see? Anything you’d love in your garage? 🙂

Look forward to speaking soon, take care – all at Vintage Vans.

A 62 sunroof rolls out.

Well, there just never seem to be enough hours in the day. A belated Happy New Year to all, and we hope that your Volkswagen restorations continue a pace this year. Perhaps we’ll see you rolling in the spring. And, talking of restorations, we have just completed this 1962 Golde Sunroof Beetle, and having watched it from the initial stages to completion last week, I must say – what a beauty she is and I’d love to have her in my garage.

Here she was in a sorry state when first being assessed at the workshops…

1962 sunroof

Halfway through – the body needed a lot of work in all the usual Beetle places, as well as two new heater channels…

1962 sunroof during restoration

As well as the chassis and floorpans completely restoring –

1962 sunroof floorpan

Here she is, interior freshly done, headlining and refurbished Golde sunroof installed,

1962 interior

with completely rebuilt engine, fresh year correct paint etc etc. Like having a new 1962 VW Beetle straight from the factory:

1962 freshly restored.

And rolled out the doors for the first time fully assembled, and ready to go!

1962 On the road

And of course, to record her in all her glory, yours truly was there with the video camera. Listen to that engine, purring like a contented cat! Sweet.

Now, there’s lots more happening, so stay tuned. I promise the next update won’t be so long in coming.

For now, stay safe on the road, best regards from all at Vintage Vans.

Latest news again. (Minus gremlins…)

WELL – even the Vintage Vans blog suffers the odd hiccup. My apologies, but here we are again. Now, back to the new arrival. Our 1951 cabriolet originally delivered to the federal frontier guard in Germany, it has since been on a bit of world tour before finding its way to Portugal.

OK you may find my words somewhat boring, so I’ll let the pictures take over. Let us know what you think. (Click on the images to enlarge.)

51 Cabriolet

51 - dash detail.

Rear view

Decklid detail with OG reversing light.

Cab, '51 11G, Zwitter, Oval Cab, 59.

And here’s a video I took of her – and just like me she’s sometimes slow to get going on a cold morning…

Meanwhile, we are working hard on three split screen busses at the same time; here they are – you’ll recognise the pseudo Samba from before. The bodywork is done, now we’re finishing up the chassis.

Pseudo Samba on rotisserie

A small window rear hatch undergoing nose surgery…

Nose job

And lastly this one, recently back from paint being put back together.

Putting it back together.

Hopefully these splits will be completed soon, after all, must find space for my own ’55 Oval and ’58 Single cab…

Take care, all at Vintage Vans.