Just Kampers Open Day 2016. (part 1 of 3)

Whether your into Volkswagen's, classic cars, hot rods or any other specific vehicle, you will no doubt have you're favourite parts supplier, that special place to get all the numerous parts and accessories you need to keep your pride and joy on the road, and as an owner of a 1969 early bay and a slightly newer T4 I am no different. My favourite parts supplier is Just Kampers based in Odiham in Hampshire here in the U.K. They are my favourite supplier simply because the prices are very competitive, the customer service is extremely good with very knowledgeable and helpful staff and and any parts ordered are normally in stock and always sent out for next day delivery (and normally with a free small packet of sweets!). The website is also a bonus as it's so easy to navigate and find what you want. I think I'm right in saying that every year Just Kampers hold an open day with weekend camping available. The open day which this year was held on Saturday 11th June at the Just Kampers headquarters, with camping available on the Saturday night. These open days attract hundreds of customers / visitors in their prized Volkswagen's of all descriptions, and also traders and caterers which all help to make this open day, a great day.! I had heard of this event in the past, and attended the open day for the first time last year so this year I decided to have another drive down to the Just Kampers headquarters in deepest rural Hampshire to the village of Odiham, which is about 60 miles from my hometown of Aylesbury. I put a post on Facebook saying about this event but for some reason none of my VW buddies seemed interested in attending, so on the Saturday morning as the sun was shining I put some cool tunes on the stereo and Fiona (my early bay) and I set off. Just Kampers do not only sell parts and accessories for campers and buses but also Beetle parts, camping gear and even motor insurance. You can check out the the easy to use Just Kampers website here: http://www.justkampers.com/ (you may need to copy and paste the link)
To see all my other blog entries, go to ‘My Blog Archive’ to the left of this page. Simply click on an arrow for a particular year, then click on an arrow for a particular month, this will then give you a drop down menu for all the blog entries for that month.

My 1969 VW microbus parked up in the Just
Kampers show and shine field. It took about 90
minutes to drive the 60 or so miles to Odiham
and I arrived quite early so I got a good parking
space. As no-one else wanted to attend the open
day I drove down on my own which was a bit
 boring if truth be told, especially as most of 
the journey was tedious motorway driving, but I
didn't let this dampen my spirit. 

Once I had parked up I ensured I got my
priorities right by putting the kettle on to make
 a cup of tea. You can see how early I arrived
as the kids bouncy castle is still being inflated!

By the time I had made and drunk my cup of
tea, there was numerous vehicles that had
also arrived and had parked up next to me. 

This 1965 RAT look split screen parked up right
next to me. I got talking to the owner who was
saying he wasn't sure whether to paint his bus
or not as he quite likes it as it is, and I agree it
does look pretty cool with the RAT look. 

He complimented my bus on it's paint, and I said
that only 6 months ago my bay was in a similar
condition as his split screen, the only difference
was that my RAT look bodywork was becoming
porous which meant that several panels were 
starting to rust and that if I hadn't have had it
 painted, within a few years I'd have had to start
 replacing panels and have welding done.

This lovely 1972 all white beetle came in with
the RAT look split, but this was anything but 
RAT looking. The body panels were perfectly 
straight and the paint was finished to a very 
high standard.

It looks from this angle that maybe this bug
 had a narrowed front beam. The lack of front 
and rear bumpers and the single colour body
help to give this lovely bug a lovely sleek look.

What I noticed most about this old bug was how
well the large Hankook tyres filled the rear
wheel arches.

This 1974 white over light blue late bay was
another very clean vehicle. I did like the overall
look of this bay and it's ride height, and those
aftermarket Fuchs style wheels add to the
clean crisp look perfectly.

The '74 had some cool looking painted flower
decals on the roof which matched the blue
body colour.

This pre '63 beetle looked cool sitting nice and
low with just enough patina on the lovely deep
red paint. I do like those chrome Porsche head
light grilles on early beetles.

This old bug does sit well and looks so cool,
it just goes to prove that you don't always 
need an expensive paint job to have a nice
looking Volkswagen.

I did like the Porsche centre caps on the after
market wheels on this bug.

I spotted this gorgeous cherry red and white
1967 split screen kombi parked up early in the
morning. This really was a nice clean bus. I 
did like the colour matched white Empi 5 
spoke wheels and the mesh sun visor.

The perfect paint finish was amazing which was 
applied over perfectly straight body panels.

'Dave the Trimmer' was at the open day in his
Ford Econoline 200 van. Production for the
Econoline started in 1961 and they are still
producing it today! This looks like a 1970's
model.

As a budding wannabe sign writer I was drawn
to the cool hand painted lettering on Dave's
 van. It looked really impressive and had a 60's 
/ 70's look which is suited to the age of the van.

Mark and kerry own this lovely 1967 Karmann

convertible beetle. Wilhelm Karmann produced 

the convertible Beetle from 1949 - 1980 and 

it had many features that the standard Beetle 

didn't have. These extras included, duel rear 

ashtrays, twin map pockets and a vanity  

mirror in the sun visor.

The hood itself had 1in of insulation and also an
inner lining to hide the mechanism and cross
bars. The rear window was tempered safety
glass. When the hood was down Karmann
noted that you couldn't see over folded hood,
so the rear view mirror was mounted on an
offset pivot. By simply twisting the mirror 180
degrees, it raised the mirror by 2 inches which
was enough to see over the hood. 

This gorgeous SP2 was parked just behind the
cabriolet and I just love it. The SP2 was only
produced in Brazil to compete with the Puma
in the sports car market. The car was built on
a Variant chassis with a fiberglass body but
had a bigger 1700cc engine.

The SP2 was produced from 1972 - 1976 and
just over 10,000 were made. Only 670 were
exported, mostly to Nigeria and only one to
Europe (Portugal). 

The 2 seater SP2 had an estimated top speed
of 100MPH, due to the 1700cc engine which
produced 75HP and the 4 speed gearbox. The
SP2 drew plenty of attention when first released
with it's impressive interior, styling and superb
finish, and it's easy to see why.

This 1976 model was found by Just Kampers
in Brazil, and is an amazing example of a very
sought after car, which is now up for sale for
£32,950 ( $44,200 approx)

The Managing Director of Just Kampers was
on holiday with his wife in the U.S, when he saw
this 'Lil Bugger' back in 2014. It has a 1600cc
twin port engine and was originally intended to
be a complete motor home based on a beetle.

Inside it is deceptively large with enough room
to stand up (about 6' tall) and would make an
ideal catering vehicle or food truck, or could be
turned back into a motor home. It has stable 
doors on both sides, ideal for serving food or
 taking payment. The polished aluminium body 
looks fantastic and certainly stands out.

These 'Lil Buggers' are very rare, especially in
Europe and this was for sale for offers over
 £15,000 ($21,200 approx) Now if only I had
that sort of spare cash I would buy it this in a
 heat beat.

This stunning jet black Porsche 914 was just
like new, it was totally immaculate. I'm not
sure what year this one was, but they produced
the 914 from 1969 - 1976 and I think you'll be
hard pushed to find a cleaner one.

The gorgeous black paint had a mirror finish
over the perfectly straight body. There are some
people that are not keen on the 2 seater targa
top body style, but personally I love it.

This lovely early grey 1950's split oval window
beetle looked pretty much original. In 1952 the
split rear window evolved into an oval window
and the beetles produced between '52 & '53
were know as the Zwitter.

The interior also looked in original condition
and complete. I did like the clip-on glass
wind deflector (?)

All bay window buses, but different years and
different styles. It's vary rare to see two the
same, every bus is different in some way.

Thomas is one of my Facebook friends and
he attended the open day for the whole week-
end in his surf themed 1973 white over orange
late bay.

I do like this bus with all it's surf themed stickers
and accessories. I also liked the matching 
thermal screens with the VW logo. It was a 
shame I didn't bump into Thomas, but there 
were a lot of people all walking around.

Looking across in a very small part of the
camping area. This weekend was a chilled out
affair with a vast array of both air cooled and
water cooled Volkswagen's.

A nice looking pair of early bay's parked up 
with the weekend awning all set up.

This bright lime green 1969 bay looked a bit
futuristic with it's silver thermal internal window
covers and the smoothed out bodywork. The
re-worked front air intake and the micro front
side lights made this bay stand out.

The lack of any Volkswagen badges, the clear
rear light lenses and the louvres in the engine
hatch made this bay look completely unique.

I spotted this lovely 1970 sky blue beetle
 parked up in the camping area and it looked
really clean and solid.  

I did like the BRM wheels and the choice of
tyres that help to fill the arches. This really 
was a clean straight bug.

This T4 finished in a super bright yellow caught
my eye. The black bonnet bra, windows and
pop top canvas helped to break up the yellow
paint just enough. The choice of aftermarket
polished wheels also helped this bus stand out.

The other thing to help this bus to stand out
was the 'half a bug' trailer. This neat creation
looked really cool, and the 'Herbie' decals
looked just right.

So that was part 1 of my blog review of the Just
Kampers open day 2016. Come back next 
Saturday for the 2nd instalment where you will
be able to see plenty more cool air cooled rides
of all descriptions.