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| I first saw this stunning 1958 Swiss army radio communication bus, that has now been converted into a top quality camper, at the 'Run the Ring' VW charity cruise back in September last year. I took some photos of it then but was pleased to see it again at the RTR movie night so i could get some more photos as this really is a gorgeous bus. It belongs to James and his partner Andrea who I met for the first time at this event and they were both so friendly and just loved talking about the old '58 who they have named 'The Duke' |
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| That gorgeous shiny Ducati Red paint is the result of a bare metal respray some 4 years ago, but it is that good it could have been painted last week. At the same time the Duke had a new 1776cc engine (built by Luke of Terry's Beetles, who own the Porsche engined original Herbie in last weeks blog review) the bus also has an electronic ignition, external oil filter, with a deep sump and fitted with twin Webber 45 IDF's carburetors. |
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| To handle the larger engine the Duke needs to be able to stop so he has been fitted with Porsche 944 disc brakes at each corner. James recently overhauled the brakes which included new pads, discs, seals and rear brake lines. Just look at that reflection on the back of the Duke. |
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| The Duke is rolling on replica gas burner wheels and new shocks and has an IRS. The Duke still has the original working semaphore direction indicators. James has a few plans for the bus which include safari screens and adjustable spring plates to lower the rear end a little to match the height of the front and maybe some new wheels in the near future. I do like the reflection of David's blue and white split screen (who was parked 3 rows back) in the side panel. |
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| The interior has a bespoke camping interior with a rock and roll bed, plenty of cupboard storage, and a childs ISO point behind the drivers seat. (from this photo it looks a bit messy inside but James and Andrea were both busy cleaning the outside of the Duke as I was taking these photos!) |
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| Not a very good photo of the Duke's cab, but I can tell you he has a full width leather bench seat with a 4 point childs harness as Jame's son rides shotgun when he goes out in the bus. The Duke still has some of its original features from it army service days that include, internal signage, grenade bars, map table and map pocket. |
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| A close up of the Duke's flawless red paint that looks as fresh today as it did when it was painted 4 years ago. |
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| You can see on the corner panels just how nice and shiny the bright red paint is on the Duke. This cool photo shows the contrast between the bright red and the deep blue paint of the T5. |
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| A close up of the Duke's door decals. If you attend any Volkswagen show's this season and see the Duke, I strongly recommend you go take a long close look, as you won't be disappointed. |
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| This is how the Duke looked before it's amazing transformation into the show winning standard bus it is today. The old adage about the ugly ducklings turning into beautiful swans comes to mind ! |
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| Mid afternoon in the huge warehouse that John acquired for the movie night. It does look from this photo that the place looks half empty, but this was a BIG warehouse! Everyone was very chilled and relaxed either cleaning their ride or just sitting around chatting. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised how friendly all the 'ringers' were, it was just like one big family. |
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| This gorgeous 1963 split screen looked fantastic in the winter sunshine. The white over sealing wax red ( I think) paint with the white painted steel wheels helped to make this lovely bus stand out. |
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| This lovely old split belongs to Fiona who has had the bus for 4 years and uses it everyday as her daily driver, which for comfort is why the bus still rides at the standard height and hasn't as yet been lowered. |
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| Fiona has christened her bus 'Yucky Doo Dah' and despite the name, Fiona insists the bus is male, it's just that (in her words) " he's just in touch with his feminine side". |
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| This handsome bus originally came over the pond from Oregon, U.S.A. and has a 1914cc all steel turbo engine, although the turbo isn't fitted as yet as the bus still has the original drum brakes! Fiona quite happily cruises at 60 MPH in her bus but admitted that once whilst she was engrossed in some dance music on the radio she let the bus creep up to 75 MPH. |
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| Inside 'Yucky Doo Dah' there is a new soild oak interior and all the upholstry has been retrimmed by Bromsgrove Auto Trimmers so you just know it's going to be well done. This really is a nice solid and straight bus that Fiona loves to the point that no-one else is allowed to drive it, ever! |
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| My names sake Davyd Clark, came along to the movie night in his 1991 twin slider T25. This awesome bus sits this low thanks to a having a Rayvern hydraulic suspension set up, although Davyd still wants the bus to sit lower! |
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| The power comes from a 2.5l Subaru motor so you know it's not going to hang around. The bus was painted about a year ago in that lovely grey colour for use at Davyd's brothers wedding who used it as a wedding car.. at least he got to the church in style and on time.! Davyd has a few trips over to Europe planned for this year including Le Bug Show and of course taking part in the RTR 2 charity cruise around the M25. |
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| Davyd is a member of the Wolfsburg Bus Crew club on facebook and proudly displays his gold coloured sticker in the window. |
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| I did publish a photo of this lovely green and white single cab in part 1 of this review, but as it's such a nice bus here is another photo. This gorgeous bus is owned by Simon Carey who not only owns this gorgeous split but also the building the event was held in, and owns the catering company that provided all the mouth watering food available to the the RTR 'ringers'. |
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| Looking down one of the rows of Volkswagens parked up at the RTR at the movies. I think there must have been about 60 / 70 vehicles inside the warehouse and more parked up outside. |
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| The life size decals of Vincent and Jules from the cult movie 'Pulp Fiction' on the back of this super bright white T4 caught my eye as it's one of my favourite films. |
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| A better look at this bus. This really was a lovely clean bus and those custom wheels with just a hint of colour helped to make this bus stand out. |
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| This super straight 1972 Devon (?) looked great with it's white over jet black paint. The sides of this lovely bus were perfectly straight as you can see from the almost perfect reflections. The custom chrome nerf bars at the front looked trick. |
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| The chrome bumper, tinted windows and after- market wheels all helped to make this old bus stand out. |
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| Meet 'Ruby' a 1971 high top white over red bay window. This lovely old bus looked pretty much standard apart from the chrome headlight peaks and the twin spot lights. |
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| This was a very nice clean bus and these high top buses are getting quite sought after as they provide so much more room than tin tops buses. I do like to see a bay riding at stock height. The owners have come prepared with their blow up sofa to watch the movie on in comfort ! |
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| The venue for the drive-in movie night was only about 1 mile from Heathrow Airport and directly in line with the take off flight path. Surprisingly the aircraft noise wasn't a problem, and the bonus was that we got to see some low flying aircraft as they took off for their destination. |
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| This is the huge empty warehouse that Simon owns, and who allowed John to use it for the RTR movie night. It was just perfect for the job. |
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| I pleased to see this lovely white over blue Westfalia Continental arrive at the venue as it meant I would finally get to meet one of my Volkswagen facebook friends. This bus which although is a '72 was actually registered in '74 and belongs to a pleasant guy called Rich Coxhill who runs the Wolfsburg Bus Crew Facebook page. You can check out the WBC Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/684035321730942/ (you may need to copy and paste the link) |
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| This lovely bus has only had 2 owners since new and has only done 62,000 miles on the original 1600cc engine. The bus still has the complete original Continental interior with a few modern twists that Rich has added. The very distinctive spare wheel cover was a present from Rich's mum who crocheted the item after seeing photos of hot rods in Singapore. (apparently the trend out there is to crochet covers for the bumpers of their hot rods!) |
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| Rich has christened his bus 'Margo' who sits at stock height, which in my humble opinion always looks best. Rich makes regular trips to Devon in Margo so she's reliable too. |
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| The official Wolfsburg Bus Crew sticker in the rear side window of Margo. Why not check out their Facebook page and maybe join the club.? So that was the 2nd part of this review all about the RTR at the movies. Next Saturday you can see the third and final instalment where you can see a gorgeous Brazilian split screen as well as many other VW's, a pimped up Scania truck and a hollywood star! So be sure to come back next week. Finally a big thanks to Rich Coxhill from the Wolfsburg Bus Crew for his help and contributions in this review. |
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