Stories
The Tale of the Yellow Tinny
The story of the renovation of my 1972 bay window camper…
I bought the camper in August 2005, I had long been looking for a “tin top” camper and as this was at the bargain price of £700 (or so I thought), I bought it.
The next thing on the agenda was to surf the web and talk to people who had experience with the renovation of classic Volkswagens. It wasn’t long before the name Accrington Beetles and Campers was the forefront of most people’s conversations, with this information I picked up the phone and had quite a long conversation with Dave the owner of the establishment about what I needed, he was very knowledgeable and I was instantly filled with confidence that this was the man for the job. Our discussion then turned to when it could be fitted in to do the work required, a time was agreed to take down the camper and it was given the once over by Dave. It was soon abundantly clear that the work was not just superficial as I thought but quite a serious restoration job. My only regret was not to have known Dave before I bought the van, as I never had his experience to properly check what I had thought was a good solid base.
After the first visit to Dave’s he gave me a estimate on what things would roughly cost, what was needed and a guide to how long the job would take. Over the next eight months Dave carried out all the necessary work that had to be done and kept a detailed photographic document of all the works done, most Saturdays I would go down and Dave would talk me through what work had been done. The vans bodywork has been virtually been re-built, a brand-new engine fitted and a full re-spray inside and out. I have had the camper back now for two months, and like all things new there are teething troubles, but when I ring Dave to ask, or enquire about anything he always has the time to answer my questions or solve the problems. I can thoroughly recommend Accrington Beetles and Campers to anyone whether it is for a service or a major restoration like mine.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the people involved with this restoration!
Rhubarb and Custard
The Rhubarb and Custard van aka. Ruby has passed from a former customer of ours to a present one. Rolling off the line in Wolfsburg as a panel van in 1967, it was converted to a family camper in the early 70s with bay-style windows and a pop top, before reverting to a panel van in the early 90s and undergoing an extensive restoration and camper conversion in 1996. Nearly 20 years on, and Ruby is ready for more work, with Accrington Beetles and Campers being heavily involved in a planned engine rebuild at the beginning of 2015. You can keep up to date with Ruby’s travels at Campervantures.
