Saturday 7 April 2018

CamperMart Show 2018

This weeks blog review is all about the 7th annual CamperMart VW show which is held at the International Centre, in Telford in Shropshire. This one day event was held on 14th January 2018 and, which is I think one of the first VW shows of the year. The show is organised by Camper & Commercial and VW Bus T4/5 magazine who also organise the Camper Jam show. Camper Mart is not a VW show as such but more a place to buy parts and accessories for your Volkswagen. With almost 100 traders selling every conceivable part and accessory your bound to find that part or accessory you're going to need for the 2018 season. There are also other attractions including, a couple of bus doctors, who with their many years experience can help with advice on tuning or modifications and whilst they may not be able to fix your vehicle there and then they can certainly give advise on the likely causes of a particular problem. There was entertainment laid on which included: A body and face painting, professor panic and his family circus workshop, BMX tricks display and even a robot building workshop!. CamperMart is about 117 miles from my hometown so to make life easier (and quicker) I decided to take my T4 Transporter rather than the '69 microbus. As I mentioned earlier, this isn't a show as such and consequently not that many vehicles to photograph, but I think I've just managed to take enough.!!
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.

This 1954 barndoor split screen bus was bought
by the Coca-Cola Co. in Austria in the August of
1954 and was used to deliver coca-cola bottles
to retailers.

Sometime in the 1960's the bus was sold on and
the coca cola logos were painted over in grey. The
bus was used for some time for gymnasts to get
to and from events, and then sold on again this
time to a garage who used it to move parts. 

The interior is pretty much as it would have been,
with the exception of the bed.

At the end of it's life the bus was sent to the
scrap yard, where it sat for around 20 years
before being rescued in 2002. The grey paint was
removed to reveal the bright red and yellow coca
cola paint. This is believed to the only remaining
coca cola barn door in existence.

This lovely clean 1968 microbus was in the 'For
Sale' area and I thought it looked gorgeous. It's a
Californian import and has had a new coat of dove
blue ( I think) paint.

The stock look of this lovely bus was the thing that
drew my attention, from the ride height to the stock
wheels with OG hubcaps.

The interior of the microbus was also very original,
and finished to a very high standard and looked
amazing.

CamperMart is about a 50/50 mix of air cooled
and water cooled vehicles, and this amazingly

low T4 caught my eye.. this must have had some
air ride suspension to sit this low..?

Another low vehicle was this T25 Doka. I didn't
find out much about this awesome looking truck,
but suffice to say, it did look so cool.

This super bright lime green high top split screen
took centre stage in the main hall. I didn't find out
anything about this awesome looking van, but
suffice to say although it wasn't finished it did
have so much that was already completed.

That amazing colour paint looked to be complete
and adorned every panel on the van. The seats
also looked to be finished in quilted vinyl / cloth.

Like I said, I couldn't find out much about this van
so I have no idea about the side opening panel.?

The very detailed and painted motor was in the
van and the sound deadening felt is being applied.
This van has so much potential, and I can't wait
to see it at a show somewhere soon.

This 1989 T25 panel van looked great with its
custom paint job from graffiti artist Luke. This van
has been wax oiled from new and has never had
any welding done. This daily driver has the 1.9D
engine, which although it's slow, it will always get
you to where you are going... eventually! 

The gorgeous 1967 SO42 Westfalia caught my
eye as it's the same colour as my '69 microbus
 but that is where the similarity stopped. I did like
the narrow front beam with the chrome Empi 5
spoke wheels.

The Westfalia interior of the cab had been fully
restored to a very high standard.

The same applied to the rear of the bus that had
a complete and original interior.

The bus was imported from Utah back in 2010
and the stock (ish) engine is mated to a 'freeway
flyer gearbox' which I assume has higher ratios
for higher speed cruising? 

This bus has been lowered and has a Creative
Engineering' steering rack with CSP disc brakes.

This 1991 bright orange Type 3 Syncro was
easily in my top 3 of vehicles at the show. I really
love the syncro and this one was the ultra rare
16" version. Most syncro's had 14" wheels but
around 2000 were built with the 16" wheels as
well as other upgrades.

The 16" syncro came with longer rear trailling
arms with upgraded brakes all round. They also
had bigger rear drive shafts, a lower final drive
ratios and rear diff lock as standard. This bus
really could go anywhere!

This stunning 1970 early bay was imported from
Maryland, U.S.A. where it has undergone many
modifications including being lowered by a huge
12" and with air ride suspension on the front. 

The perfectly straight body was painted in a lovely
 coat of Reseda green and white. Eagle eyed
readers will have noticed the colour coded trailer
hitch which is coupled to...

... a matching 1960 Condor caravan. This really
was a lovely retro caravan that was finished to
the same high standard as the early bay.

Those lovely shaped windows and the roof lights
really do add some style.

This slammed 1969 early bay looked as though
it was sat on the ground!. I noticed the front had
some alloy wheel tubs fitted to allow the front
wheels to sit higher into the cab, and I assume
the rear had a similar set up.

The famous Mooneyes logo looked to be hand
painted and looked great.

You can see just how low this gorgeous bus sat
in this photo. I did like those faded retro stripes
down the sides.

This lovely cream split screen really was perfectly
straight and so clean. I think this bus belongs to
a company offering a camper van for weddings,
which will be why, it is immaculate.

This really is a pretty looking bus. The choice of
wheels was a good choice. I have the same, or
they are very similar to my Porsche 356 rims.

This awesome looking 1997 T4 swamper was
just how I'd like my T4 to look. (one day!) The
lovely high stance with those 16" caravelle rims
with the chunky MT tyres give this bus the go-
anywhere look.

The bull bar, the twin roof racks, and the bat boy
bonnet all added to this buses fantastic look.

I spotted this 1968 savanna beige early bay, and
made a bee line straight over to it. The reason
being that awesome awning, which the owner
told me was an original Westfalia item..?

I have been thinking about making something
similar for my microbus. I've never seen one of
these before but was quite impressed with the
overall design and look.

The '68 Westfalia bay had these lovely banded
steel wheels, and the shiny domed hubcap gave
off a lovely reflection of a '66 splitty. (below)

This immaculate 1966 11 window split screen bus
was so nice. The two tone grey and white paint
was a subtle mix of colours which looked great
together.

The 'Mooneye Speedmaster' wheels looked good
against the body colours. This immaculate bus
is the result of a restoration that took place as the
bus had sat in a desert of around 40 years.

So that was the Campermart VW show for 2018.
Like I mentioned, it isn't the biggest show of the
season, but after a long cold winter it's nice to
get out and see some lovely buses, as well as
grabbing some pre season bargains from the
traders at the show. Next weeks blog review is
all about Dubfreeze VW show so be sure to come
back next Saturday.

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