98 SITTING ON THE DOCK OF THE BAYwww.volkswagencamper.co.uk
Dock of the Bay...
Sitting on theam writing this as
I recover from my
first bus trip of 2019.
Following a winter in
the doldrums, I kick started myself
with some tiresome bodywork
issues on my own bus and for once
comfortably finished the work in
time to pack off to the Volksworld
show. I happy to say that my time
planning had worked and I could set
off feeling ready and rested!
The opening event of the year is
always exciting as new buses break
cover for the first time and seasoned
owners bring out old favourites for
another season of fun. The weekend
started with an early surprise as a
broken down Westfalia tin top bus
was unceremoniously pushed into
the car park having stopped dead
at the car park entry point. I was
later chatting to the owner who
said he’d been advised that it was a
‘quite an early model’. On our return
to the car park, after a welcome
few drinks in Esher, I couldn’t help
resist having a poke about and was
amazed to find it had been made on
August 18th 1967, the 8630th bay
window ever made. This makes it,
as far as I’m aware, the oldest bay
window on the road in the UK at
the moment, as the previous bus in
the UK that had been built on this
day has now been sold abroad. Tom,
the owner, who also runs http://www.
geekshackltd.co.uk/ was typically
laid back about the whole business.
He drives the bus to work every day,
and it’s fair to say doesn’t cosset the
bus. It’s a side ownership while he
ploughs his efforts into a big split
screen project – heresy, some might
say, but refreshing in many ways to
see a bus in use like this.
Within the show itself, Mark
Prosser from Auto-Techniks, was
displaying another of his trademark
styled early bay windowed buses.
Low, patina’d, and sign written are
the obvious visible hallmarks of his
builds but the real action is in the rear
where there sits a monster engine
that will no doubt be proving itself
on the dragstrips and burn out areasin the season ahead. The attention
to detail is wonderful as well, with
full deluxe trims in place, highly
buffed original paint and the polished
Erco race wheels tucked away in the
spotlessly clean wheel arches.
Early Bay buses were well
represented as ever with a quality
line up in the club area and many
fine examples scattered around the
show car parks. From a personal
perspective, being back camping inWORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHS; MIKE CLEMENTS.Mike Clements is
a long term Bay
window owner,
http://www.earlybay.
com administrator,
and DIY mechanic.
“I love setting off
in our ’68 Westy
Campmobile for
weekends away
or on European
road trips... as
long as my wife
has packed the
kitchen sink.”I
my bus, waking up freezing cold but
enjoying the bright sunny weather
as the day came alive and being
among likeminded folk, I found it
was just the tonic I needed after
the winter break. I drove home
on Sunday evening and started to
think about all the next small jobs
or improvements I had to undertake
and get done before the next trip
out – and that made me rather
happy. 2019 is open for business.A New Season Dawns
Above right
Low, patina’d, and
sign written are
the obvious visible
hallmarks of Mark
Prosser’s builds
Below right
The oldest bay
window on the road
in the UK at the
moment? Built on
August 18th 1967