Twin slidersheadroom and 53” entry head
room. Under the lowered floor is
an access lift with both wireless
and wired remote controls.
Installing this involved extensive
work under the van, including
the removal, redesign, and re-
installation of the fuel tank and
re-design of the HKS Powerflow
exhaust system. The latter
sports an extra nod back to Lee’s
souped up Japanese car past,
with its HUGE tail pipe, which
in itself required some adapting
of the rear bumper! Side skirts
were fitted to the van, and the lift
colour coded, so that from side
on, if you didn’t know what you
were looking for, you wouldn’t
even realise the lift was there.
Both front seats are fitted on
quick release systems so can be
removed or repositioned in the
van. It can carry more than one
wheelchair, and can take Lee as arear passenger if needed thanks to
a rail system which goes through
to the back. Not, says Lee, that
he would let anyone else drive
it! Lee’s chair is secured to the
van with an automatic lock down
system with a release button on
the dash. Other wheelchairs are
secured with manual lock down
straps. The bed at the back was
an important element as Lee
has plans to camp in the van, so
all the adaptations had to work
around it. Including the air ride...
In terms of the actual driving,
the van is fitted with push pull
hand controls for acceleration and
braking. There’s a Tetra hand
grip for steering and it has push
button start. The van has been
re-mapped by Revo to 300bhp
and although it’s petrol and
presumably fairly thirsty, Lee says
he doesn’t care about the MPG- he just fills it up when it needs
What did the van
start as? T
Caravelle 204 TSI
Colour? Iridium Grey
LWB/SWB SWB
BHP? Was 204 now
300bhp
Wheels type and
size? Rotiform FUC
Chrome and Black
20”
Tyres?
235/35/20 Front
245/35/20 Rear
Lowered? Yes, on air
Why is it special to
you? I’ve already
done more miles than
I did in all the years
I had a Motability
car. It’s given me a
new lease of life ...
I can just pop out
whenever I want; the
freedom it’s given me
is truly life changingBus details it and gets back on the road!
For the air ride (yay we got
there!), the van went to Plush
Automotive who custom built
the Accuair system into the
boot and fitted the E-level
management system, CT tank,
VX manifold, and ABP front
and rear struts. The install
looks great in the back, with that
pipework a particularly cool
design element! Unfortunately,
the compressor inside the CT
tank proved the most frustrating
element of the build, failing
twice. Plush were very helpful
in sorting it all out though
and Lee says they’re highly
recommended. As well as the
air ride, Plush also fitted the
Rotiform wheels, which Lee
loves and had ordered well
before the bus was actually
ready for them! The original
17” VW Alloys have beenPlush install"one of the coolest buses out there, period"
Bus feature