38 1988 T3 SYNCRO PANEL VANwww.volkswagencamper.co.uk
1988 T3 SYNCRO PANEL VANndeterred, Phil
Andrews drove the
panel-van to a nearby
petrol station to stand
half a chance of seeing what he was
buying. On the floodlit forecourt, he
saw immediately how good it was.
“My son Kelly, a qualified mechanic,
could not find a single fault to help
me with grounds for negotiating
the price down. It was simply an
unbelievable, once in a lifetime
find. And it just had to be bought.
As soon as we got it home, and into
the daylight, I realised just what
amazing condition it was in”.
The original owner had fitted a
tow-bar and used the Volkswagen
exclusively to tow his caravan on his
holidays! It was never actually putto work as a panel van. Apparently,
he had a joinery business and owned
an industrial estate in Droitwich.
The syncro was kept in one of his
units along with two other vehicles
that were in the same totally mint
condition. When he died, his wife
asked her nephew to look after it
along with the others. He wasn’t
really interested and only ever
drove it around the industrial estate
and took it for MOT. When the
owner’s wife later died, the nephew
inherited everything. He was into
classic mini’s but not VW’s, so he put
it up for sale on e-Bay.
“I had wanted a 4 wheel drive
camper in which to drive from
London to Cape Town, but I
didn’t want anything other thanU
“I spotted this on eBay and arranged a
viewing, irritatingly I was delayed by traffic,
so only managed to see it late in
the evening...”
WORDS: DAVE RICHARDS, PHOTOGRAPHS; ANDREW THOMPSONThe seats are
as you’d find in a
three year old car,
and look at those
rubber mats!
The ground
clearance is the
proper factory
specified ride
height.
An amazingly
clean, original T3
syncro which has
never been used in
anger.Never, normally,
buy a Volkswagen
in the dark!