Red Hot And Blue

When Chris Tuckwell bought his Night Blue bus, getting it converted was a bit of a mission, mostly due to two doors and a fridge

- Anne Rogers

The van itself was spot on – a factory spec Kombi Highline twin slider, it was, in fact, the colour that hooked Chris when he saw it at his local VW Commercial dealer. Just ten months old, it had 10,000 miles on the clock and that deep rich Night blue paintwork was in immaculate condition. As he’d specifically wanted something that wasn’t black, white or red, his first thought of the Kombi was “great colour!”

At the time, Chris was looking to upgrade his 05 plate T5, which had been his entry van, bought in 2012 after coveting one for a long time. Camping is in his blood, his parents had a motorhome, which would be loaded with bikes and kayaks, plus everything including the kitchen sink when the family would set off for the mountains on holiday. Chris loved it. From his early 20s he was eyeing up T4s with camper conversions and thinking ‘one day’… So, the ’05 van was taken in part exchange, and the deal was done on the Kombi. A van that was destined to become a quality conversion, using top parts and suppliers.

Apart from the twin sliders and cab carpets, the van was totally standard, rolling on 16” steels and with the 1.9 litre engine putting out 140 bhp. A perfect blank canvas for conversion. One of Chris’ ideas for the van was to put in a Slidepod tailgate kitchen, but in the end, he decided it wasn’t the route for him. However, in talking with Jonny at Slidepods, he discovered that they did lots of other things including roofs and electrics. So, Chris sent the van to them for phase one of the conversion and Slidepods installed an SCA 194 roof, full leisure electrics, sound deadening, lining, flooring, and the swivels for the cab seats.