The Long Haul

When the call of the festival is always taunting you, there’s no better vehicle to hit the fi eld of your dreams in than an LWB T5.1

- Danielle Bagnall

Bigger is better is what they always say, right? Well, we certainly think so here at VWt. Our feature Van owners take what is already a big Van and then go and make ’em ‘bigger’ – not in a literal sense, of course, but in a feature sense. And our next offering from husband and wife duo, Mark and Deb, is no different. The couple’s long wheelbase (LWB) T5.1 T30 diesel has been completely overhauled by the wonderful blokes at T4 Transformations in Wakefield. Nope, that’s not a typo, we know it says T4, but the company work with T5 and T6s too – let’s not get confused here.

Mark, 49, from Doncaster, and his wife Debbie (44) were already familiar with the Van life, as Mark runs a fleet of Mercedes Sprinters for his double glazing company. His car and Van history is none too shabby either. Mark used to own an Audi RS6 and now has a Range Rover Sport. However, Van life was calling the pair of them. They wanted one to travel in and use for going to concerts, and came across this one in March 2015 through a private sale. Mark: “We became interested in the Volkswagen scene over the last few years, after visiting some VW shows and talking to people who were already involved. It sounded like a lot of fun, with some truly great people.” Having a Van gave the pair the freedom to go wherever they wanted, whenever they wanted, and with the hounds onboard, too. “Being able to set up camp and enjoy a cuppa or a tipple, should the mood take us, is great. We can just let all the other cars drive off after a gig at Dalby Forest, which always takes ages, while we carry on with the party. It still makes us giggle when we get a wave or nod from a fellow VW driver as well.”

Wreck to riches