Trading Up

Justin Williams got his first van twelve years ago, an 06 plate T5 kombi which he had converted to a Caravel le interior

- Matt Bridge-Wilkinson

He only owned it for six months before a work colleague twisted his arm into selling it, albeit at a reasonable profit. That was the start of a long line of trading up, seven other vans followed, all of which were upgraded and then later sold on.

So it went for eleven more years. “Do you regret selling any of the previous vans?” I asked Justin. “Not at all, look at what I have now!” and yes looking at this beauty I can absolutely see why he has no regrets. As we sat chatting, admiring the stunning views across the sea at Tenby, his van literally shone like the sun.

“So how did this gorgeous van come to be?” Justin saw an ad on a popular car website for a chrome yellow van and instantly fell in love with the colour. It was a big purchase, but he did the sums, deliberated and decided to go for it. Sadly, it wasn’t meant to be and this vehicle slipped through his fingers, much to his disappointment. “From that point on it had to be a chrome yellow bus.” Justin told me with conviction, and I had no difficulty understanding why, it is a stunning colour. Chrome yellow is still relatively rare, so it was sometime later before another one came up for sale. This time it was located in Hull, which couldn’t be considered local to his home in West Wales. It was a low mileage; ex-demo and Justin spoke to the dealer over a number of days to make this one his. Finally, the deal was done, the van was shipped to Wales, before he had even seen it in person. He wasn’t disappointed.