I arranged to meet up with owner, Bruce Hutchison, at the Scottish Bus Museum in Fife. Formerly a Naval storage facility, the original buildings and classic vehicles made for a suitable backdrop to the photoshoot. On seeing the van in the flesh, it didn't disappoint, and the standard of finish reflected the many hours of labour that had gone into this build.
Bruce Hutchison, an HGV driver covering Europe and the UK, definitely falls into the petrol head category. He has a long list of Fords in his history, including a MK1, AVO, 1600 BDA engined Escort, which will send any Escort lovers reading this into paroxysms of delight! With the whole Ford thing out of his system, he wisely moved across to VWs.
Bruce is now a familiar figure on the VW car scene, having owned at least twelve MK2 Golf GTIs, as well as other models. After more than twenty years in the Golf world, as a serial award winner and owner of several magazine featured Golfs, he decided it was time to move on to a van project, a T5 project to be precise.
The search for a suitable Transporter began and ultimately led him to Salop Vans in Shrewsbury. “There were so many vans to choose from. All in different colours with different specs. Ultimately, I chose this 63-plate crew van (Kombi) in mint condition.” Bruce bought a Bebb quick release rock & roll bed, which Salop fitted for him. The van already featured Captains seats, a Sportline front end and fog lights, rear door spoilers and sidebars. With its pristine white paintwork, many people would have been more than happy with the van as it was but for Bruce, it was just a starting point. He envisaged no less than a complete makeover to create something that would not only turn heads at the showgrounds but serve as a practical camper for his family.
Denne historien er fra Issue 95-utgaven av VW Bus T4&5+.
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Denne historien er fra Issue 95-utgaven av VW Bus T4&5+.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
The Evolution of Van
To mark 100 issues of VWBus, David takes a look back at how updating the humble ‘Box on Wheels’ has gone from concept to reality
Wild Times
Perhaps a sign of the wild times we’re in and a telling sign of how fast we’re adapting to the ‘new normal’. I decide to take a U-turn and zoom out on how things looked as that ‘new normal’ was taking hold, along with how that’s effecting our little sector
Story's Story
With The Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Sweden under our belts and barely two weeks on the road, we were heading to the ultimate van life destination; Norway…
Karmann-Go
When you own ‘The fastest motorhome in the world’,getting to the campsite on time shouldn’t be a problem
Gran Tourettesmo
This is a very cool and interesting project, but the question is,is this the ultimate eBay build?
CBBA
If there was such a thing as Cool Bus Builders Anonymous, then each meet in Leicestershire would start with the words. “Hello, my name’s Andy Stretton and I can’t stop building seriously cool buses.”
Honey I Shrunk My Bus
When Grant Gwyn walked into a VW dealership to buy a Viper green Caddy, little did he know his future was about to be very orange...
Milk Float Influence
Nicknamed Ernie, we discover this custom-created T5 pickup won’t be doing the early morning milk round any time soon
Impossible Solved
A while back we brought you a basic sketch of a proposed project, it was both wild and eminently practical. Well it’s finished now and already in service as a daily driver for a very special lad
An Alpine Summer
In the concluding instalment we pick up Richard and Jackie Pickles’ story of their eight-country Alpine summer adventure on the shore of Lake Como in Italy