Danbury Delight

Whilst still retaining many original features, this Danbury camper also successfully blends in a host of subtle custom touches and modifications

- DAVID ECCLES

Steve Morris bought the bus way back in 2002. He had grown up in a VW family (he still owns his dad’s Beetle) and remembers his first VW show was VW Action back in 1981! Having just spent a week using his sister’s Late Bay camper for a holiday he was hooked on the idea of a bus, so when he spotted this for sale on Volkszone he jumped at the chance. Built-in late 1970, the Neptune Blue tin-top Kombi had been converted by Danbury and it had been factory fitted with belly pans, meaning it had the potential to have an elevating roof. Steve recalls, “the body was pretty good if a little battered and weathered and it appeared that no major restoration work had ever been carried out. The tired 1641cc twin port consumed lots of oil and whilst the interior was still the original, the woodwork was starting to split open and the seat cushions were mismatched and the headlining had a couple of rips. It had also been lowered (badly it would later appear) and fitted with some BRM alloys. It was ideal for me!”

For the next thirteen years Steve enjoyed the camper and basically only did what was needed to keep it running but in 2015 he took it off the road and set about a full restoration, with the aim of keeping as many original features as possible but with upgrades to make it safer on today’s roads plus a few personal styling touches.

As well as having been around (and owned) VWs most of his life Steve is also a skilled bodyworker and painter by trade, as well as a bit of an auto electrics wizard, and has been working as a part of the team at Johnson Autoworks since 2012 – an ideal situation to be in when setting about a full on resto!