Green For Go

When a customer tells a VW restoration firm they can do whatever they want/need to a Bus, it’s music to their ears. Johnson Autoworks didn’t need telling twice.

- James Peene

It must be a horrible job restoring old VWs for other people. I mean, come on, think about it for a minute. If you do anything long enough, and rely on it to pay the bills, people’s wages and put your kid’s through school, it will be become a means to an end. Not only that, you have deal with dodgy parts, things not turning up when you need them and the odd (literally and figuratively) customer. You also don’t get to build what you want, but what the customer wants and can afford.

That being said, I know full-well that the chaps at Wymeswold’s finest VW specialists, Johnson Autoworks (www.johnsonautoworks.com) wouldn’t have it any other way. They might have a little moan from time to time about the state of some of the vehicles they have to bring back to life, but to a man, they love what they do, especially when a customer gives them the green light to do whatever it takes to create the Bus of their dreams.

Okay, so an L63H Taiga Green ’78 Westy might not be your dream machine, but when it looks as good as this, both in the flesh and underneath, it certainly could be.

Can of worms

We caught up with Steve Johnson and his right-hand man and all-round good egg, Simon Sparrow to get the low down on this incredibly green goddess, and Simon revealed: “It actually came in as just a quick turn around job for a customer, but ended up being a major job.

“The customer had owned it for quite a while and it didn’t look bad, considering it had actually come in from Germany, rather than being one of your regular US-import Buses.

Simon says