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October ’67 Pop-top Westy (LHD) - £12,750 - price lowered!

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kabre

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After a short but glorious spell as the custodian of this excellent van it is reluctantly up for sale. I now only have one useable garage space, and unfortunately, it is the van that is going to have to make room!

Before I bought the van it was a pretty well known on the VW scene featuring in many VW articles as the previous owner documented various improvements he made. Since I bought it, it has only been used for family holidays and has been pretty much absent from the VW scene. For the last couple of years it has been maintained and further improved by Tim at Roadhouse Retro with absolutely no expense spared!

The van was originally imported from California by Matt Keene (many of you may know of him from: the EB forum; as the Truro based VW specialist who originally built Jamie Oliver’s splitty; and as a member of the OFFDRC), it was his own camper until I bought it from him a couple of years ago. It has a VW birth certificate that confirms it is an October 1967 Westy, making it one of the earliest bays in the UK. Since arriving in the UK it has had much love and hard cash lavished on it.

The van was a rust-free import and has not been welded. The only bits of rust that I have found are in the battery tray (as ever!) and there are some rust marks on the floor of the passenger foot well, though the steel is still very solid so it has just been covered in waxoil – which helps keep the floor mat in place. There is also some slight blistering on the skin of the sliding door (not rust related), this was to have been a project this winter. The action of the sliding door is excellent. The van has always been garaged and not used in the winter.

Here are the highlights, much of it NOS, with some real hens teeth bits and bobs:

Narrowed front beam
Air shocks with front / rear adjustable ride height and dual pressure gauge
Porsche discs and callipers at the front, refurbished original brakes at the rear, stops very well!
Fuch alloys with Porsche centres (wheels could do with a good polish!)
Porsche space saver spare wheel
Custom built brand new turnkey 1776cc motor (done about 2k - Roadhouse Retro – 2009)
Reconditioned 1303S gearbox (replaced with engine – very respectable cruising speeds - Roadhouse Retro – 2009)
Clutch and gear linkages replaced with gearbox (Roadhouse Retro – 2009)
Refurbished VW heat exchangers really blast the heat out (replaced with engine - Roadhouse Retro – 2009)
Original Westy interior, floor and door cards . Door panels are a little tatty in places, but you just can’t beat the original look and feel!
Has had one respray(many years ago) in grey over the original Pearl white paint, has a few minor bumps and scratches - patina in spades!
Re-Ankorwaxed the whole of the underside over last winter (Roadhouse Retro – 2010)
Fire suppression kit in engine bay (Roadhouse Retro – 2009)
New Bosch battery
Lockable engine lid with separate key
All other doors and ignition use the same key
Working lit RPM, Oil Pressure and Temp gauges – all installed without drilling.
Empi shifter
Period Blaupunkt radio
Sony CD stereo - door speakers
Excellent pop-top roof: no leaks and reasonably new canvass with fly-screens and no rips or tears
Original louvre windows with built in fly screens – a couple of small tears in the fly screens, but not many still have these!
Original folding pop-top bunk bed
Original canvas front cabin bunk
Under-dash net parcel shelves
Lots of stickers, most by previous owner, though a few more added over the last couple of years.
Original Westy Orange awning with poles, ropes, bag, etc. I have erected this once before, it is in good condition for it’s age, but it is a bit musty so we have never used it.
Electric screen washer pump – with original screenwash pushbutton modified to work the electric pump (only mod done by me personally following excellent instruction in EB forums!)
Re-manufactured Westy tow-bar made by Dean(Gadget Boy). (fitted by Roadhouse Retro 2010)
Original Westy stool with leather fastener to secure to sink unit.
Original Westy front bay window curtain – it almost matches the other much more recent curtains!
Deluxe trim all round, including front and rear bumpers
Rear chrome window bars
Chrome front grill trims
Super cool front fogs with checked covers
Driver and passenger seat head rests
“Air Kraft” detailing on the front doors. Previous owner’s VW shop, but way too cool to remove!

Family safety improvements:
Inertia-reel 3-point front seat belts.
Inertia-reel 3-point rear seat belts on cupboard side of rock’n’roll bed. 5mm Steel brackets and mounting points were custom made and fitted inside the original Westy cupboards with very little cutting of the woodwork. The side mounting points on the van were also strengthened (see photos).
Inertia-reel 3-point rear seat belts on cupboard side of rock’n’roll bed. The top mounting point for this belt was raised using 5mm steel mounted to both side mounting points with additional strengthening (see photos).
All of the above seat-belt mods were done by Roadhouse Retro in 2010, largely based on ideas from the EB forum. All was custom built, so not cheap, but I would recommend anyone that ever takes their family out in their bus should consider giving Tim at Roadhouse Retro a call about having this done on their van!

I also have a Khyam Motordome Classic and the additional Khyam extension awning that I may consider including, but I am also happy to sell these items separately.

Located near Stamford.

Regards,
Karl

Home: 01780 752419
Mob: 07973 324404

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lovely bus, i love the trick belt mounts in the rear. :idea:
 
I have always loved this bus good luck with the sale
Pete - Many thanks for the kind words. The frustrating thing is that I know that if I ever have the room for another camper I'm unlikely to find one that would quite live up to this!

lovely bus, i love the trick belt mounts in the rear.
Gotta keep those kids safe!

I just love the way that Tim (Roadhouse Retro) was able to build them in without any major cutting or compromise to the furniture or any real reduction in the amount of camping stuff you can get in the cupboards. I got the ideas for it all on this forum but left it to Tim to figure out how best to do it in my van. I really do recommend that anyone carrying kids should consider having the same done to their van - more important than a fire system IMHO!
 
Lovely van dude.
N really like the rear belt ideas.
I need to do something like that in mine, only my side Cupboard sits just below the window line.where did u get the belt from for the cupboard side? I can't find them anywhere.

Free bump btw.:D
 
The belt came from Tim at Roadhouse Retro when he did the conversion. Give him a call, I'm sure he'll be happy to tell you where he sourced it from.

Regards,
Karl


dubbedup67 said:
Lovely van dude.
N really like the rear belt ideas.
I need to do something like that in mine, only my side Cupboard sits just below the window line.where did u get the belt from for the cupboard side? I can't find them anywhere.

Free bump btw.:D
 
What's the air shock set up on there?
How does it drive with the rear pumped up? Is it rock hard?
 
mr scoops said:
What's the air shock set up on there?
How does it drive with the rear pumped up? Is it rock hard?

Not sure where the air shocks came from, Matt Keane installed them before I bought it. It has a compressor and tank in the left side of the engine bay, and the front and rears are raised / lowered independently from switches and pressure gauges below the dash.

It is never rock hard even when fully pumped up, though I tend to drive it about half way up then change it when I arrive. Aside from being able to change the stance to look col, it's very useful to remove a bit of gradient when camping!
 
Could really do with selling this - price reduced!
 
I have to give this bus a bump. It has always been one of my favourite buses and I can't belive it hasn't sold.
The engine is amazing, the 1303s gearbox works well, it has so many cool rare parts and the stance is spot on.
I managed to drive the bus a few weeks ago and it was brilliant with the air ride, it can be slammed to the floor with all of the notching but can be raised to a nice comfortable height at the flick of a switch.
If I hadn't started investing in a new engine I would love this bus.

Tim at 'roadhouse retro' has been maintaining this bus and it is rock solid.

If you are after a ready built, cool bus, you couldn't go wrong.
 
Ok, so in the hope of selling van this before winter sets in I've dropped the price by £1k. It is all wrapped up snug in a garage, but I am keen to use the garage for another car!

Regards,
Karl
 
Time for a bump for anyone that is thinking of buying a new (sic) camper for the coming season.
 
Just a quick note to say that this bus is still for sale!

Regards,
Karl
 
Ok, so I am not getting very much interest in my van so I have now dropped the price to less than I actually paid for it - and lets not even talk about how much I subsequently spent on the new engine, gear box, rear seat belts, tow bar, etc.

Karl
 
Time for a bump - the van is safe and warm in the garage as winter approaches.
 
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