The life: How restoring VW campers became a thriving business.

After living on the road in a classic VW Westfalia, Dave Phelps created a business that helps others do the same.

The ringing of the phone echoes through the shop. Dave Phelps, 34, walks away from the transmission he’s dropping, wipes as much grease off his hands as he can, and picks up the handset. It’s hard to hear the customer over the soft diesel rumble of one of the nearby VW Caravelles. They’re not the original hippie vans, but rather more capable vans made from 1980 to 1991. Dave sticks to the late models, and all of his fleet are Westfalias, the pop-top camper style. Surrounded by these ‘Westys,’ Dave talks the customer on the phone through Big Sur, Tahoe, and other secluded spots he could drive off to.

Dave spent most of his 20s driving his ’89 Westfalia across the United States, finding work and fun along the way: Montana for farming, Lake Tahoe to snowboard, Michigan to his old home, and any interesting spot in between. With all that time on the road, he had no choice but to learn everything that could go wrong with his Kombi.

Nearly everywhere he went he found the same thing: interest. ‘So many times someone wanted to borrow my van. I’d say, If I had another one, I would. And that’s how I got the idea,’ Dave says.

He started his rental outfit, Outwesty Camper Vans, in Lake Tahoe, with two restored vans. Then, last year, he moved to Santa Cruz and expanded to ten. Dave practically locked himself in his garage for seven months to restore them all at once. He dived into everything. One day, solar panels. Another, transmissions. They all got new engines. Some nights he’d fall asleep in the shop. But at 6 am, he’d be at it again.

Eventually, he added some help: Ryan Weigner, 37, for the customer side of things, and Ben Boudreault, 34, to work on the vans. Ryan owns the makerspace and ceramics studio next door. He suggested this shop space to Dave after hearing about him on a camping trip. Ben has his own commercial diving business, but when he stopped by in his own Caravelle to see what all the VWs out front were for, it wasn’t long before he was working both jobs.

The three will set you up with everything you need to go on holiday, camp, and get that perfect photo anywhere in California – a dependable ride, linens, cooking equipment, and even guidance on where to go. This means that anyone can hop off a plane and into their #vanlife dreams.

The vans are rugged, but they’re also old – they’ve all had about 30 years on the road. Which means things can, and do, go wrong. A lot of things. Every morning, Ben and Dave go over the day’s rentals. They throw them on the lift, check the fluids, the tyres, look at every system. This morning, a radio isn’t working. They crack open the dash and find a loose connection. Fixed.

When the mechanical check is done, the team cleans the vans’ interiors and cookware, changes the linens, washes the outside,

makes sure everything is ready, then hands over the keys, and watches as customers gleefully drive away.

Then they move to their bigger projects. Today, it’s replacing tent panels on a van they’re flipping. ‘When we start tackling all the projects, that’s when it gets fun. It’s a good time,’ says Ben. ‘Dave is the smartest mechanic I’ve ever met,’ adds Ryan.

And yet they all still love the vans. They even relax by wrenching on their own. Ryan has four vans, Ben has four, and, along with the fleet, Dave has his special project: the most perfect van he can think to make. ‘It’s a totally different feel, a project like this – it’s your baby.’ And when they get tired of wrenching, they do what got them into this in the first place. They get out from under a van and hop in.

A/ Ben Boudreault fabricates a piece for a van. With extensive renovation activities and projects like engine swaps, the team often creates their own parts, a process helped by the experience Ben gained in his grandfather’s machine shop.

B / Ben and Ryan Weigner install cabinets. ‘The feeling of completion after fighting something for a day is great. Then you get to use it,’ says Ryan.

C/ The team handles almost all upkeep for the vans in the shop, including maintenance, cleaning, and repairs. All while shop dogs Benny and Choque look on.

A/ From left: Ben, friend Paje Victoria, Dave, and Ryan hang outside the vans. ‘Dave knows all the wicked spots. When that stress level in the shop gets to that point where you start feeling it for a week or two, we’ll peel out for a two- or threeday trip,’ says Ben.

B/ Around the shop there are reminders of the adventures the team has had in these vans. Including the years Dave spent driving his van around the country. ‘We are all super passionate about these things; we seriously love this stuff,’ says Dave. ‘I think these vans are going to be like the VW bus in 20 years,’ adds Ben. And in the meantime, the team is sharing their love with others. ‘My family spends a lot of time driving around and camping. Lola is my five-year-old. She was two months old when she went on a 1 600 km trip,’ says Ryan.