Vintage ’vans

Expert advice on buying and running an older motorhome

THIS MONTH

Martin Watts finds another famous celebrity bus used as tour accommodation

Readers may recall that, in the November 2020 issue, I mentioned the ex-Ronnie Lane tour bus, a 1952 Guy bus which Ronnie had converted to a motorhome to use on his Passing Show tour in the 1970s. I was fortunate to make a personal visit to inspect that piece of motorhome rock and roll history.

During the most recent lockdown, I have discovered that an even more famous converted bus has survived the passage of time – the ex-Wings tour bus owned and used by Sir Paul McCartney on his 1972 tour.

Although not fully converted to a motorhome, this bus was used by the McCartney family, and featured bunk beds, dining table and chairs, gas fridge and storage cupboards, but no cooker.

Having formed the group Wings after the breakup of The Beatles, Paul wanted to tour the major European cities, across nine countries, but wanted to get back to basics, much like The Beatles did in their Ford

Thames van and later Commer van.

He hit on the idea of touring around in a converted bus, brightly painted, like the magical mystery tour bus of The Beatles era.

Paul opted for an iconic double-decker bus; a 1953 Bristol KSW/ECW open-top example. The top deck was left original to a large extent, with the bulk of the seats in place and the lower deck was upgraded with a few home comforts as previously described, for his wife Linda and the children to make themselves a little more comfortable during the long travelling.

After the 1972 Wings tour, the bus was passed through several owners before ending up as an attraction outside a rock café in Tenerife. Complaints from nearby businesses that the double decker was blocking out their light, concluded with the owner parking the bus on some wasteland, where it sat for several years.

Eventually the bus was rescued and

brought back to the UK by a charity, who wanted to use it for promotional purposes. For one reason or another, the restoration never got running, so the bus was placed into an auction in 2019, where it failed to sell.

Then Tom Jennings managed to conclude a deal for the bus, with the aim of returning it to its full Wings glory days. As one might imagine, the cost of restoring an open-top double decker bus is astronomical, so Tom set up a website and Facebook page to attract funds.

Restoration has now commenced, in the hands of an experienced bus restorer near Bristol. Next year will be the fiftieth anniversary of the Wings European tour, and Tom hopes to have the bus completed in order to take it to public events.

If you would like to learn more, take a look at these pages radiojammor.wordpress.com/2020/08/ 10/wings-over-europe-tour-bus-2-theupdate facebook.com/1972wingstourbus 1972wingstourbus.com

ESCALATING PRICES

During the winter lockdown, prices of classic campervans and motorhomes have seen a steady increase across the board. But, without doubt, the biggest jump in prices have centred around the VW Transporter, most notably the T25, T4 and T5. The other base vehicle which stands out as having seen a sharp price increase is the Talbot Express/ Mk1 Ducato, such as Auto-Sleeper examples and the Camelot by Autohomes.