COLOURFUL CAMPERJAM

At a weekend gathering for enthusiasts to celebrate all things Vee-Dub, Gentleman Jack admires an array of distinctively customised vehicles

Weston Park in Shropshire was the venue for a lovely weekend at Camperjam, especially after last year’s postponement. We had been looking forward to attending this event for more than 18 months!

Fabulous live music, a trade area to browse, plus – of course – all those Volkswagen campervans to admire. This pictorial tour aims to offer just a flavour of what it is all about.

We’ll kick off with a T4 (1) perfect for someone who can’t decide which colour to have – a harbinger of what turned out to be a colourful show.

Transporters and Crafters

Not all VWs on show in the trade area were Transporters – VW brought along its Caddy camper conversion and a Grand California on high-top Crafter.

Also based on the Crafter was this conversion from Staffordshire’s Muddy Campers (2). The exterior looked quite unremarkable, until you got closer.

The body had been sprayed in Raptor paint, which dries to a textured finish. It was developed for pick-up truck load beds and is said to be extremely resistant to stone chips and the like.

Slidepods is a firm specialising in the manufacture of bespoke slide-out kitchen units which are stored below the seat/bed and accessed via the rear doors or tailgate (3).

A hook-up socket planted on the bodyshell can really spoil the look of a well-turned-out bus or camper, and it isn’t always possible (or desirable) to mount it under the rear bumper.

The Vehicle Glass Company has come up with this decidedly clever solution, mounting it behind the (now hinged) VW grille badge (4, 5).

There were numerous companies exhibiting conversions; too many to feature them all here, so I’ve chosen this one (6, 7) from Warwick-based T5 Kustom Vanz, who despite the name, also offers genuinely bespoke conversions on T6s.

Fabulous detailing

Feeling a bit low? Hopefully not quite as ‘down in the weeds’ as these ’vans

(8), exhibited by their owners. It takes a high level of skill and a great deal of time to achieve this ‘aged’ patina!

Highly regarded Slambassadors did a ‘live’ slam conversion and gave away the vehicle in a raffle for charity. They also showed off one of their fabulously detailed company vehicles (9).

No VW display is complete without a heavy sprinkling of Splitties and at least one 23-window Samba (10). This breathtakingly gorgeous 1967 Westfalia SO42 (11, 12), owned by Nick Deakin, is called ‘A Touch of Velvet’, after its body colour – VW Velvet Green.

This later ‘Brick’ Westfalia (13, 14) was in perfect condition, but had no information sheet in the window, so it was impossible to give the caring owner a name-check. It’s rare to find such an untouched interior – as the saying goes, “It’s only original once.”

What’s better than one Transporter? Two, or at least one and three-quarters

(15). This astonishing black T4 combo