Trim time teaser

At last! Time to sort the interior. I wrote in my wish list five years ago that the interior trim would be one of the last jobs we get around to - and that time has come. I won't be giving anything away just yet but will try to update the blog as regularly as possible when it starts to happen.

Because we use the van all year round it's become hard to decide when we can do without it for a couple of weeks - so we've pencilled in a date after the main VW show season has finished, mid September. Thankfully this ties in nicely with the trimmer who has a waiting list of people wanting his expertise on their projects and falls before his annual rush to get jobs finished for Ultimate Dubs; the show that many people see as the season opener and an opportunity to debut their new cars.

So who's the trimmer? After a few conversations with fellow T5 owners, much internet research, and a visit in person, we've decided to hand the van over to Michael at MJ Interiors near Shipley. Their reputation is second-to-none and they're local too (which helps us check progress if required).

The process will be a two-phase affair; front seats and rear seat first then, after saving up again, doorcards and dashboard will be trimmed to complement the seats and lessen the 'van' feeling of the standard cab - not to mention eradicating a few rattles along the way!

We had a great first visit; Michael took the time to talk through various options on leather, fabric, stitching and thread, even though both Mrs. Stone174 and I have very set-ideas on the look we're trying to achieve. Between us we made a few minor tweaks and now have the overall 'look' down on paper ready for a quotation to come through. 'No compromise' and 'less is more' are still the main themes running through the van, hopefully the end results will tie in nicely with the external look of the van and finally give us something we'd be happy to show off more than we have to date... as usual, watch this space!

Stanford Hall camping perfection...

Just back from yet another glorious weekend with great weather, great friends and a great atmosphere. My only concern is that camping at Stanford Hall is becoming a little too popular and the evening's once-quiet noise levels had certainly risen this year. It's only a minor quibble about what was an otherwise perfect weekend.

What better location for camping over the bank-holiday weekend than the grounds of a stately home? Extremely good value for money too. See you there next year - just turn the volume down at midnight alright?

Living the Vanlife - a long overdue update

Apologies again for what seems like a long break between posts but with the good-weather on our side every time we take the van out, you can't blame me for not posting as regularly as usual.

Since the last post we made our annual trip down to Sandown Park for the Volksworld Show; aweful weather on the Thursday night's half-way trip had us thinking we were in for similar to 2013 but the Friday morning dawned bright and the rest of the weekend was just glorious.

In terms of sheer variety and entertainment the Volksworld Show 2014 was a hard one to beat; the best aircooled metal from all corners of Europe, a swapmeet that you need to go around four or five times to see everything, club displays, skate and BMX displays, breakdancing, live music, sunshine, a chilled-out campsite, a few beers in Esher, this one will stick in the memory bank for a long time to come!

A few pics:

Check out the blue sky

One of the stars of the show for me

Gorgeous lowlight Ghia

Cool-flo's BMX display had men my age drooling

Vintage Speed display was jaw-dropping

Old-skool breakdance display was a nice diversion

After Volksworld we made the short trip over to the Chertsey C&CC site for two nights with a day trip in to London. On arriving and having a nice meal we headed back to the van and just as I was checking the front blind on the van a figure walked over and in broken English asked "you have been to Volksworld show? You come far?", to which I answered "yes, from up north, Yorkshire", "oh, I come far too... from Israel". Crikey. It turns out Benny (who runs a VW shop, known as Dr. Bug) has flown in to Heathrow, hired a T5 California and filled his suitcases with parts bought at the swapmeet - so many parts that he needed to purchase another suitcase before heading home the next day. We chatted for around half an hour about the VW scene in Israel, the difficulties he has finding parts, showing each other photos of our projects on our phones etc. We parted after giving him some travel tips so he could go sightseeing in London the next day where I assume he bought another suitcase!

After camping at the show next to Belgians, French, Dutch and German campers, to meet a chap from Israel who shared our passion for all things VW made the whole weekend a truly cosmopolitan experience.