So now we’ve identified the Bus we’re going to make Rat Style – a deluxe bus with walk through front seats – its time to make it solid underneath. Our requirement is for a welded solid bus with excellent running gear that on the outside looked like … well crap really. Read the rest of this entry »

The build spec for this project was a solid deluxe walk through Bus in a Rat Style – with an engine. Rat style and hoodride campers are all unique – no two will be the same – vintage accessories and parts, air cooled engines, custom or stock wheels are a given but its the bodywork and how worn it is that makes the statement. Read the rest of this entry »

Whilst single colour campervans are not unusual – a solid colour deluxe campervan is. This particular Camper is a rare in itself being a 21 window deluxe bus – often called a Samba. Read the rest of this entry »

Restoring a VW Bus takes time and patience – considerably more than a Beetle for example. There is so much more to in a Camper – its longer, taller, has more doors, more seats, its heavier and as for that headliner.. click pictures to show hi resolution Read the rest of this entry »

After several years and a few months of driving we finally arrived at the time for a photo shoot – the Camper was about perfect – restored how we liked it to be. There are imperfections and non original items but on the whole the finished bus was a pleasure to drive and own. Click pictures to view in hi resolution.. Read the rest of this entry »

The dampener material is a heavy sticky bitumen like substrate that adheres to the surface of the panel – it adds mass to the sheet metal and thus increases the natural frequency of the vibration – thus reducing the drum sound. The aluminium layer is what you see after applying the dampener.

Now that the sound dampener is in place time to look at the sound absorber. The absorber soaks up the sound as it passes into the material and slows it down – absorbing the sound energy and translating it into heat. The mat we chose also had a thick layer of rubber bonded to the top surface which acts as a reflector to bounce the sound back into the foam to be absorbed. Read the rest of this entry »

How we made our campervan a little quieter

VW did not really spend much time or money making the Split Screen Camper quiet from the factory. Their efforts extended to some thick rubber mats up front and in the middle and then in the most important areas they splashed out on some thin strips of ‘material’ above the engine at the back of the bus with a loading mat on top. Not quite up to modern day standards and definitely not enough to have a conversation in the front of the Bus without shouting. Read the rest of this entry »

Some adult language in this one as our friend and long time VW officionado Rhett wants to be driven through the Great Smoky mountains.. he was holding the camera

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According to Wolfsburgwest como green interiors were around from 1961 through to 1964 Campers. This was the time when VW made colour co-ordination their thing – their style. Beetles had coloured everything – from steering wheels to rubber mats, and so the Camper from that period too had colour co-ordination. Primarily used for L380 Turquoise (Turkis), L289 Blue White type 2’s – como green is a beautiful shade of pastel green. Read the rest of this entry »