Vans in the News and 19 Windows

Ok, so I know that I said that my first few blogs would be about what has happened so far, but after this weekend I've got a fair bit to write about.

This morning I was sitting down to breakfast when I received a text from my friend Pete (see photo) telling me that there was an article about "Rat Look" vans in the Metro (a free paper they give out in London, just in case people don't know). I was quite excited to read this, so once I'd survived the stifling journey on the tube I grabbed a copy as soon as I saw one.

I opened it up and there on page 8 were 2 pictures, each of a ratty early bay at Vanfest. Both, in my opinion, looked great! Anyway, the headline they'd gone with was "Van-dalism chic" - Witty... The very small article basically focused on saying that rat look is all the rage in the VW bus scene:

"It might look broken down, but this is the latest in camper van chic, apparently"

Interesting. I'm not really sure what the "apparently" is all about? Did someone just phone them up and give them a tip off that "Rat Look" was in, but they just weren't sure whether the source was reliable?

Either way, I think it's good that there has been some main stream coverage of both the event and rat look buses in general. I wonder if it will change the opinions of people who read the Metro in Surrey - Will they look at my bus in a different way? See me as some sort of pioneer?

I doubt it, they'll probably just laugh at me the same way they always have...

As for whether it's the "latest in campervan chic" - Now I didn't actually go to Vanfest (see below for why) but I saw a lot of vans going to and from it during my travels over the weekend - Most of them weren't rat look, in fact, most of them weren't anything specific, they were all of varying conditions/styles, and I liked all of them! I know it's clichéd, but that is the best thing about the VW Bus scene, there really is a look for everyone...

Now back to the 19 Windows and what I actually did instead of going to Vanfest. I went up to North Wales and climbed up Mount Snowdon.

This meant a drive (sadly in a friends Ford Ka and not the Splitty) to and from there in sync with the traffic from Vanfest - This was a real treat for me as I spotted a bus every other minute on the way back - My favourite being an 11 Window Barndoor Kombi - very nice!

Now anyone that has been to Snowdonia National Park will know how very beautiful it is round there, and if you haven't been there, I can't recommend it enough.

Anyway, on the descent, I saw what looked to be an 11 Window Splitty with a sunroof driving along a road through the valley. Nothing strange about that I hear you say, but it was then that I noticed that it in fact had 8 windows in the roof, creating a 19 Window Splitty. Weird…

Having bored my girlfriend Vanessa enough about how strange this was, I spent some quality descent time thinking about this (after I had finished kicking myself for not taking a photo of it), and surmised that the only way this would happen would be if someone did a roof transplant on an 11 window. Some searching on the internet located this small bit of information on 19 Window vans on The Samba. It seems to confirm my theory. If anyone has any more thoughts/information on 19 window vans please feel free to comment on this article!

For reference, I think the van was yellow/orange under white, that said, I had spent 7 hours in the sun climbing a mountain, so I could be wrong...

Coming up next on the blog, 4 guys, 1 bus, Cornwall and 2 crucial bolts making a quick exit from the van - Cue tears and an eventful few hours...