Spot the Differences

Well yesterday morning I got an email from my girlfriend Vanessa who is currently on a long holiday traveling around South America. Whilst she has been out there, she's been keeping an eye out for campers and beetles and taking photos of them (Yes, this is one of the many reasons why I love her!). So the email she sent me had a picture of a Split Screen that she saw outside a nightclub in Peru (Cuzco to be exact), and, as soon as saw it my mind was running through all the "interesting" features that it had. Now I've seen a fair few South American vans in VolksWorld when people send them in, but this one seems to be at the extreme end of the scale!

I certainly don't claim to be any sort of "Split Buses through the ages guru" but so far, this is what I've noticed (Please leave a comment if you spot anything else):

- 4 lights per side on the front panel - I'm guessing indicators, headlights, fog lights and some fancy blue lights that I am currently at a loss as to what they are for. I actually think it makes the bus look quite scary.

- It's only got 1 opening cargo door (on the side we can see anyway) - Can't make access very easy! I actually can't see an handle on this door either, although there looks to be a hole where one might be (similar to my own bus). Why would there be only one door though, I just can't see a benefit?

- Not sure what's going on with the petrol cap, is it just missing the flap, or does it have some sort of go faster sticker?

- Weird arch and sill extensions - Is this for functionality or style - I really hope its the former! It looks like they were probably sprayed black at some point...Maybe it does a lot of off roading - There's a lot of dodgy road surfaces out there Vanessa tells me.

- Exterior cab door handle - This looks like bodge of the century, a garden door handle bolted to the exterior of the door, but at the front, this makes absolutely no sense from a leverage point of view. Actually, on further inspection it looks like it's a side view mirror mount, in which case how on earth do you open the door? The recess for where the door handle should be seems to be too small to house a regular handle.

- The front window rubbers seem massive? Or is that just me? Could it be due to the high altitude?

- The windscreen wipers are facing opposite ways? Perhaps one of these is broken? If it's not, then it must look pretty funky when the rain comes in, it'll probably make you go cross eyed!

- Black thing above the roof vent, aerial maybe?

- Scary looking graphic of what could be a lion on fire. There might even be one on the roof too, just under the front roof bar? Not sure that's really added to the value of the van.

- What's the brown bit on the front bumper, it seems to appear on both sides. Is it some sort of fashion statement?

- Front seats - They've got head rests, that's way too safe for any type 2 - They look like they might be from a Mk2 Golf?

- Is that a metallic blue steering wheel, or something on the dash? I sincerely hope the latter is true in this case, otherwise that's a crime against colour coordination of the highest order!

- What is that rear wheel from? Some sort of multispoke or even wire wheel?

- The cab window doesn't appear to be twin sliding, and maybe is a wind up one? Does this indicate that it might be from a later bay window bus?

- Does it have the biggest rear view mirror in the world in it? If that is actually the mirror, then I suspect you might be able to see back in time with it!

- Finally, I think I've just spotted a spoiler on the back! Really? Maybe it's got some monster engine and needs a rear wing to create some down force? Sadly though, it's probably for styling purposes.

Now looking at this as a whole, it looks like a bus that someone has spent a lot of time modifying it, especially those front lights, they look very well integrated (someone's now going to tell me that was standard fitment on some buses aren't they?!). As for the other stuff, perhaps that is all that they had available to keep it on the road. Either way, for all that I dislike about it, it's still someones pride and joy and I'm sure they love it as much as I love mine, so who am I to criticise? As people keep saying, owning a camper is about doing what you want and individuality, and this bus is certainly a strong example of this.

Previous Blogs From Jon Ladley:


Split Screen Desire - The road to true love is never easy

Vans in the News and 19 Windows

My 27th Birthday and an AA Recovery "Low" Loader

Pushing the button...

Too low?

Welding woes

A Very Tight Squeeze

Fuel Crisis

Winter Plans

A Very Tight Squeeze Part II