1967 Deutsche Bundespost Panel Van
- Tuesday, 12 February 2008
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Haydens Bundespost panel Van
The Bees Knees
When 30-year-old Hayden Watson initially got into Volkswagens, it was more a case of necessity than a magnetic attraction. You see, he was a keen mountain bike racer and that meant that he spent plenty of weekends away in the wilds. "I needed somewhere to sleep when I was away racing and a Camper seemed like a cool idea," he explains. "A mate had a '72 Bay and I just had to have it." After buying the Bay 13 years ago, he started to get hooked and was well on the way to VWs becoming an all-consuming passion.
They just kept on coming
During the following years, numerous Volkswagens came and went from Hayden's life. He informs us that he has owned six Split Windows, including a 1967 Crew Cab, a '56 Panel Van, seven Bay Windows, including a '68 tin-top Bus and a '70 Crew Cab. Then there's the Beetles: he has owned nine, including a Right Hand Drive '55 Oval and a '65 Karmann Cabriolet. His wife has a Split Screen Camper too. Hayden also has a project on the go at the moment, another 1955 Oval, and it is Right Hand Drive. And he's already thinking about the next project, and for that he wants something really special, either a Barndoor or a rare Split Screen Crew Cab produced before VW launched its own Crew Cab, by the German coachbuilder, Binz.
However, it's the stunning Panel Van you see here that we're going to be focusing on today.
The story starts when the Van rolled out of the Hanover factory in 1967 and was dispatched to the Deutsche Bundespost to enter service as a postal delivery vehicle. The Van had been ordered with a sliding door and '67 was the first year this option was officially offered - although some official service sector vans were built by VW with sliding doors before that date. The sliding door was a lot more user friendly and did not encroach on to the pavement when deliveries were being made. After a full working life with the post office, the Van was decommissioned and sold on. The story at this point goes cold, until Terry and Dave from Volksaholics found it on a parts-hunting mission in Germany. You can see more details on the Van as they found it in the box on the right.
When Hayden bought the Van, he was simply an enthusiast who liked working on cars, but since then, he has gone for it and made VWs his living, working under the name Panelcraft and his business is based in Arlesey, Hertfordshire. Ask around and you'll find he's already got a very good reputation for his quality work. In fact, we've only heard good things about him, which can only be, well, good.
Anyway, back to the plot... Back in 2003, Hayden worked on his cars outside his house in a carport. The work, as I am sure you can guess from the 'before' photograph, was extensive. For starters, he had to get rid of the years of residue from the many thousands of bees, and from the sound of things, this was no easy task, by any stretch of the imagination. He tells us that the whole interior of the Van was coated and to scrape it all off took more hours than he cares to remember; it was also a hideous job. Even the inside of the doors and tailgate were coated. "It was thick with whatever the hell bees deposit!" he comments.
For the full story check out the March 2008 issue of VolksWorld magazine. On sale on 28th December and then available through back issues.
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VW Wallpaper
You can download a wallpaper of Hayden?s Van for your computers desktop from our VW Wallpaper section.
