If you’ve already had a look through the pictures of this ’66 21-window Samba, you’ll, no doubt, have already spotted a few tell-tale signature pieces which point towards this being a Bus built by Creative Engineering.
Back in the October issue, we featured another CE project (Bob and Julie Copley’s barndoor panel van), which went down a storm – just as we know this one will!
Dave Palmer (of Creative Engineering) first met Nick and Edwina at a dinner party some years ago. They were ‘friends of a friend’, so to speak, but had something in common with Dave and his wife Mandy in as much as they had always fancied a Type 2.
It transpired that Nick and Edwina were also Glastonbury regulars – and this added to the appeal of them having a good VW Camper! While they camped out in tents through wind and rain, those Camper owners slept well – and in relative comfort. The clincher for Edwina, however, was the fact that many Campers featured a portable loo – and having access to your very own, clean toilet facility at Glastonbury is little short of priceless!
And so, after several years of deliberation, Nick and Edwina called Dave and Mandy to discuss the idea of building a truly unique Festival Bus. Dave talked them through the ‘dos and don’ts’ of Bus ownership – and showed them some of his previous creations. At that point, Dave had a ’66 California import Samba at the workshop, a Bus he’d bought to build as his own personal project. In its unrestored state, it was the perfect vehicle to illustrate where to check and what to look out for when viewing a prospective purchase.
The ’66 was scruffy – but still drove and,more importantly, had zero rust, with only a few parking dents letting down the bodywork. Of course, Nick and Edwina soon realised its potential – and were on the case of buying it for themselves, with a view to Dave completing it on their behalf.
Dave commented: ‘I really wanted to keep this one, but Nick was very keen and I didn’t really have enough spare time so, well, I guess the rest is history!’
The first part of any major overhaul is often the metalwork and paint which, in this case, was undertaken in Belgium! That’s right, Dave chose to try the paintshop of one of his Belgian dealers, who had asked on several occasions if he could prove his skills on one of Dave’s projects.
