BBC1-Country File : 1968~70 VW Type 2 Westfalia

[Nigel A. Skeet]

Television, BBC1 - Countryfile Spring Special, Monday, 3rd May 2010

British registered, left-hand drive, 1968~70 VW 1600 Type 2 Westfalia campervan (registration No. ANK 239 G), with Sprint 5 or Sprintstar 5, 15 x 5½ inch alloy wheels and EMPI or SCAT gear-selector lever, driven by presenter Julia Bradbury.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006t0bv

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0 ... 3_05_2010/

As well as being one of several presenters of Country File, Julia Bradbury also presents Railway Walks; Wainwright Walks; South Africa Walks; and Kill it, Cook It, Eat It; plus possibly some other programmes I have yet to see.

http://www.juliabradbury.com/

http://www.juliabradbury.com/southafricawalks.html

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As a "bay-window", 1968~79 VW 1600 & 17/18/2000 Type 2 enthusiast myself, it was interesting to note Julia Bradbury, driving a British registered (ANK 239 G; corresponding to 1st August 1968 to 31st July 1969), left-hand drive, 1968~69 VW 1600 Type 2 Westfalia campervan, with Sprint 5 or Sprint Star 5, 15 x 5½ inch alloy wheels and what appeared to be, either an EMPI or SCAT, gear-selector lever.

The 1968~69 VW Type 2s (i.e. the first two model-years), have either of two, unique long-stemmed, interior rear view mirrors, which confer better long-range vision through the shallow rear window, which sadly for all eleven model-years, is compromised during wet weather, by the lack of a rear-window wiper. Fortunately, there is a unique Vauxhall derived rear wiper system, which is ideally suited to the wide, shallow rear window, as explained in the following magazine article:

Nigel Skeet, "A Clean Sweep", Workshop, VW Motoring, December 1996, Pages 85~86.

Many years ago, I briefly tried out one of these after-market, gear-selector levers, on my family's 1973 VW "1600" Type 2 Westfalia Continental campervan, but I found the trigger-release for reverse-gear, awkward to use, and if anything, arm-reach to the lever-knob, was probably worse than the standard factory-fitted lever. Consequently, I slightly modified the shape of the original factory-fitted lever, which now falls easily to hand and facilitates easy, precise gear selection.

Customisation of VW Type 2s, is becoming increasingly popular, especially retro-fitment of after-market alloy wheels and low-profile tyres, but sadly some of these wheel & tyre combinations, are unsuitable for the vehicles to which they're fitted, being both unsafe and illegal in some cases, owing to inappropriate wheel-offset, plus inadequate wheel & tyre load ratings. Some of the tyre sizes being used, radically alter the effective engine-gearing and speedometer calibration; a fact which is probably unknown to many owners.

The most appropriate tyre size, for the 15 x 5½ inch alloy wheels, would be 195/70 R15C commercial-van tyres, which have the required load rating, plus preserving the standard engine-gearing and speedometer calibration. During the past few years, 65-Series (in published conference proceedings I read, dating from the early-to-mid 1980s, this was said to be the optimum for fuel efficiency), 16 inch diameter tyres and matching wheels, have become the factory-fitted norm, on many modern commercial vans, including the VW Transporter T5, so for owners of early-generation VW Kombis, 16 inch wheels and 195/65 R16C tyres, would probably be a better long-term choice.

Another popular customisation feature, is the substitution of North American specification, all-red rear-lamp lenses, having a RED lens-segment, for the rear direction-indicators, rather than the normal AMBER lens-segment. For British registered vehicles, first used anywhere in the World, on or after 1st September 1965, these rear lights are illegal, under the provisions of the "Road Vehicles Lighting Regulations 1989. Hence, imported, second-hand, North American specification, late-1965 & all 1966~1971 VW Type 2s, registered in Great Britain, will need to have their rear-lamp units replaced and necessary modifications made, to the associated wiring loom.

In addition to other technical topics, I shall shortly be initiating a series of articles, in the Club's bi-monthly magazine, under the general heading, "Avoiding Kombi Customisation Catastrophes", discussing in detail, the safety hazards and other potential consequences, of various ill-conceived modifications and customisation practices, which are now being widely adopted, as is evident from vehicles observed on the road and featured in commercially published magazines.

Regards.

Nigel A. Skeet
Technical Editor, Transporter Talk magazine
Volkswagen Type 2 Owners' Club
http://www.vwt2oc.com