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Been a serial lurker and occasional poster of nonsense, but have never quite got round to posting some pictures and the ongoing tribulations of being a serial VW licker. First a disclaimer - I like old VWs, partly as I grew up with them and partly because I understand how the work and I can fix* them. I do not like the 'scene' attached to them, it seems to attract too many of a certain type of person I am often allergic to - they bring me out in a shouty rage. First car was a'69 beetle in red, driven flat out everywhere until the rust took it. This was followed by a succession of Mk2 golf , vauxhall omega (vauxhall being close to VW in the sales ads) a free Mk3 golf which was dire and tried to kill me multiple times. I have no photos of any of these as they were pre-camera phone and mostly awful. Then came a T25 camper bought using generous donations from friends and family at our wedding . Bought, and a week later after hovering 15 years of dog hair out of it, we drove it all the way to northern Norway on honeymoon. Used it for a while. Bought a vauxhall astra estate (again, it was almost a VW in the sales section). It sucked. It did a year of commuting then it was scrapped. Was gifted a skoda fabia estate by my dad as a sensible run around. During this time my wife wanted a sensible runaround for her and the kids, so we bought a bright orange 1971 beetle (rusty of course) which was excellent fun. People were openly critical of apparent lack of regard for our offsprings safety. I pointed out it had seat belts. Due to rusting the T25 was sold as a project, the Skoda was sold for being too dull and a T2 purchased. Here is the peak of VW ownership, where the beetle, bay and T25 are all in one place just before sale: So now we had two aircooled vehicles, the newest of which was made in 1973. This lasted for exactly 9 months., during which I did lots of this: to be repeatedly rewarded with this: When the breakdown driver asks how the kids are getting on, you know you've seen him too much.... I also conducted some invisible repairs on the rusty bits of the beetle. I'll point them out if anyone can't see them: A promotion and car allowance then allowed me to purchase a C3 Picasso (best not ask, I hate it). Its purple. I feel like a dick when I drive it. Beetle then had to go due to third child and not enough seats, but it had the good engine, the van did not. A swap occurred. My neighbors love* me and find my antics endearing*. I clearly have no need for a drive or garage. After 1 too many FTPs, I was told van or family. I chose family and the van left. I then went a looked at another T25 minibus (three kids now) and was in much trouble for even considering another van. Two weeks later, after some small* arguments* we were in total agreement* and the van was purchased. Roughly 18 months ago - note lovely laqueer peel, mismatched rear wing and low level tide mark: After some light fiddling I have made a very basic day van affair, and we dragged it with camping gear and the three kids all the way up to the arctic circle in Finland last summer (wife has family in that part of the world). 6 days before departure I noticed the rear suspension had a bit of paint hanging off. I pulled and it showed this below: Trip to machine mart, a google of "mig wleding for numpties" and a youtube video later and I'd made this: and away we went. Here it is in a moody B&W photo in the land of the midnight sun, which really brings out the high quality paint. the rear suspension is still attached though, so winning. That's an epic catch up post really, but will use this space now to document the exciting* repairs and work done on it to keep everything attached .and working....