Fifty Shades Of Dub #4

Last week it was Peppa's turn, but this week it's all about.....

Freebird ii

The day I collected Freebird ii

Owned by

Louie and of course Abbie & Jake.

Freebird ii is a rather lovely looking, tell us more about her

My Bay Freebird ii, is a T2, Westy.  2ltr Fuel Injection engine, automatic.  Left Hand Drive.  Was imported into Ireland by John Hickey of www.krazykombis.com via Kieft en Klock in the Netherlands, and originally from sunny California.

How long have you owned Freebird ii?

I've owned Freebird ii since April 2007.  I bought my first VW Campervan the previous year, but it was one of those, first van I saw I had to have, but there was far too much work to be done on her so I had to let her go.  She came with the name Freebird, hence Freebird ii had to be the name for my new van!  

The colour is fading a bit now on Freebird ii and the rust patches are starting to show through, so before too long she's going to need a good coat of paint and, but for now, I'll just stick with the turning 'rat' look!   Interior is still as she came out of the factory in 1974. 

Where do you think your #dublove began?

We grew up with vintage cars in the family, my dad is a fanatic, so I suppose it was inevitable that the vintage bug would be passed on in the genes.  

What do you use Freebird ii for?

She's not my daily driver, but I do drive her very regularly, I'd have her out most weekends, and camp with my club www.type2ireland.org most months.  My kids absolutely love driving around in Freebird.  Abbie is now 10 and Jake is 6, he has been camping since he was around nine months old, and neither of them can get enough of it!!!  

Abbie & Jake

My husband isn't too much of a fan of the camping life so my friend Fi generally comes around with us, and he's more than happy to have us disappear off for weekends! However I did manage to convince him that we should use Freebird ii as our wedding car in 2008.  I prayed she wouldn't let us down that day, and thankfully she drove like a dream! 

So Louie, tell us about some of the Irish VW events you go to?

I organise an annual charity run for vintage vw's called Eireball.  We travel around Ireland for a week fundraising for different charities.  This year was the 7th run, and over the past 6 years we have raised over €50,000 for charity.  I won't say too much about the run on this post as I'll be doing a guest blog on Eireball for Custard Campers shortly.

Eireball

Aside from Eireball, one of my favourite VW event in Ireland is the music festival Vantastival .  This year was the 3rd year of Vantastival and makes the VW vans part of the show.  However, all campervans are welcome along with Tents of all shapes and sizes!!!  Freebird ii has also been over to the Isle of Man for their Circle Yer Wagons event, which is held annually in May.  The Isle of Man VW club are a great bunch and made us feel very welcome.  Hopefully I'll get over to this one again shortly.

me with Freebird ii at Vantastival 2012

Fi & I taking part in Vantastival Camper Cook off

And finally Louie, when your not busy playing with your dub,  what do you do?

When I'm not dubbin I work as an accounts manager at our family business, Barry Design and Print   I'm also the face behind their  facebook and twitter (@barrydesignweb) pages.  Why not like and follow the pages where you can read more adventures of Freebird ii.    

I also tweet and Facebook for the Eireball Run.   You can find out all about the Eireballing adventures by following along there too! 

Oops I'm sure all us van owners have a few pics like this!

Thanks very much Freebird ii (& Louie) for letting us feature you this week, if you'd like to appear with your dub just shout  Custard Campers,  vw campervan hire Essex.  We'd love to hear from you.

Kerry x

Something Blue

Saturday started with very early start, Ramsey arrived home at 4.30am as he'd been feeling abit poorly.  An anxious morning awaited us, as he was due at a wedding at lunchtime.  We had spoke to our mechanic who said he could take a look at some point, so we ploughed on with getting him washed & sparkling.

A last minute dash to the mechanics, who literally had to just tweak a couple of things, ten minutes later Ramsey was ready to party.  Very cross with the AA who had been called out & could of done exactly what our mechanic did and got our hirers on their way.  Instead they said it needed relaying back, stupid! I debated whether to share this but any hire company who claims they never have issues with their campers is lying, these are classic vehicles and no matter how well you maintain them they can still have their moments.  Thankfully not all the time!

Custard Campers are not just about self drive vw campervan hire, we also love taking part in VW Wedding Transport

                                         Something old, (oh that would be Ramsey)

Something new,

Something borrowed,

                             Something blue (oh Ramsey again!)

Ramsey looked pretty cool sat outside the church decorated in his rose garlands

Collecting his special passengers

And we were ready to set off back to the reception in Chelmsford, Frank Sinatra playing on the stereo sipping cold champagne on a sunny day, not a bad start to married life.

Ramsey was very happy to model for a few more pictures with the happy couple....(excuse the quality as these were just snaps I took on my phone, the couple's photographer took the 'proper' ones)

Congratulations to Susana & Shaun, thank you for inviting Ramsey to be part of your special day.

Kerry x

Here's To A VW New Year

Hello to my new blog.  Here I intend to not only talk about my vw campervan hire business but also feature lots of interesting places to visit in the East of England (and beyond!)  I will also be linking to some wedding bits and pieces for the brides among you who want a day different from all the rest.

We will be sharing news on our campervan Delia, she is currently due an interior revamp, so I will be sharing progress on that.  I am also looking to purchase a couple of bicycles to hire alongside Delia, so I will keep you updated on my bicycle search.

For now I would like to formally introduce you to Delia;

She is a 1972 Dormobile, these type of campers are commonly referred to as Bay Window Campers and are sometimes seen as not as desirable as there very iconic big brother the Split Screen camper.  However I  would of course disagree as I think Delia is more than a bit lovely!  When we bought her she was nameless so after some debate, it was decided (by me!) that due to her gorgeous Rhubarb & Custard colouring she should be named after another lady of how shall I put it...vintage years Delia Smith.

So whether its vw's, glamping, weddings, vintage or bicycles that interests you, hopefully I will have some good stuff to share with you.

If you read this blog please do feel free to comment (even if its just to say hello!) as I know from my other blog Strawberry Annie's, typing away with no feedback can be a tricky thing...

Right thats it for today

Kerry x