History
The History
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History

Built on 10th February 1954, this bus was shipped to the UK and went to VW Motors Ltd., Dover Street, London. It was bought around April time and we have reason to believe that the bus was in the showroom at the same time as Barry, the '54 standard owned by Steve Goouge, only 6 miles from where I live.
 
The bus was owned buy a guy called Norman Herbert Jones, who lived in Rye Harbour, East Sussex. He owned the Panel Van for 32 years before selling it on. He used it commercially for his fishing business at Rye Harbour. He had a plastic dome cut into the roof to look out from, a toilet??!?!? and also a wood burner with chimney, also cut into the roof.
 
When he decided to sell it the van was pretty run down but in a solid condition. 3 out of the 4 cargo doors were welded shut?!?!?! and there was a Sign bolted to the side of the bus on the drivers side with the name of his fishing business enscripted "Castle Water". Bob Shaill, of kDF Observer (Volksworld) went to look at the bus in 1985 to look into buying a club project for the Split window VW Club in London. They would restore the bus and then use it to carry around club regailia and the like. He bought the bus from Norman Jones for £40, and Norman had removed two things from it when passing it on, the white sign from the side of the bus and the Chrome Hubcups??.
 
Bob Shaill then passed it onto a fellow club member, Roger Layberry, the clubs editor for the monthly newsletter. I have copies of the newsletter presenting the club with this new project and some more History. About 18 months went by and nothing happened to the bus and the club decided to sell the bus on as it was getting ropey and the club just never got around to starting the resto, however some club members had donated various parts for the resto but these have long since dissapeared.
 
They sold it on to probably the luckiest man I know. Chris Clarke of Peppercorn, the reason I say he's lucky is the this is the same man that later went on to own another '54 Double door RHD Barndoor panel Van, not many people can say they've owned 66% of the worlds population of type 216 panel vans.
 
He Bought the bus in 1987 but also failed to carry out a restoration on the bus, probably cause the other UK '54 Double door we all know and love that went to the states, came along and could have been an easier resto. That I will find out soon.
 
Chris Clarke Sold it on to Paul Edwards, then, the Parts and Spares man at the SSVC, Paul owned the bus for nigh on 13 years before he died in 2001. Paul started some work on the bus, but nothing was ever finished.
 
A year later I heard of this van that was for sale, Pauls wife Anne was selling all of Pauls Volkswagens and Rikki James told me about this bus over several beers at BVF, prior to this I was telling him that my ultimate bus would be a RHD Barndoor Panel Van.
 
So not only was this the bus of my dreams it was probably one of 3 in the world in existence, it was RHD, WOW!!!!, and it was a double door panel van.


I went to look at the bus on 27th July 2002, with Steve Goouge and Chewie (52 Samba, and 67 Kemp), We could'nt believe it, it was actually a Double Door, we have great fears of finding out it was'nt the bus we were looking for.
 
We deliberated over the bus for hours, finding parts, doors, lights etc. and left to talk about how much. The bus was in a pretty bad state, the cab floor is there but very rusty, the holes in the roof were still there, the Passenger side sill was totally shot, front valance was rusted through, the engine lid hinge was ok but the waist line where the lid fixes to was totally rotten and the cargo doors had been removed and replaced with some from another Barndoor Double Door Panel Van!!. However the original doors were still there, all in all I had 8 doors for the bus.
 
I spoke to Rikki James about the cost and we agreed a price, and agreed a date and time to collect it, I dealt with Rikki as Anne Edwards had personally asked Rikki to sell it on for her.
 
We collected the Bus on 17th August 2002, an extremely hot day, we spent about 4-5 hours sifting through all the parts in the garage to find the correct parts for the bus. Then the time came to move it. The bus did not have any wheels or drums on the Drivers side, so we had to find them and put them on, also the bus was on 2 foot axle stands so we had to get the bus down from the clouds.
 
We drove it back from Paddock Wood in Kent, with a big grin on my face as you can imagine. For 3 months we left the bus in my garden until I managed to house it in a garage. Where it still sits now waiting a start on the restoration. See the restoration page for the progress!!