Noel and Nicky Shipston Van Restoration.

The day finally arrived for us to take LOUUIE our 1972 crossover Devon Moonraker to Revesby Garage for the start of his restoration. Our emotions flick between the excitement of Christmas mornings as a child, and the anxiousness experienced outside the exam room door! It's not that we don't have faith in Cav and his team, it is the thought of having a loved one go under the knife. You know it's for the best.

When we bought LOUUIE in January 2008 and drove him home from South Wales we knew he was going to be a work in progress. Our budget was limited and we wanted a bus we could use straight away. He fitted the bill very well. We planned to go and see my father in the South of France at the end of May so we wanted to make absolutely sure he was fit for what was to be a 1500 mile round-trip. We also knew we wanted LOUUIE lowering for increased stability, electronic ignition for reliability and an empi-shift for slicker gear changes. Having been given the name of a number of VW specialists, after a brief chat on the phone we entrusted our pride and joy to Cav at Revesby Garage for the first time. Upon his return home there following six months of holidaying, shows and long weekends. He seldom faltered but did have a characteristic back-fire when you took your foot off the gas – complete with exhaust flares! This was rectified when he retired to his winter residence (Revesby Garage). His air filter was restored to the original oil bath variety and a new stainless steel exhaust was fitted. The heat exchangers were also replaced on this visit.

This last year has seen us attend numerous VW events including Stanford Hall, Bug Jam, Skeg Vegas, NWVW and Vanfest en route to Devon for a week. We also had a wonderful ten days touring South-Western Ireland along with several long weekends away in our wonderful camper. Our last event was Bus Freeze last weekend which we attended at the invitation of Nicky's sister and brother-in-law. We'd originally planned to take LOUUIE in for his winter facelift before now but couldn't resist joining them with their recently acquired splitty. What an excellent weekend welcoming 'Brian' to the family and bidding adieu to our adventures in LOUUIE until next year.

Which brings us full circle and here we are sitting contemplating the gap on our drive and the months ahead. The planned work will focus mainly on his bodywork. We know that the front panel and doors are shot and much renovation will be required to the lower half all around before a full respray can be undertaken. Originally we were also contemplating fitting the new interior but have decided to hold back on the spends retaining some of our savings for contingencies. We will however be treating ourselves to a rock and roll bed, new flooring throughout and some other toys! We are keen to keep a photo record of LOUUIE'S restoration and look forward to giving regular updates.

Finally we know very little of LOUUIE'S history prior to us taking him under our wing. If anyone has met him in his previous lives we'd love to hear al about it. All we do know is that he'd been stored on the forecourt of a garage in Newport, South Wales for some time before his last owner acquired him. We have tax discs from that area going back some 10 years.

With regards,

Noel and Nicky Shipston.