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The Story of VW-T, started a few years back when Tom Varkala, general manager at VW-T sold a Bay window camper to a friend of his, Ian Harris

Ian owned the Bay for a while, renovated it on his dad’s driveway and sold it on. He didn’t sell it to make a profit, but just because he needed

some cash at the time. The bus sold for considerably more then he was expecting and it planted a seed.

Years have passed, Tom’s been off snowboarding and mountain biking as well as building a career, firstly at Heritage VW, then at a mountain bike distributorship. Ian, who also worked for the mountain bike company for a while, has subsequently turned the seed of an idea into a very successful business with an enviable reputation, VW Kampers in Henfield, West Sussex. And since VW Kampers opened around 2007, Ian has been trying to get Tom to come and work for him.

One of VW Kampers fortés used to be converting Brazilian Bays into campers, but a couple of years ago supply problems led him to buy three new T5s,

one of them a 180bhp monster. Unconvinced by the T5, Ian resolved to drive one every day for a month to see if he could get to grips with it. Six months and 6,000 miles later he was on board.

Ian approached Tom (and not for the first time) to come and work for him and run a new offshoot of his company, VW-T—this time Tom accepted. Run initially from a small section in VW Kampers extensive workshops, VW-T moved just up the road to a new independent workshop in 2011. The current workshop is big enough for three or four vans at a time, and it must be said is immaculate, but Ian and Tom are already planning further expansion.

What they do right now is best described as “whatever the customer wants”. Tom reckons that, “Most customers want a complete van conversion. We either supply a new van or we can source one second-hand if

Alan Hayward

or from cutting and fitting new windows, to a custom remap (VW-T are Pendle Performance agents). They are even happy to convert a van in stages to suit a customer’s budget. His example of this was a customer who just had their van insulated and ply-lined so that they could use it as it was, adding a blow-up mattress for camping. The plan is now for the customer to save up some more cash, before

returning for the next stage of the conversion, a rock ‘n’ roll bed.

Back to the full conversions, hand-built in house, the furniture is constructed from lightweight but tough ply, with a hard wearing veneered surface, into which they usually fit the market leading Waeco compressor fridge, a high quality Smev double burner and sink combo on top with a Smev oven and grill underneath, plus

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Unconvinced by the T5, Ian resolved to drive one every day for a month to see if he could get to grips with it. Six months and 6,000 miles later, he was on boardrequired. Some customer’s arrive at our doorstep with a van already and that’s fine too. We have three conversion models on our books, but we like to talk to our customers and find out exactly what they want, then build that.”

Tom went on to explain that they are happy to do almost any job independently, if that’s what a customer wants. Anything from lowering to fitting a new roof,

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a RIB bed. They like the RIB because it’s crash tested and the design allows for comfortable seating during travel and for comfortable sleeping on a totally flat surface, when unfolded. But remember these are just suggestions from the company. During my visit Tom showed me a really neat rock ‘n’ roll from from Pop Tops UK, which was destined for an imminent van conversion. On the subject of pop-tops, VW-T supply and fit these from a variety of sources, to suit the customer’s preference and budget, as you would expect.

I asked Tom what he thought was their signature piece and what he thought set them apart from the competition. After a long pause, he came up with an equally long

list, but the words that kept being repeated in various forms were adaptability, flexibility and quality. I’d just like to look at the quality side for a moment. I mentioned earlier about the workshop being immaculate. The previous occupants of the building used the space as an office, hence the odd random interior door in places. That Tom and his team have kept it so clean speaks volumes and comes from Tom’s almost obsessive attention to detail—actually, forget the ‘almost’—from Tom’s obsessive attention to detail.

To give you an example, in his VW record sheet is a Beetle, a show winning, people’s choice winning, magazine featured Beetle. He’s owned it for a number of years, in fact he’s still got it (although

Ian likes to tease him that he doesn’t ever drive it), and he’s still developing it. Recently fitting a turbo charger and fuel injection to the 2276 motor, Tom reckons that he won’t stop until he’s reached his 300bhp target. My point is that Tom brings this show winning mentality to his work and it shows. I’d like to add another word to his list of adaptability, flexibility and quality… value. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not talking low cost, built in a shed cheap. I’m saying look at the product, look at the price and understand that in today’s market they offer a good value, quality product and service.

VW-T may have its roots in the past, but the present is booming and the future looks very rosy indeed.

Recently fitting a turbo charger and fuel injection to the 2276 motor, Tom reckons that he won’t stop until he’s reached his 300bhp target

ContactWeb: www.vw-t.co.ukEmail: info@vw-t.co.ukPhone: 01273 911518

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