This is my dad's old '73 Variant (squareback), I have some really fond memories of this car. If a similair car would turn up for sale; tie me down for my 2000 budget does not allow it!!! Sadly the car's life ended in France after a accident where it summersalted and was written off. Still it would have made a nice restoration project because it was really cared for. I am the 3rd generation in succession who drives aircooled VW. My grandfather started with a split window beetle and I own a '79 super beetle convertible. What do you mean full circle?! I just manage to stick my head out of the roof, the picture must have been taken in '75. This was the first year they operated a historic steamtrain in my hometown.

England 1998 just after the innagrual London-Brighton Breeze (L2B). We stayed for an extra week to enjoy the english countyside. While lying beside the bus in the grass I took this picture. No artistic intentions then, but it turned out really nice. It kind of depicts what this hobby is about I think. Enjoying your car and life in one go...

England 1998 the complete Dutch Bus contigent has arrived at the Brighton seafront and is stiking a pose..(nice one Michel) Joop is currently revamped to extravagant heights....Watch this space.

Fall meet Beekebergen 1999. Same steam train cooperation as with the '73 Variant photo above, but now our club held its meeting together with their steam festival. As you can see it was a real "big boys, large toys" weekend. Mine is the one licensed NP-BS-21. On the right you see Herman's '64 conv. also imported from California. He powdercoated so much chassis parts on this car that he experienced electrical (earth) problems....

Ahem, no VW link here folks. But this is the last DC2 in airworthy condition. It came to a local airfield and performed a fly by twice at 30 metres at full throttle before landing..... respect.... Needless to say I became a sponsor of this group of enthusiast that day. It was bought in 1999 from MR. Colgate for $750.000.

Fall meet 1999 Beekbergen We had 30 degrees Celsius in september that weekend. It was hood down all the way that weekend. Barbara ( my girlfriend) came one day later than I and had claimed the convertible that weekend...lucky me that I have fresh air fans in my bus..

Northern France 1999. The day before the eclips I decided to drive down to france and watch it. So I called Roel (a very good friend from college) and his wife Linda to come with us. Although I was clouded; the sight was impressive. So was the havoc around it too (people camping next to the highway and tossing telescopes in & out cars etc.)

This was our basecamp for the weekend; both my brother and Michel (whose bus, called Joop, was at the sprayshop) had preferred airconditioning to aircooled that weekend...

Sometimes I just dream this could have been our beetle. Picture taken in may '79 our car is produced in july '79.

This was my first bus. A former milkman's double slider. Fitted with a very basic camping conversion I toured a lot in it. This was on the return form Yugoslavia in 1989. It was written of in 1990 after a accident and was exported to England (NL registration 08-44-NB) Has anyone seen it in England??

Picture taken in northeren France in 1988, the first year of ownership. At that time driving a Pano was really not cool..

At that time (1988) I was a student and our student fraternity was called KAMIKAZE. So this when we spotted this writing on the side of a french supermarkt it was an obligatory picture. I am sitting on the left, on the right was temporary co-owner Lodewijk. He managed to rub off a bumper corner rubber every week, this eventually led to me buying him out.

The trusty 08-44-NB in front of my student house in Utecht in 1988. I plan on doing a remake of this picture in 2000 with my current bus. I never denied being sentimental!

Me spraying the 08-44-NB in front of my house in Utecht (1988). At that time I did not had to the resources to replace the sills and jacking points, but at least I made an effort to conserve the thing.

England 1999. Night shot on campsite in the outskirts of Oxford.

Type2 rendez-vous in northeren France on our way to Portugal (may 1999).

This is a photgraphic confession of two hobbies: VW's and BBQ-ing. Those Spaniards must have thought we were some gypsies roasting sheep parts... Note the BIG pot inside. This was a trade off. I visited a junkyard in Spain (long story) and found some fans for Ron. Consequently Barbara wanted to take a portugese clay pot back home... I had no moral right do oppose...

Barbara's niece lives in Spain. This is their view from the front garden..

Here am I inspecting the results of my spanish junkyard visit...

With my "spanish" dipstick I assess the oil level. I have a temp sender dipstick and had forgotten to take the original with me (reason for the junkyard expedition)

No this is no type4 guys.. It is a VW brasilia, a brazilian built type3-4 pastiche. These where available in Portugal though VW main dealers.

I must confess you something...I also have a soft spot for steam trains. This one was doing "sign"duty for a restaurant.

Us being generally relaxed...

After I had just bought my 2nd (and current) bus in 1990 I found a NOS small pop-top for $300 with all the mounting instructions. This consequently involved some serious hacking in the roof. Picture is taken just after the succesful hacking session.

Some explanetairy words first; RWP stands for Real Wild Pano (Pano is slang for a 69-79). The hardcore Real Wild Pano's are me, Michel, Herman, Francois, Ronald & Albert. A couple of times a year we go on camp outs where we grill a massive amount of spare ribs and wash them down with a beer or two, while listening to some good music. Because the spare ribs mixed with the beer gives us a sort of temporairy hearing problem we are a bit loud, but harmless to passerd by. Only Francois sometimes falls down from his pop-up cot, lucky for him Albert caught him while falling down (head first) and the bottle of cognac he was holding.. Here Herman enters the campground this event was organised as a sort of bachelor's party in his honour. I am afraid similair pictures of me will be available soon........

Here you see the RWP line up as per june 1998. Mine is carrying the groceries, hence the lowered stance..

Do I have a tissue for you?! Where is my beer. Why is the music so soft? A rib anybody?!

The best way to deal with a hang-over is to clean up the mess. On the left you see my Westy drive-away tent. On the right you see the typical Amescador back-pack tent. Amsecador is the dutch equivalent of Westfalia, nice ones are becoming very rare.

The driver and his machine

I'm still am looking for these mats (vertical section)(L&R)

Fall meet 1999. The early morning train leaving station with our display wagons.

Fall meet 1999. the train had a locomotive at each end for quick "reversing" and added drama..

In Holland an annual safety & emissions check is obligatory to retain your licence & insurance. I have my VW's checked at Seegert's workshop. He is a RWP assosiate.

In '92 I made my first rip to Wolfsburg. Picture is taken in front of the VW head office.

This is the only picture I have of my first and second bus together. Later that day I installed the pop-top on my new bus.

During my first visit I went to the factory museum. Although the split window was the only fashionable bus at that time, the factory had some really impressive cars on display. The red one is fitted with a gasturbine, the mustard yellow is a one-off made for a TV show in the seventies in Germany (it has split window side doors..) next to it is the only surviving 4WD prototype. The story goes that it was driven in the sahara for holiday/test purposes by the research department.

If you ever come across one of these for sale, let me know

In '99 I found this westy stool. Before I got the chance to store it in the garage after showing it, Minet jumped on it and claimed it for relaxing

Actually this picture was taken in front of the VW factory in Salzgitter where engines are produced. The split window belongs to the PO of my bus. He regrets selling the bus, but is pleased which the care it receives.

Yugoslavia 1989. Picture taken at the entrance of the Ucka tunnel. Later there have been heavy fights over the control of this main road in Croatia. The thing hanging from my antenna is underwear from one of our female companions we met over there. There were three of us Remco (nowadays very settled) Marcel (still going strong) and me. This holiday was planned in three days. All of us had either just been dumped by their girlfriend, flunked their exams or had general money problems and some of us had a combination of these problems. This resulted in a three weeks' holiday with lots of partying and meeting new people (mostly female). With prices being generally extreme low in Croatia the total budget pro person was $331,-. This included everything from gas to food and speed boat rental.....