Brigitte Garrod had always dreamed of owning a Volkswagen splitscreen camper.
Then one day her partner Steve Henry was browsing a classic cars for sale website and found one of the last splitties made – a 1975 Brazilian model.
“We had talked about it – when we got together we said we’d like to get one eventually, but then I just went and did it,” smiles Steve. “I have a habit of doing that. I sit and look at Auto Trader, and I’ll just get an idea and do it.
“Like most people, I liked the look of splitscreens and old Beetles and stuff, and I’ve always been into classic cars. So I’ve always liked these, but I didn’t think I’d get one.”
Even though Brigitte had run a caravan and motorhome business with her ex-husband, he had never agreed to buying a Volkswagen.
“Now I’ve got my dream”
“I’ve always wanted one, going way back,” she says. “It’s always been a dream to have one, but my ex-husband had always said ‘no, not having one of those.’ Now I’ve got my dream.
“I’d seen Steve looking at lots of stuff, but I didn’t actually dream that he was going to get one.”
The dream became reality towards the end of 2020, when Steve spotted the camper for sale at a Porsche dealer in Plymouth – a long way from their Norfolk home.
“Their client had a number of air-cooled Porsches for sale, but he also had three of these – a pick-up version and a couple like this,” he says. “It was too far to go down to Plymouth, so we got them to send us some footage of it – about half an hour going round everything on it.
“I was looking for a splitscreen for that classic look, and this is a relatively new one with the newer, 1600cc twin carb engine.
“I felt a little bit more comfortable with it compared to getting something from the early ‘60s, and it had had a lot of work done to it, and a lot of money spent on it, with virtually no miles done since. It just seemed to me to be the right one.”
A cool £39,500 later, and the camper was duly delivered to the couple’s home.
Originally a minibus, the vehicle was imported to the UK just after the turn of the millennium, its owner spending a considerable sum – according to the invoices that came with the bus – converting it to a camper and restoring the engine and bodywork.
VW Frankenstein camper
“They call these Frankensteins, because they’ve got bits from different models from different time periods,” says Steve, 62, who had never driven a VW camper before.
“When it got here, I was a bit stuck, because it doesn’t really come with a manual or anything.
“If you’ve not had one before you’ve got no idea. As soon as we got it, we took it out and into a car park, but I couldn’t find reverse to get out of the car park.
“So I had to get some guys to push me backwards.”
But apart from that, Steve says that first drive was “brilliant”.
“I love driving it,” he adds, “and it’s fun to drive, because you’ve got to drive it. I’ve got an Audi and it almost drives itself, but you’ve actually got to drive this.
“And the Audi just flashes lights at you all the time. The other day a light came on, something to do with the sports differential, and you think ‘here we go’, whereas this has no lights – you just drive it and hope it keeps going.
“It’s very noisy – someone phoned Brigitte in the car today, and she couldn’t hear them. It’s got a CD player in but we don’t use it because you wouldn’t be able to hear it.
“You can’t go fast so you just slowly go along, minding your own business. If people want to go past you, they go past you. People are quite polite, in the main, and no-one’s right up your backside.”
‘Pepino’ the bus
Brigitte, however, has yet to drive the bus, nicknamed Pepino (cucumber in Portuguese) because of its colour, after more than three years…
“I need to have a go, and I’m keen to,” she says, “but my dream was not necessarily driving one, just camping in one!
“I’d always been to VDub festivals and looked around on day visits and thought ‘I really want to do that’.
“I think Steve would have to put an eye mask on and wear some headphones, because he’s not a very good passenger…”
As it turns out, neither is Steve’s mum.
“I feel comfortable with a left hand drive, but my mum – she just dives towards me,” he laughs.
“She was practically on your lap the first time,” adds Brigitte, “because she’s on the wrong side facing the oncoming traffic.”
A few months after the couple took delivery of the splittie, Covid lockdown struck again, restricting their ability to get out and enjoy attending the music festivals and camping events they had planned.
“We took it down to the beach at Old Hunstanton a few times, because we’ve got a beach hut down there,” says Steve.
But they had to wait until a little later in 2021, when the lockdown restrictions were eased, to attend their first music festivals, Red Rooster at Euston, near Thetford, and Maverick Festival north of Ipswich.
“We haven’t left East Anglia yet,” smiles Steve, “but maybe we’ll start to go further afield.
“We just came back from Scotland, in the Highlands near Inverness, in our Nissan Patrol, but we’d have to plan it in terms of how long it would take to get up there, and it’s not great going up hills.”
Steve toys with the idea of towing the VW with the Patrol, but Brigitte quickly shuts down that idea – “no, drive it”.
Scotland retirement plans
“You’d have to share the driving,” he laughs, “because it took us 10 hours in the Patrol. In that, add another 50 per cent. But there were a couple of music festivals, one in Perth and one in Inverness, so we could go from one to the other, that would be right up our street, maybe stop in a couple of nice hotels to have a wash and clean up.”
“Maybe when we’re both retired,” adds Brigitte, “because it’s going to take us an eternity to get up there.
“We do plan to go further afield when we retire, so we need to keep her in good nick ready for that.”
Another possible destination is the Norfolk Broads, especially as Steve restored a 1959 wooden speedboat in lockdown.
“It’s another classic design, so it would look great to tow that on the back to the Broads,” he says. “I think that would be brilliant.”
The couple have made a few changes to the camper since they bought it, notably some new curtains with magnets to keep them in place, and a new, detachable table that Steve created out of a bodyboard, plus some minor trim details.
Mechanically, there have been few problems, barring a snapped speedo cable and some minor oil leakage in the garage.
“I knew the speedo was going to go because the needle started flying around,” says Steve. “Then all of a sudden there’s a bang and the cable snapped. It’s not the end of the world…a cable is only £17.
“That’s the other thing, it’s like MGs and Triumphs – parts are so cheap and you can get them so easily. With my old Nissan, it’s so difficult to get parts now. You can’t get any new parts, so you’re waiting for someone to break one to get anything.”
A few other things need attention – the main VW badge is starting to rust, as well as a small patch below the passenger door.
“Even though it’s kept in a dry garage, air conditioned and insulated, I can see bits rusting,” says Steve, “so I will get them sorted out this winter. It’s had new original VW hubcaps, because the ones that came with it were really rusting, and it’s such a lot of money to get them chromed.”
First VW camping
We’re chatting at the Whitenoise Festival on the outskirts of Norwich, the first dedicated Volkswagen show the couple have camped at.
“Generally, people are really friendly and they’ll come and swap stories,” says Brigitte.
“It’s good to look at other splitscreens to see what people have done,” adds Steve. “There was a guy at the classic show at Sandringham earlier this year who was really helpful, chatting about common faults and things.
“There were a lot of people taking photographs in front of it, and a photograph of it appeared on the Sandringham website.”
So, does it live up to Brigitte’s dream?
“Oh yes,” she says, “and more. It’s great fun to go out and about in, and to go camping in. I think we’ll keep her for a long time.”
