# 1968 VW Type 2 Danbury



## 1302 (Apr 4, 2006)

aogrady's thread about his 1970 Type 2 inspired me to write a few words etc about our 68 Danbury. It is pictured below at Stanford Hall being photographed for a feature in Volkswagen Camper and Commercial magazine


















Advert for the magazine

It is one of the reasons that we 'got into' motor-homing. I was approached by an elderly chap who had owned it since 1975 when he bought it with roughly 48500 miles on the clock having himself bought it off a guy who simply used it to go fishing in (yes I know a boat would have been better! )

He asked if I would have a look to see if I was either interested in it or would help him sell it on. I went to see the vehicle and it was parked up in a barn.










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The missus wiping the screen clean so I can drive it home

After thinking about it for about ten seconds I agreed to buy it. I asked how the roof went up - he didn't know as it had never been popped up during his ownership. I asked how the sink/water worked and he didn't know as he'd never used it. It even came with the original first aid kit completely unused to this day.










Before agreeing a price I queried the mileage as it now only read 49200 and he confirmed that he's only done 700 miles in 30 years! After some trouble getting it to start (as he had been fiddling with plugs and distributor I managed to get it running and drove it home with a tax disc some five years out of date. It made it home and we immediately started using it. We took it to Ireland that summer for what was certainly the longest journey it had ever undertaken and it behaved itself perfectly.

I say it was part of the reason that we got into motor-homing because we just enjoyed being away in it and without our children getting under our feet - they were then 'too old' to go away with Mum and Dad. Despite its charm it was hard work to use as long term accommodation as once the bed was up that was it - no other space! As a result we decided to buy an Autosleeper Trooper which was as different to the Danbury as you can imagine. We kept the Danbury for a while after but it just wasn't getting used and that seemed a real shame. I sold it to a mate who still has it so I see it from time to time.

I have a few other photos of the van as we dug it out of the barn but I just cant put my hands on them at the moment so when I find them I will pop them up too


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## 1302 (Apr 4, 2006)

Found them....























































Seeing these makes me want it back.... 

Although the creature comforts of our modern VW are nice


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## gavinskii (Dec 31, 2012)

Thanks for sharing...that bus was quite some find....I think I spotted a young Mr Eccles in the background..!!!

I've never owned a bay, but had plenty of fun in our Splitscreens over the years. Though as you rightly say they are a bit of a challenge space wise. We went on up to the T4 Westfalia route before my wife deciding we needed more space and a few more creature comforts.


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## 1302 (Apr 4, 2006)

gavinskii said:


> Thanks for sharing...that bus was quite some find....I think I spotted a young Mr Eccles in the background..!!!
> 
> .


Yes - David (Eccles) did the photoshoot at Stanford Hall and that is him in the background at a later DubFreeze 

I would like to buy it back but I can't afford to  The prices of nice straight VW busses have gone through the roof.


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## Pudsey_Bear (Sep 25, 2008)

I've never owned one, but I used to work for a garage in Bradford which looked after the Hertz rent a car business and we supplied ferry drivers, so I got to drive almost news micro busses down to Heathrow etc, and it was always a pleasure as at that time I'd not driven anything bigger, and they were just such a joy to drive, I'd like one now except they're just not practical for the reasons you mentioned.

Our first van was a L reg Autohomes Explorer on the VW transporter chassis which too was nice to drive except way low on power, we ended up PXing it with a rogue dealer and regretting it.


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## aogrady (Feb 9, 2012)

Hi,

That must be the cleanest, most original bus i have ever seen!

You're correct about the prices going up....... :roll: 

Alistair


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