Campo this is his story from ordinary VW to TV star
When we purchased a dormant campervan hire business in 2018, this came with a rather tired and rusty Campo. He’d been stood up for a couple of years having originally been part of the fleet of campers for hire. The other campervans had already been sold off by the previous owners of the business. However Campo had a special place in their hearts, so they had kept him.
Campo in Grandpa in My Pocket
The previous owner had been approached by the BBC and Bogglesox TV they wanted a campervan to appear in the Cbeebies TV series – Grandpa in my Pocket. The bright and colourful beach scene was especially designed for the Grandpa in my Pocket Series. Starring James Bolam as the magic shrinking Grandpa who gets up to all sorts of mischief when Campo sets off on his adventures. The first episodes were filmed in 2009 and then again in 2013 and was enjoyed by younger (and older) viewers alike. The series are still running on Bogglesox TV on YouTube now.
Road to restoration!
Once we had agreed to take on the remains of the business and Campo! we trailered him to his new home with us in Colyford where we started on a large restoration/rebuild project! To begin with the project stopped and started whilst we fitted in works to the other classic campervans. Bob and Monty where also part of the hire fleet.
We had a slow start getting the business back up and running again in 2019. The biggest challenge was finding campervans that were good enough to hire out. The slow start had always been planned, due to both having other jobs at this stage, but little did we know that by Jan 2020 the Covid-19 pandemic would start to unfold and our hire season would be abruptly halted before it even had a chance to get going. So, Campo turned a slow burning major restoration in between working, and home schooling.
Due to the number of panels that we needed to replace, the only option was to take on a unit, strip the camper down to a shell, put it on a jig and call in the sandblasters. At least this way we would end up with a solid vehicle. Most of 2020 and 2021 was spent fabricating and welding, and then it was sent off to T&T Coachworks in Feniton where they worked their magic to get the panels in line again and give it a stunning base coat of pastel blue.
All ready to hit the road for summer 2022
With Campo back from paint, we have pushed on hard to get him back together. He is very nearly ready to hit the road again and brighten up the lanes of the West Country with his cheerful artwork. He’s literally brand new! From the paint work to wiring, Roof and canopy to upholstery, Kitchen unit and beach themed curtains to match his outside. The engine has been overhauled, new brakes and to be honest most other parts!! The term ‘triggers broom’ is very fitting in this case!
The upholstery has been carried out by our local contact Dubstich and looks amazing in the blue bay and cream colours we had
chosen.
We still have a few final jobs to complete to include all of the required testing. Gas safety check and electrical testing and landlord safety certificate. We take safety very seriously and make sure every box we possibly can is ticked.
Our customers have always come back from their travels with enormous smiles on their faces and tales of adventures and happy memories made. The Freebirds Team are thrilled to have so many positive comments and reviews. And that the huge amount of work that we put in, gets noticed. Our customers look after the vans as if they were their own for that moment in time. When you hire one of our vans you can experience this for yourself.
Roll on summer! When the fleet can finally come out of hibernation again and hit the road again for more VW adventures.
To book Campo visit his availability page HERE.
