From the original owners … “Hi, I’d like to introduce you to Bullet, a 1963, small back window VW Camper. It left the VW factory in Germany and went to the US, to Sundial campers. That’s where Bullets story started….. Of course, he wasn’t called Bullet then, so why is he now? Well, fast forward 30 plus years from 1963, when he was found abandoned in a farmers field in Arizona, having been used for shooting practice by the farmer. He was found and imported to the UK by Wayne Tyas of Volksheaven. Wayne has since retired, but he was a very long-standing and well-known VW business in the UK. You can see the video he took of Bullet being found, within the photo history included. He was found with all the glass shot out and bullet ‘marks’ where he was used for shooting practice with an air rifle or some sort of gun. Fortunately, there are no holes, just the dents where the bullets hit him (or pellets, but that name wouldn’t quite have had the same ring to it, would it!?). Wayne rescued him and brought him home to the UK to sell as part of his business, where he specialised in VW bus sales and bus parts. He sold it to his first and only owner before us, a guy called Mike Smith who lived on the south coast of the UK in Weymouth. Mike is a passionate VW guy like we are and began the restoration. Bullet was, when found, (and still is!) extremely original and rot free in terms of his bodywork and underneath. Very little reconstruction was needed. The only structural welding that was needed was a repair to the front passenger side cab floor, which had an Alan Schofield panel grafted in by Mike as part of his initial restoration. The only other welding was to reinstate the bulkhead panel and to replace the rear wheel arches which were removed by someone in the US before he owned it – it had clearly had Carlos Fandango extra wide wheels put on it in the US at some point as the arches had been cut out to fit big, wide wheels – the other weird thing (which was common, apparently in the US back in the 70’s), is that a Chevrolet Corvair 6 cylinder aircooled engine was fitted to him and this remained in him when Mike collected Bullet. Mike even got it running, but decided to replace a VW engine back into him as parts for that engine are literally unavailable in the UK (thankfully!!!). The main focus of work was in reinstating the mechanical side of Bullet. He basically, got everything working and restored all the mechanical works. He also converted the front and rear of Bullet to Porsche 944 (non-turbo) brakes, so it has a full Porsche braking system and replaced all worn parts of the steering and suspension. In doing that he also converted Bullet to full Porsche 944 IRS at the rear and fitted a fully rebuilt Bears Motorsport 1600GT IRS gearbox. He also fitted a Gene Berg shifter to enable gears to be selected with a much more precise action and rebuilt all the windows and side opening Hehr windows so that Bullet was waterproof! He rebuilt a 1600 Engine too, and made a minimal wood panelled interior for Bullet. All of this initial work can be seen in the photo folder which shows it’s all been done. At this point, Mike decided he’d gone as far as he wanted to with Bullet, and that’s where we came in. Myself, (Matt) and Sarah McNulty have been fans of VW’s for most of our lives and in fact met through our mutual love of VW’s amongst other things. At this point I had a Karmann Ghia and had owned and restored multiple VW’s throughout my life, including a ’66 split bus to show winning condition, along with other classic cars. Sarah had also owned a Bay window VW bus and had always wanted a splittie so we decided to look for one. After an exhausting drive over a weekend looking at VW’s, including literally driving up to Scotland, then down to East Anglia, and then on to Weymouth I took one look at the solidity of Bullet and told Sarah ‘this is the one’. Now, I’m a fan of shiny classics so I was not looking particularly for a patina bus – However, I WAS looking for one in solid, no welding needed bodily condition, and all the so-called ‘welded’ and ‘restored’ buses in our price range were more like restoration projects in waiting. Underneath the paint I could sense loads of filler and that was not where I wanted to go, having been there way too many times in the past. Bullet was solid, rust-free, on his first paint, had not had any bodged welding or paintwork and so he was the one. He drove home from Weymouth back up to just south of Doncaster, taking 6 hours, all without any issue whatsoever, ironically, back to where he started in the UK, as Volksheaven was in Doncaster! He also went straight to Bug Jam and back the following week with no issues! We obviously wanted to put our own stamp on Bullet and over the ten years of our ownership we have. We used Bullet for our wedding, and so a full interior was designed using deep red cloth and grey vinyl materials by myself to compliment the wedding dress and bridesmaids outfits (or was it the other way around!). Me and Sarah built up the cabinets and bulk head seat and added it to the existing rock ‘n ‘ roll bed. A new headliner was also grafted in – all this interior work was made, including the side panels and fitted by Sam at Ken’s Kustoms and a fabulous job he did, too. This all came to over 4.5k. After 8 years of ownership and driving all over the place in Bullet, taking him to shows and generally driving him around and enjoying it, the engine was starting to get a little tired. So, we embarked on a massive overhaul scheme to the engine, fuel system and oil cooling system. The results of all that can be seen but main details are as follows; 2110cc engine built for torque and power at the low end by Danny Wharton at Reichspeed, as needed for a bus, in order to allow him to keep up with modern traffic and to be able to accelerate and overtake with ease. His power is not at the top end, it’s all at the lower end. That said, he will cruise easily at 70 mph which is probably as fast as you want to travel in a bus. He was properly set up on a dyno at John Sleath racing in Doncaster , where he made 104HP at the wheels, which according to john is approximately 130 engine HP. The main focus of the engine build was to use the best parts available and so you will see on the build list, Gene Berg, CB Performance, Scat, Jaycee, Mahle forged pistons/barrels, Engle cam, Dellorto carbs and various other top names in the VW performance world within the list of parts. This engine cost over 13k to build….and at todays prices, would be closer to 18K I suspect. It uses a brand new Autolinea aluminium case and top quality CB performance 4340 crank, with Scat H-bean conrods and the best bearings available from Silverline and Cleavite/Mahle. We collected the parts over 3 years and brought lots of parts, including the CB 044 Los Panchitos heads, back with us from our honeymoon in California! A type 25 engine lid hatch was also fitted which is extremely helpful when working on the engine, to give access from the top!!! A fully hardlined fuel pipework supply with all AN fittings, filters and flexis where necessary, was made, including a Holley fuel pump and regulator and a brand new Wolfberg West fuel tank. This was custom painted in a vintage burgundy VW colour along with the Gene Berg carb linkage and the tinware was also custom painted in VW grey as well. This all contrasts well with the Bright red anodised Jaycee parts. A relay system was fitted to the fuel pump so it cuts off in the event of any issues. The oil system was also all made using black teflon AN fittings, from Earls in the US and Torques in the UK. It features a Berg custom modified breather and AN fittings fitted to all breather outlets and inlets to the modified rocker covers, and via a full flow system consisting of Berg pressure relief oil pump and cover, to a Jaycee filter mount, using the correct fittings and pipework. The engine is additionally cooled by a Berg deep sump, with Jaycee oil plate on the base. Additionally, we have fitted Bullet with Spax adjustable shocks at the front and safari windows. The front calipers have just been rebuilt this year and fully powder coated in bright red. He has a gas stove inside, along with a sink and a rock’n’roll bed. The sink and gas stove are present but disconnected – the gas cylinder will be provided, so it can be reinstated. There are several items included to assist with camping such as silver, reflective heat shields for the side windows, a Buseyes front window cover, a stow away table and pillar, and a Westfalia style door canopy, all of which will be included. We haven’t been able to camp in him, recently, due to my ill health. That, coupled with a feeling that maybe its just time to move on, is why Bullet is now for sale – he has many, many years left in him, and so its time for someone else to enjoy him now. There is additional camping equipment available should the new buyer want it and we can discuss that at the time of sale.”