Fifty Shades Of Dub #4

Last week it was Peppa's turn, but this week it's all about.....

Freebird ii

The day I collected Freebird ii

Owned by

Louie and of course Abbie & Jake.

Freebird ii is a rather lovely looking, tell us more about her

My Bay Freebird ii, is a T2, Westy.  2ltr Fuel Injection engine, automatic.  Left Hand Drive.  Was imported into Ireland by John Hickey of www.krazykombis.com via Kieft en Klock in the Netherlands, and originally from sunny California.

How long have you owned Freebird ii?

I've owned Freebird ii since April 2007.  I bought my first VW Campervan the previous year, but it was one of those, first van I saw I had to have, but there was far too much work to be done on her so I had to let her go.  She came with the name Freebird, hence Freebird ii had to be the name for my new van!  

The colour is fading a bit now on Freebird ii and the rust patches are starting to show through, so before too long she's going to need a good coat of paint and, but for now, I'll just stick with the turning 'rat' look!   Interior is still as she came out of the factory in 1974. 

Where do you think your #dublove began?

We grew up with vintage cars in the family, my dad is a fanatic, so I suppose it was inevitable that the vintage bug would be passed on in the genes.  

What do you use Freebird ii for?

She's not my daily driver, but I do drive her very regularly, I'd have her out most weekends, and camp with my club www.type2ireland.org most months.  My kids absolutely love driving around in Freebird.  Abbie is now 10 and Jake is 6, he has been camping since he was around nine months old, and neither of them can get enough of it!!!  

Abbie & Jake

My husband isn't too much of a fan of the camping life so my friend Fi generally comes around with us, and he's more than happy to have us disappear off for weekends! However I did manage to convince him that we should use Freebird ii as our wedding car in 2008.  I prayed she wouldn't let us down that day, and thankfully she drove like a dream! 

So Louie, tell us about some of the Irish VW events you go to?

I organise an annual charity run for vintage vw's called Eireball.  We travel around Ireland for a week fundraising for different charities.  This year was the 7th run, and over the past 6 years we have raised over €50,000 for charity.  I won't say too much about the run on this post as I'll be doing a guest blog on Eireball for Custard Campers shortly.

Eireball

Aside from Eireball, one of my favourite VW event in Ireland is the music festival Vantastival .  This year was the 3rd year of Vantastival and makes the VW vans part of the show.  However, all campervans are welcome along with Tents of all shapes and sizes!!!  Freebird ii has also been over to the Isle of Man for their Circle Yer Wagons event, which is held annually in May.  The Isle of Man VW club are a great bunch and made us feel very welcome.  Hopefully I'll get over to this one again shortly.

me with Freebird ii at Vantastival 2012

Fi & I taking part in Vantastival Camper Cook off

And finally Louie, when your not busy playing with your dub,  what do you do?

When I'm not dubbin I work as an accounts manager at our family business, Barry Design and Print   I'm also the face behind their  facebook and twitter (@barrydesignweb) pages.  Why not like and follow the pages where you can read more adventures of Freebird ii.    

I also tweet and Facebook for the Eireball Run.   You can find out all about the Eireballing adventures by following along there too! 

Oops I'm sure all us van owners have a few pics like this!

Thanks very much Freebird ii (& Louie) for letting us feature you this week, if you'd like to appear with your dub just shout  Custard Campers,  vw campervan hire Essex.  We'd love to hear from you.

Kerry x