1973 Volkswagen Transporter T2 Doka (crew cab)

Registration no. SCW 792L Chassis no. 2632204754

Footnotes

This '73 Volkswagen T2 Doka was originally supplied new to the Swedish Railway Company for use around one of their maintenance depots. Never road registered, very little is known of its past life until being discovered by the vendor in a barn during a trip to Belgium in 2015.

Complete but without an engine or gearbox, it was purchased & subsequently shipped back to the UK ready for a strip down.

Although running a successful VW restoration business specialising in campers & vans, this build was for his own personal use, so no expense was spared in the rebuild.

The idea was to completely restore, keeping very much the original VW T2 looks, but to add a few subtle improvements to create a cool truck.

Once stripped, the Transporter was found to be in great condition with very little rust. The chassis was blasted and painted, and all body panels very carefully conserved & repaired where needed.

Inner wheel arches all round were cut and re-boxed to allow for wheel clearance with the lowered suspension. Suspension is fully adjustable all round for ride height & damping and gives a very subtle ride on undulating country roads. No over stiff banging & clanking ride here.

The engine was professionally rebuilt to 2.1-litres utilising the flat four, type 4, 914 Porsche derived engine. It contains a lightened & balanced bottom end with pistons to match, breathes through twin 36mm Dellorto carbs on custom built inlet manifolds. It has a 911 cooling fan to keep temperatures under control, a digital distributor which can be adjusted via blue tooth & also incorporates an immobiliser, again Bluetooth controllable.

All this is finished off with a bespoke stainless-steel manifold and exhaust system & it's estimated that the complete package now puts out up to 160 bhp.
The gear box has been upgraded using a 2.0L box which too has been fully rebuilt and has a higher 4th gear to give increased cruising speeds, indeed 70 – 80 mph has been suggested.
Brakes remain standard but work extremely well & have braded hoses throughout.

The interior is completely new with the bench seats being custom built. It retains it's '70s feel throughout which just adds to the whole ethos of this rebuild.

An electronic speedo has been fitted; it retains the original look but incorporates a digital odometer which currently reads only 1470 miles & that's pretty much all it's done since this fabulous restoration.