A Lost Palomino

Paula writes

I used to own a 1979 VW Palomino and I am desperately trying to trace it. I would love to know what has become of it.

It was my first VW and I loved it so much, I didn't want to sell it but had to at the time as the engine blew and I just didn't have the money to get it repaired/replaced. I have regretted selling it ever since :-(

The registration number was UWL 359T.

My worst fear is that he has been butchered and sold for spares as his tax ran out in March and he is registered to trade, I am hoping that that is not the case and that hopefully someone is restoring him, I may never know.

Have you seen Boris?

The History of the Palomino

Phil Newman comments on another post...

I just came across the Palomino club whilst browsing. I used to work in the factory where these buses were built and thought you might be interested in some background.

Absolutely! I think to most of us, the background to these vans is obscure, and consists of what little scraps we've scavenged over the years.

The first Palominos were built by Bariban Motorhomes of Newton Abbot in Devon in 1979-80. We also built the Mercedes Autobahn and the VW Autostrada. The Palomino was a real eye-catcher when it was launched as no other VW bay at that time had such a grand high-top or luxurious interior.

The first of the original Bariban Palominos, based on the 2-litre Type 2’s, were produced in 1979. They were designed by Tony Dilnott . I remember being shown the prototype when I went for my interview in 1978 and production started soon after. The Palomino name came from the managing director who had an interest in all things equine. We only converted new bodies, produced in RH and a few LH drive and the only colour Bariban produced was white. The fibreglass roof was made to match that colour. The originals had ‘stylish’ stick on decal strips (go-faster stripes), but they were a bit guady and I doubt if many survived.

The production run was quite short because VW stopped producing Type 2s in 1979. However, the design was adapted for the new VW T25. The prototype for this model, whose roof was a cut-down of the earlier version, ran into problems when VW refused to guarantee the body of the van if it rolled, because for our design we had to cut out the large central roof bar. These had to be left in place in all future models, covered by carpet and used to support the upper bunks. If you own an original T25 palomino without a roof spar, then it could well be the prototype.

Before production of the T25 really got off the ground, Bariban went bust. Some months later, all the models, roof moulds and stock were bought at auction by a shady (dodgy) but likeable ‘geezer‘ from London who re-opened the works in May 1980 on a much reduced scale and called it Heritage Motorhomes. I was one of the first to be re-employed there and I remember preparing three vans, one of each model, as demonstrators which were photographed for the glossy brochures. I still have mine in the attic somewhere (I think). We ticked over for another 14 months producing a few T25s and a few Type 2s, usually for customers who brought their own second hand vans but rarely on new bodies.

Gradually, bills became unpaid and the bespoke suppliers who made the roofs, water tanks, metalwork, bunks etc stopped supplying us and the Newton Abbot factory closed in July 1981. The moulds for both types of Palomino roofs were moved to London where I believe roof conversions continued. I’d be interested to know what happened after that. I’m not sure if full conversions of interiors to the original spec also continued, but many of the components were fabricated in Newton Abbot so they would have had to replicate them somehow. Also, the furniture, faced with Afromosia veneer was hand-built and fitted by us at Newton Abbot so the new builders would have had to re-learn that too. For some reason the later Heritage conversions don’t have the black steel luggage racks on the front as on the the originals. The angle in the roof was especially designed to accommodate the rack and they look odd without it – perhaps they broke off or have been removed. If you own an all white Palomino on a 1979 (T or V) plate, then it’s likely to be one of the original Bariban production run. If the original body is any other colour, then it’s a Heritage conversion. I notice one or two examples in your gallery have no roof slit windows and these are definite roof only conversions, done after the Newton Abbot factory closed. The original roofs were seated onto the body with flanged rubber.

I hope this is of interest. Let me know if there’s anything else you need to know and I’ll try and remember. Its good to see a few the old buses that worked on are still on the road and appreciated by you guys.

Phil Newman (still of newton Abbot)

Thanks again Phil. It's absolutely fascinating to hear this information from someone who worked on these vans. I for one am thankful that your workmanship was so good that it's still going strong 30 years later!

An Original Palomino brochure

Somebody, whose name I have unfortunately mislaid (Apolgies!), has scanned this original brochure for the T2 palomino.

Two Palominos on ebay

Two Palominos on ebay this week - this rather rusty but mostly original specimen with the very rare air conditioning option, and this red, refurbished example.

(Yes, I am still alive, and so is my van!)

Your chance to join the Palomino club

And as I crawl out from my box packed with straw like a Blue Peter tortoise, I find the chance for one lucky bidder to join the Palomino club! Oh Yes!

palomino spotting

Tom's been spotting palominos hiding in the background of photos of inferior campers! Like here

headless

Gemma has sent in pictures of her purple palomino.





Meanwhile, on the fabulous tat bazaar that is ebay, someone has beheaded a Palomino and is selling the roof! I suppose if you wanted to convert an inferior van to a Palomino, this would be an excellent starting point.

Polly's prize progress

Kate and Guy have been doing up their camper Polly.



As you can see, they're keeping an eye on the ebay camper with the hope of getting some original curtains, but with her custom cushion, and by the look of it, a great deal of cleaning, Polly's showing some great progress. So much so that her and her friends at demon dubs won the best group show and shine prize at dubstock over the weekend.



Well done Polly!

Palominos in the summer

The slightly shabby Palomino that went unsold on ebay a few months back is for sale again, by someone else. They make the rather dubious claim that "the interior is still in pretty much original condition". If you want to see how ludicrous this is, take a look. But if you're desperate for a Palomino, there's a buy it now of five grand.

Meanwhile, at Glastonbury, where I terribly failed to meet up with Adrian and Clare, Pippa was spotting Palominos in the camper field.

Pippa wins a prize

Pippa has won a letter of the month prize from Camper and Bus magazine. It's a polishing kit, so it sounds more like punishment to me.

Polly the T25 Palomino

Kate and Guy have bought the T25 Palomino, built in 1982, recently seen on ebay. Here she is.




Unlike the T2 Palomino, the T25 appears to come with a bar in the roof, holding the sides out. Kate and Guy have used this to support a kid's bed, as their model came without the bunks.

Palomino Sales watch

This week, while I was distracted by the sun and uncovering my Palomino after the winter to consider how to fix his brakes, someone got a T25 Palomino off ebay for £2000 - a steal in anyone's book.

But if you're still looking for a Palomino, there's this slightly shabby example on ebay - it has some palomino features, but I'm not sure if it's not one of the sister vans, or whether it's been altered over the years. And if you're going to Glastonbury, it's practically there already.

Or there's Dominic's pristine example, available for £8495 - see his advert on dubs4sale. It is a bit orange though. See more pictures here

If anyone has any other pictures they'd like to share, email me at the address below, and I'll post them here.

Fame at last

Pippa's camper has been featuring in the press recently.

Read her reply to the article below

Thanks to Tom, our Belgian member, for emailing in the scans. (My scanner is still playing up)

A palomino in Belgium!

So spring is raising its head (well, I saw a daffodil), so it's time to pull off the winter covers and think about MOTs. And what better way to start with a new discovery - Tom writes from Belgium...

I'm from Belgium and after 3 years of driving a vw camper(79)with a boat-roof,i now know it's a Palomino camper!
I always thought the sticker on the back"palomino"was of a bar or a pub....and i removed it:(
Let's have a palomino meeting!!!!

And here are some pictures, including evidence of the sticker removal, and an impressive amount of stuff.

Vanfest - vantastic weekend

As well as taking her Palomino to Beachbuggin', and breaking it on the way back, Pippa also took it to Vanfest. She reports...

It was quite a contrast from the small, cosy, very 'local' Beachbuggin' to the vast, corporate, slick Vanfest. Luckily the weather was a total contrast too - it was a beautiful, warm and sunny weekend. There were literally thousands of vans there - so many that when we arrived on Friday afternoon, we were told there was a 3-hour wait to get into the camping fields. So what the heck - we started the partying in the holding area (if you're reading this, Sandie, hi to you Georgie and Bear the Van-cat!). Managed to get into a nice quiet spot at one of the far ends of the site, then headed into the crowds and spent a very lively evening dancing like a mad thing to Showaddywaddy (yes, I know!) and watching various other less famous musicians and entertainers.

Spent most of Saturday shopping in the hundreds of van-related stalls and shops - I was in heaven! You could get just about anything - and I bought just about everything: tea towels, mugs, bags and a smart new 'nose' for Claude (see pics!). And to top it off, we came across another Palomino! It's a beige and white one owned by Adrian and Claire, a lovely couple from the midlands, who came over for a drink and a Claude-visit that evening, before we went off to see the Commitments in the big marquee, then on to a bit of drink-driving on the dodgems.

We did the rounds of the fantastic show-vans on Sunday morning, then in the afternoon, Adrian and Claire brought their Palomino round for a little photo shoot, before we drove out of the show in a 2-van convoy. Someone stopped us to take pictures of our two vans, and it turned out he owns a former Palomino that has been 'beheaded' in favour of a dormobile roof!! Tut tut! We'd been told there was a third Palomino at Vanfest, but it was at the other end of the huge site (about 20 minutes away) and we only just caught a glimpse of its unmistakable roof as we were in the exit queue - shame we missed that!

We had a really great weekend - everyone was so friendly ( I got a hug from a complete stranger within 10 minutes of getting out of the van!) and again, Claude got loads of interest and compliments from neighbouring van-owners - people really do like Palominos! Adrian and Claire were saying how good it would be to get a few Palominos together for next year's Vanfest, and I agree - I'd love it! You can even reserve your own club camping area! Anyone interested?

Beachbuggin - the show must go on

Pippa writes to tell me of her Palomino trip to Beachbuggin

Firstly, I think I deserve a medal for being the most dedicated Palomino owner of all time - I didn't realise that Southsea was nearly 500 miles away!( I think you need to invest in satnav - I've checked and it's only about 250 miles from Lincolnshire) Despite his mammoth trek from the very north of Lincolnshire to the very south of the country, Claude behaved well all the way there - just a pity the weather didn't!

By the time my sister and I reached the camping field at Horndean, the weather was just about at typhoon status, and half the campsite had to come out in the pouring rain to help us two damsels in distress battle with an awning that was trying to drag us all off in the general direction of the English channel. The organisers gave up with the entertainments marquee, and fearing the band would be electrocuted, we all decamped to the local pub for what turned out to be a great evening.

After a bit more awning-wrestling in the morning, we joined the line-up and drove down to Southsea in a big VW convoy, just as Alex described a while ago - vans, beach-buggies, beetles, Karmann Ghias, everything - a really diverse group of about 80 vehicles. Miraculously, when we got there, the rain stopped and it stayed dry and warm all day - it even got a tiny bit sunny at one point! Joined everyone else at first wandering around the parking area nosing at all the other vans, beetles etc, looked at a few stalls and bought some new shiny wing mirrors, then we went back to Claude for our lunch.

After that, we couldn't get away for ages - people were literally queuing up to ask about Claude and have a look inside, from a group of blokes with notebooks asking technical questions I couldn't answer (and yes, I can swear to you they DID have anoraks on!) to other van owners interested in how I'd done the interior, to several families and couples thinking about getting a van of their own - the Palomino's unique looks certainly get some attention! Claude attracted loads of compliments, and quite a few people were taking pictures inside and out, which does wonders for your ego, for some reason! The only down side was that there were no other Palominos there - pity Alex and Co couldn't go - next year maybe!

When we did get to look round the show, I really enjoyed it - it was small, but I loved the mix of vehicles, and there was even a collection of Vespas and Lambrettas, which I had to go and see, because I've just got myself a '61 Italian 150cc Vespa. I can't ride it yet, but I'm working on it!

Just one thing spoiled the weekend - despite behaving so impeccably on the journey down, Claude started playing up as we were heading back up north. In the end, we had to stop just 35 miles from home and the old boy finished his journey on the back of a recovery truck. I'm now £277 poorer, but all in all, Beachbuggin was a really enjoyable trip - let's just hope for better weather next year!

Thanks Pippa. If anyone fancies joining this exclusive club, you can. The membership fee? A mere 14 grand. Actually, if anyone wants to pay that much, I could be persuaded to part with my near original example!

Your chance to join the palomino club

This week on ebay, a Palomino in not quite pristine condition. Obviously, I shall be declaring a fatwa on the author of the advert, who describes it as "ugly betty", but in the meantime, the bidding stands at £435.

a palomino at Glastonbury?

As I was driving back from the mudfest of Glastonbury, I spotted a red Palomino heading London-bound on the A303. It had a N-reg plate, so it might have been the earliest Palomino I've seen, or perhaps just running on older plates. Unfortunately, as a law-abiding citizen, I couldn't take a photo of it while overtaking!

Meanwhile, my van is still sat on the drive, waiting for a few minor bits of welding to pass its MOT.

Summer time and the living is easy

As Alex rightly points out, summer appears to be here, and so it's time for both Palominos and lesser campers to be woken from hibernation.

He also asks if anyone has an awning. Fortuitously, Pippa has sent me a picture of just that. Roj and Mandy have one, and they've asked how to join the palomino club.

Roj and Mandy, I've good news for you. Owning a Palomino, and asking is all you need to do! (Non-owners, by discretion). Hopefully you can find something useful here.

Here are the pictures

Rebirth of a Palomino

James writes to me. He's got a Palomino that makes mine look like a showroom condition Bentley. He's started on the long process of restoring it, despite it having no front seats, side door, or engine.

Unfortunately, it seems that before he discovered that his £400 van was a mighty Palomino, he'd stripped the rotten interior and removed the roof with the intention of turning it into a common or garden pop-top camper.

Hopefully his recent discovery will save this sinner, and restore him to the true path of righteousness.

You can see his photos here. Hopefully, the next set of photos will show that he seen the light, and put the roof back on! Or read about his progress (Registration required)