As photographers, documenting and encapsulating moments in time is what we do right? And one of my favourite things when it presents itself is an impromptu vehicle photoshoot and the conversation that sometimes follows with its’ owner. During late September 2023, I was lucky enough to have one of these moments, when I spotted this 60’s Volkswagen transporter driving through Croyde village, and wondered where it would park up. After walking down to the beachfront, sure enough I spotted it in the pay and display off Moor lane and set about capturing some shots.

As in an earlier van blog, it was definitely a case of being in the right place at the right time, the sun was out, strong but providing good light, and the van was parked solo, which made it easier to isolate for photographs.

After an enlightening conversation with it’s owner Jason, I learnt that it is a 1963 Californian import LHD original splitscreen bus. He mentioned that he had imported it around eight years ago and that the paint was all original, with minimal corrosion showing on the roof, but the original patina certainly adds to the van’s aesthetics and look.

Being a ‘63 van it’s enjoying it’s sixtieth year in 2023, and when it drove past me it sounded simply awesome. He had undertaken a 5 hour plus drive to meet his mates for a weekend away, something I can definitely relate to and regularly do with my mates when travelling to the North Devon coastline. Jason mentioned that the van didn’t miss a beat and with him being a prop maker by trade, which has seen him work on major film productions including the Harry Potter franchise, Star Wars and the Bond films, Jason is obviously very skilled when it comes to hands on work and thus maintains his van himself.

It was great to spend a short time discussing vans, surf, coastlines, film and prop making with Jason, cheers for taking the time out and to offer a few portraits to a random bloke with a camera and let me capture some photographs of your van. It was definitely one of my photo highlights from the day. All photo’s from this session were taken on my Canon R6 coupled with the excellent EF 70-300mm f4-5.6 IS USM L Series Lens.

I’m always stoked to add more classic Volkswagens to my vehicle portfolio and it’s great to see vans of this age being used properly as they were intended and still going strong after 60 years! I’m sure it will have many more coastal trips to enjoy in the future.

If you are interested check out more of my automotive blogs posts to see more vehicles I’ve photographed recently.

Thanks for taking the time to read this latest post, and if you have enjoy it feel free to leave a like or comment, which are always much appreciated.

Have a great week and look out for my next post dropping soon.