Fanofthevan - Steve Rooker´s 1955 samba

torsdag 30 juli 2026

It is the year 2023

Last post on the blog was in 2017

This is an attempt to catch up, explain why there is a huge gap and to somehow continue the story

tisdag 30 maj 2017

Headlining and sunroof is done !

This headlining business is something that has been whirling around in my head for years, ever since I picked up the samba... its a big job that needs to be done right....

Here in Sweden the options to get a professional to install a headlining correctly are low, The VW seen here is mainly diy types which is great, but also means that companies are not specializing or have much experience when it comes to the dreaeded 23 window headliner fitting !
well compared to the UK that is, which is of course what I compare everything with. In the UK you have the best in the business and many companies to choose from who all have installed many headliners and sunroofs on window buses...

So for the last few years I have been checking headlining out on buses in Scandinavia, met owners who have done it them selves and looked at the details and if it worked. Problem is you can always see that it is a diy job... I contemplated doing it myself many times too, read all there was on the net about it but in the end I bit the bullet and decided that it was worth getting a pro job... but at what cost ?
I had thought about asking a talented trimmer to come to the garage to install, maybe from the UK but it does take a lot of time and normally they want to do it at their pace and in their own work shop with their tools, which I can totally understand.

Late in 2016 I started asking around and narrowed it down to 2 places in the Stockholm area who seemed good enough to do the Job, in the end I went for a guy who I knew 1st hand of his work, it was a guy called Pedro who runs an interior business for boats and cars downtown Stockholm. I also knew that he had done a pretty tidy Job on lelles sunroof, so I made contact, sent many pictures and began preparing all the parts. Soon he said he had a window of time and that I could bring the bus over one sunday - so we did that.

dropping off

Lewis helping and Travis snapping

The Sunroof I had been picking apart and had already purchased most of the sunroof parts needed:

New front header bow - vw sunroofs
Outer stay-fast cloth sunroof
new slides and fasteners
I had also sanded and painted the steel bows and polished up the aluminum bows.
Id had the golde sunroof handle re chromes in the UK THANKS to Baz.
and I had purchased a whole new headlining in the correct cream/ beige material.

So at the end of March this year it was time to bundle the lot together and trailer the bus to Stockholm.
Just before I checked all the parts using the vw sunroof website and realized I was missing a few things, so I searched around and found the parts and quickly arranged fast shipping as I didnt want to delay Pedro in his work, they came 10 days later due to it being Easter ! Doh !

Niklas giving me a hand collecting and wrapping

Initially Pedro quoted about 10-15000 SEK....
In the end the bill just for labour was over double that and he calculated that he had spent 60 hours on the whole job. But its done and im happy, next put the thing back togther starting with 23 windows to install ; )

lördag 29 april 2017

The return of the space cowboy

A year since the last time I blogged about VW buses, my samba build and the stuff I do.

SO WHATS BEEN HAPPENING ?

Unfortunately the end of my marriage, 13 years came to an end, it felt like a bit of a life wipeout.

But what to do... - its easy to get caught up in the loss of a long relationship, but time heals all, turn the page and well I guess, you always have to just look on the bright side of life and I often think to myself that we are all so very lucky to even be here.

That's me in the underground garage at minicars, trying to remove the knicks and polish up a bit of the old original sunroof parts, I did manage to save and use a suprising amount of the parts, some others i had to source.

Boys enjoying the racing and weekends away

champ

A lot of racing went on at this time, I was feeling quite stressful all of last year, the separation, the racing, taking care of the boys, keeping there little Minimoto race bikes at the top and all that, it was all a lot to deal with and often I felt exhausted and overwhelmed. It is a busy time for a newly single dad, but we got through it, and made a lot of nice memories those years, especially with Travis and Lewis.

I took a trip with Esty to Madrid, met Manuel...c ! and we all had a great time at Marias wedding, dancing the night away, much needed and a bit of a moment, and a realisation that I was getting on with life, it feels very strange being single.

I Lost my Grandma Ruby on 5th august 2016 - RIP

another blow .....

Life, however sad when someone dies, does indeed go on. below, Getting on with it - this is a photo of my brother chris, laura and Poppy his daughter, who we managed to hang out with while visiting the UK.

Over in the UK 2016 - Rookers together again

us lot, all enjoying meeting up and hanging out.

below...

Me and Trish, along with chicken Joe and his mum and dad, all watching Paul Heaton and Jacqui Abbott in Thetford forest - It was very good.

Travis and Lewis did great in their first ever championship -Travis came second in the Swedish championship . Pic below is us 3 coming home from the last epic race of the season.

I finally found a place in august and moved in - The boys were not so keen on the place, but it met the needs, we spent 6 months living here, it was big enough, the right price, but a bit cold during the winter and a bit strange and isolated, we lived above a garage in an industrial area - we went with it and made the most of the situation, the boys were great.

Christmas 2016 and 2017 new year, me and the boys flew home to Cambridge, the first Christmas ever in the UK, looking forward to spending more with the Rooker family in the future. we had a lovely time, no stress, and celebrated Barry turning 40 ! a good night was had by all

we flew home on new years day.

2017 A turning point !

Things started to feel much more positive after visiting family and friends at Christmas

I had plenty of visits over the next few months and the samba moved forwards and I found a nice house to rent, somewhere that felt like a home - We moved in at the end of March 2017.