What is your favourite current colour?

[Maud]

Hello Maud

I've been thinking about getting a Bungee these last few days do you think it has helped you in lowering the roof having just read Granny Jen's post.

Steve & Gill

Hi Steve and Gill,

I had the bellows bungee ready and waiting before Ariadne arrived and I'm glad I did as once fitted, you can instantly see the effect it has, pulling the bellows in and it also makes the roof fold up more evenly, allowing the sliding hatch to be closed without having to manually push all the fabric out of the way. I do feel more confident about putting the roof down with the bungee on, but as Jen's experience shows, it's certainly not infallible.

I would say the bungee is definitely a worthwhile purchase - it is very low cost compared to many other accessories and, once in place, it just stays put so no need to keep removing and refitting it.

Maud

 

[stevieb]

Hi Steve and Gill,

I had the bellows bungee ready and waiting before Ariadne arrived and I'm glad I did as once fitted, you can instantly see the effect it has, pulling the bellows in and it also makes the roof fold up more evenly, allowing the sliding hatch to be closed without having to manually push all the fabric out of the way. I do feel more confident about putting the roof down with the bungee on, but as Jen's experience shows, it's certainly not infallible.

I would say the bungee is definitely a worthwhile purchase - it is very low cost compared to many other accessories and, once in place, it just stays put so no need to keep removing and refitting it.

Maud

Thanks for that looks like a Bungee will be our next purchase.
Steve & Gill

 

[GrannyJen]

Hello Maud

I've been thinking about getting a Bungee these last few days do you think it has helped you in lowering the roof having just read Granny Jen's post.

Steve & Gill

Sometimes nothing will stop the bellows being pinched, but what I will say is having lowered the roof a couple of dozen times in strong winds it kept the bellows safe, until this morning.

I would consider one indispensable.

 

[motacyclist]

It was very gusty. I was in and out of the vehicle inching the top down. I have a bungee. Just at a critical point a gust caught the bellows. I thought I had managed to catch it but when I arrived tonight I noticed two small nicks in the fabric

Friday 13th isn't it?

Silver, to get back on topic.

 

[mucksmuff]

If only they done a pure grey cali..

 

[stevieb]

Sometimes nothing will stop the bellows being pinched, but what I will say is having lowered the roof a couple of dozen times in strong winds it kept the bellows safe, until this morning.

I would consider one indispensable.

Thanks for that just purchased one on the Vw California website.
Steve & Gill

 

[GrannyJen]

Black, to get back on topic

 

[calikev]

Black bellows bungee

 

[GrannyJen]

I need three of them after this morning

 

[GrannyJen]

Thanks for that just purchased one on the Vw California website.
Steve & Gill

You have made a wise purchase

A bit calmer, cold light of a new day, I had a good look at my "mangled" roof bellows. I had to look hard to even find the two nicks, they are so small and insignificant. A lucky escape.

I am now certain it would have been a lot worse without the bellows bungee. The bellows were really catching the wind when it happened, being on my own it was a question of check, lower a few inches, check, lower .....

I think a lot more canvas would have been caught up had the bungee not been there.

 

[Bramco]

I don't get this GrannyJen. I thought in another post you said the butler was tagged - has he done a runner?
Wasn't he on hand to help?
And on topic - Black. Looks immaculate clean and as I think I said earlier and someone else posted recently about 5 minutes after it was immaculate it looks as though it has been on an adventure.

 

[stevieb]

Hello Jen

My wife is in awe of you with your travels and your bravery. We travel to Scotland nearly every June and we know what the weather can be like then let alone winter. So pleased you didn't have a major disaster with the bellows.
Stay safe.

Steve & Gill

 

[GrannyJen]

I don't get this GrannyJen. I thought in another post you said the butler was tagged - has he done a runner?
Wasn't he on hand to help?
And on topic - Black. Looks immaculate clean and as I think I said earlier and someone else posted recently about 5 minutes after it was immaculate it looks as though it has been on an adventure.

The Butler is for buttling, not chasing after Albert and myself when we are away enjoying ourselves.

Black is one of those colours that soon looks travel stained, but would make no difference to me as anything I had would end up that way

 

[GrannyJen]

Hello Jen

My wife is in awe of you with your travels and your bravery. We travel to Scotland nearly every June and we know what the weather can be like then let alone winter. So pleased you didn't have a major disaster with the bellows.
Stay safe.

Steve & Gill

Thank you to your wife but it is hardly bravery, not when I used to carry everything I needed for a Scottish winter in a rucksack and go wandering up the mountains

Both my Sisters and my children are convinced that far from losing my marbles I was born without any in the first place

My incident with the bellows just proves that their is no substitution for a mark 1 eyeball check to ensure all is going down properly. had I not done so it would have been serious damage, and I freely admit that having the bellows was leading me to becoming complacent.

 

[cpjb@btinternet.com]

I always stick my head through the hatch now and with one finger on the close button pull in the sides with the other free hand alternating from one side to the other until safely past the danger point, being careful to duck my head before it gets trapped!!

I've being doing this for ages now, and averts the need to walk round the van checking during the process. Seems to be fail safe if you can get the hang of it.

 

[Borris]

Yesterday, my wife Paddy and I agreed to buy a one month old pearlescent black California Se with all of our preferred options. When we started looking, black would have been the last colour we would have chosen. However as we didn't want to wait for ever for a more expensive T6 and the supply of new or nearly new T5 180dsg 4motions seems to be rapidly drying up, it was a case of the Henry Fords. "You can have it in any colour you like as long as it is black"
Still, whilst I know it's going to be challenge to keep it looking half decent, the colour is growing on us. We would have preferred either Candy White or Natural Grey.
We are both in our sixties and the Cali was dealer fitted with the sport line front splitter and stainless side pipes before we saw it (neither would have been on our options list). We are hoping it will turn back the years. Perhaps reversed baseball caps? At our time of life beige is also becoming strangely attractive.

 

[GrannyJen]

It looks lovely.

Let's face it, any colour of Cali is lovely as long as it's a Cali. It's all about what you do with it, not how you look at it, although my winsome "in love" looks towards Albert have been noticed

 

[CaliforniaBen]

Shocked to see Natural grey as the most popular colour, it is not exactly a fun and holiday-feeling colour is it? you would never ever have seen a grey Bay or spitty (unless it was primer)

Bring back more fun colours

 

[Alan]

My opinion
There's nothing smarter than a shining black Cali,just hard work keeping it that way
I use to own a black v8 Pilot and the pleasure that gave me seeing it clean and shiny was quite a buz .......

 

[jess]

Glad to see Blackberry in second place

 

[Borris]

My opinion
There's nothing smarter than a shining black Cali,just hard work keeping it that way
I use to own a black v8 Pilot and the pleasure that gave me seeing it clean and shiny was quite a buz .......

I can clearly remember being terrified whilst sliding from one side to the other on the shiny brown leather seats of my grandfathers sage green Ford V8 pilot whilst he cornered at speed. This was whilst on holiday in 1950s Cornwall. I would have been three or four years old. No seat belts then.
Regarding the paint, I have been advised to use Autoglym's Aqua wax. The Cali was treated to Autoglym's life shine by the dealer so just maybe that will help to make cleaning a little easier.

 

[estresao]

Sunny yellow..... even for cloudy days

 

[Meoncoast]

+1 for more fun colours.

I often see a car and think " that would make a nice camper colour".

 

[estresao]

Tha's what I think.... mybformer Passat was pearl effect grey, my previois one was black, but my Cali got to have Cali's color

 

[Alan]

Shocked to see Natural grey as the most popular colour, it is not exactly a fun and holiday-feeling colour is it? you would never ever have seen a grey Bay or spitty (unless it was primer)

Bring back more fun colours

Agree that the colours on the classic VWs looked fantastic specially the two tones, but your modern day Cali colour is suited to shape and design together with current trends.
Would a classic camper look the same in metallic paint ?

" Natural grey.".....Fantastic colour