Interview with Francesca Dawson

Meet Francesca. The wonderful little lady who designed and refitted Rhubarb when she was only thirteen! We interviewed her back before we left on tour about her project.

So, Francesca, tell us a bit about this Camper.

It's a 1979 Devon Moonraker. My gran bought it originally and drove to Austria in it with her sisters. It has made it across Europe before! When I was little my family would spend weekends going up north in it with the dog. The last time we used it, I drove up to Ardnamurchan with my Dad.

Why did you decide to do it up?

When I was 13 or 14 and still at school we had to do a classic project over the year, with a practical element to it. Our family had always wanted to do up the van so I used that as an opportunity, and my dad helped loads.

Take me through how you did it?

We decided to take out, remake and replace everything as an original VW. If you look at other redesigns at places like Bug Jam, there are lots of people who completely change the way it is laid out; but actually we just restored everything. It was about making it back up to scratch. We changed the exterior aesthetic, the upholstery, the cabinets and carried out some bodywork.

When we first took it to Sam the mechanic, we realised there was a lot more rust that needed worked on, so we invested some money into that. The parts for the van are now made in Brazil, which is why the later models rust so much easier, because of the way the metals are made there. The metals are used to being in a hot climate. Not great for Scotland!

I then made all the tops and cabinets at my Dad's workshop. It meant that it was quite straightforward. We took the originals out one by one and laid them out so I could make a cutting list. I'd already chosen the wood (burr, maple and cherry) so it didn't take very long to make them.

Then I worked with a local upholsterer who helped with the seating. Before they were old brown tartan! There were lots of people involved in doing it up.

And what about the outside and the tartan?

I realised that I had to decide on the theme for the outside, and was wondering what would work with the van. At first, I was thinking about the late 70's, and almost went for checkerboard paint. Then I found out about vinyl wrapping and started thinking about tartan. While I was researching, I came across a website where you could create your own tartan. I stared choosing threads and colours; and played around until I found something I liked. It creates a digital image, which we then had professionally printed at a place called Eastern graphics. They fitted it swell for us, because it is curved and a pretty difficult job!

What were the biggest challenges?

Probably the biggest challenge was cleaning it. It was old, and passed through plenty owners before my gran had it. We used to have the spare wheel on the front too - but now you are not meant to have them on the road for safety.

What still needs to be done to it?

I guess 'learn to drive the van' is on there - need to tick that one off! There will always be parts that need done to it, like the curtains. I laugh now because it is so colourful. I think if I did it now then maybe I wouldn't have chosen those colours, but then it fits the van.