’61 Devon Deluxe - Chris Lambourne
With Volksworld just around the corner we thought we’d turn the clocks back five years and highlight a previous project that was shown at the event in Esher in 2019.
Chris Lambourne first got his hands on this ’61 Devon Deluxe back in 1995. It’s seen plenty of action, both on the drag strip and at parties, as well as its fair share of cruising around Cornwall too. It’s also seen drama, at one point having flipped and slid on its roof before bursting into flames.
Chris has been ever-increasing the performance over the years, going from a 2007cc twin-carb motor back in 2000, turbocharging the Bus a decade later when it produced 255bhp.
Roll on another ten years and Chris had a wealth of parts fitted, with an ever more powerful engine seeing 425bhp on tap using regular fuel. But switching over to ‘race’ mode and running 109 octane race fuel with 18psi boost saw this street-driven Bus reach north of 570bhp!
It was at this stage that Chris booked the Bus in to Lloyd Jackson at Deluxe Metalwork to ensure everything was super straight, before tasking ourselves with the job of making it look better than ever.
The black is from the Porsche colour chart, and as the same as used on the limited edition Sport Classic range. But we mixed up the pale grey ourselves to refresh and liven up what was the original off-white top half. Black is known as a tough colour to work with, and the Buses long flat panels will only highlight the smallest of imperfections. But equally we feel it showed just how good our work is with our trademark ‘mile deep’ finish shining like a mirror in the light.
Andy: “We completed this project back in 2019 and it was a real labour of love. The team here at Spikes sunk over 1,000 hours into finishing this van, and we were all really proud of the results of our labour. It was displayed at the VolksWorld Show after it was finished, and overhearing comments as people walked past, we lost count of how many labelled it ‘the straightest Bus they’d ever seen’. We think that was a fitting tribute to the quality of workmanship involved.”
The Bus won a Top 20 award, before going on to pick up another at Le Bug Show in Spa-Francorchamps. But this was never a build to pick awards, but rather to create the best Bus possible that Chris could enjoy with mates, yet still drive hard and fast.
Photo credits: VolksWorld