Fitment Fanatic

In a world where show Vans can easily become fair weather trophy traps, Luke Barton is here to prove you really can cook, clean, live, travel and win trophies in the same vehicle

- James Wallace

There it sat in the car park at The VolksWorld Show last year. Rear wheels obscenely tucked, with sidewall profiles so tiny the rims appeared to float like an ethereal being, barely contained by such angelic ’arches. The rear camber seemed scarcely believable, the spacing of the rear wheels so snug, so perfectly calculated that the stretched 35-section tyres sat within a gnat’s clearance of the rear ’arches, as did the lip of the limited edition Vossen wheels, moving more than a few passing visitors to comment that one or other would surely come to harm as the compressed air moved about the suspension system.

If you’re down with the kids, you’ll be fully aware that such exacting wheel, tyre and ’arch combos are referred to these days as fitment, while the uninitiated are more likely to refer to it as, “your Van’s broken, mate.” It’s not for everyone, but there’s no doubt that from an aesthetic point of view it sure does work well.

This clearly much-loved Campervan displayed a devotion to stance we’d rarely seen before on a Transporter, leading us to some persistent social media stalking, which revealed that Worksop-based Luke Barton’s Van is no show pony. Rather he uses this T5 all day, every day, come rain, snow or shine. Pics of his collective of Transporter pals saw them camping in the snow in temperatures way below zero in the Peak District, and many other places besides.

As a grafter in the building trade during the day, Luke’s Van was always going to follow a similar work ethic – one of self building – together with his bunch of like-minded pals who hang out at his mate, Phil’s workshop.

Tasty bit of Danish