We’ve achieved a massive amount over the past 12 months, and Boxing Day is the perfect time to sit back and reflect on everything we’ve done during 2022.
There's certainly a lot more which could be added to this list, but it's already pretty long, so here it is - some of our biggest achievements and most fun moments from the past year:
Attended dozens of different VW shows, in the UK and Europe
We've been to dozens of VW shows this year, both across the UK and in Europe.
Just Kampers has always been a big supporter of the UK show scene, and we'll continue to be going forward. We traded second-hand parts and accessories at Stonor Park in 1990, and haven’t stopped sponsoring, trading at and visiting VW shows since then!
Here’s a handful of show reports from a few of our favourite events of the year:
JK Show Report: European Bug-In 2022
JK Show Report: Hessisch Oldendorf 2022
JK Show Report: Classics at the Clubhouse 2022
We added over 1,500 new products to our range
Since 1 January 2022, well over 1,500 new lines have been added to our ever-growing range of parts and accessories. With everything from cab door hinge pins through to Solar Charging Screens, we’ve added more to our shelves recently than we have for a long time, which is exciting.
Here’s a few of our favourite new items from 2022:
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A Pair Of Auto Wares Convex Mirrors VW T2 Bay 1967-1979From £3.60 Regular Price £4.00
To £109.80 Regular Price £122.00
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Light Lens Refurb Kit VW T2 Bay 1971-1972From £7.20 Regular Price £8.00
To £93.28 Regular Price £103.75
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Tinware Bundle Kit Twin Port 1300-1600cc VW Beetle 1971 onFrom £12.60 Regular Price £14.00
To £262.23 Regular Price £291.40
Tested dozens of new products at JK HQ
We don’t stock parts which we haven’t tested ourselves, and so adding so many new products to our range meant a massive amount of testing and inspections went on in the workshop at JK HQ this year.
Just outside our main warehouse and office building is a two-vehicle workshop with a ramp, and a mezzanine above one half for storage - if you’ve watched any of our how-to videos, you’ll have seen our test workshop.
There’s been a flurry of activity there this year, as we restored a number of vehicles, converted a campervan, and tested countless parts to ensure they’re up to the right standard.
Created 7,063 Preservation Parts panels at JK HQ
We had to double check the numbers, but we really did create over 7,000 panels for our Preservation Parts range on-site at Just Kampers during 2022, which is amazing.
Each of these panels is hand-made by a team with decades of experience, who operate from an adjoining unit to ours, which certainly makes delivery times nice and short!
Click here to take a look at a video we shot this summer about our exclusive Preservation Parts panels, and the team behind them, or watch it below.
Celebrated 10 years of Preservation Parts
Speaking of Preservation Parts, this July we celebrated ten whole years of Preservation Parts, which is an amazing milestone.
Preservation Parts is our range of best quality parts and accessories, hand-picked by the JK Team to ensure the outstanding fit, quality and standards, so you know you’re buying the best.
Switched our sales phone line off… and then turned it back on again!
Here’s a potentially controversial one. Earlier this year, with 3DS2 looming large, we made the decision to cease taking orders by phone.
3DS2 means all payments now require two authentication methods, and payment can’t be taken over the phone because of this. Instead, an authentication code has to be generated and sent to you to confirm the payment, which helps to keep you and your money safe.
With us no longer being able to fully process orders for you over the phone, we made the difficult decision back in May to switch off our sales line, but keep our trade sales and customer service lines open.
However, we’ve spent a lot of time going through the feedback you’ve sent us since then, and recently reopened our sales phone line. You can now once again reach the JK Team on 01256 86 22 88 to place an order - you’ll just have to confirm it via the payment link sent to your email address before we can pick, pack, and post it out to you.
Judging by the number of calls we’ve had since then, this has been a popular move, and we’ve had two new members of the JK Team join our sales team on the phones, as well as answering your live chat questions and email.
Mike and Will had been working in our warehouse team, but have moved into our sales office and are doing great work chatting with everyone and getting them the parts they need for their VWs.
Launched an exclusive portable solar panel
Speaking of parts, we launched a number of new JK exclusive products this year, including our JK Solar Charging Screen.
A portable, foldable 120W solar panel setup which can be mounted to the inside or outside of your vehicle’s windscreen as easily as it can be stowed away with the rest of your gear and taken on adventures, our exclusive JK Solar Charging Screen has been massively popular this year.
It’s great to be able to design and produce a product we’re passionate about, and to then see it get such a great reception when we launch it.
Published about 45 how-to guides
We’ve done quite a lot of writing this year, with thousands of words and dozens of blog posts dedicated to helping you with everything from fixing oil leaks through to what to look out for if you’re shopping for a VW T2 Bay.
There’s a huge amount of knowledge and experience within the JK Team, but it’s not doing any good unless we share what we know, which is why we keep on creating how-to guides, tech sheets and helpful posts on the JK Community site.
Filmed around 35 different how-to videos
It wasn’t just blog posts we used to give you information on how to tackle different jobs on your camper - we shot about 35 different how-to videos, for our YouTube channel, too!
From relatively simple things like replacing the wing mirrors on your VW T2 Bay with some convex mirrors from Autowares, through to more daunting projects like installing a gas and water system to your camper, we’re definitely going to be keeping this going in the new year.
Converted a camper for less than £10,000
A lot of the how-to videos we shot this year were part of our Project 22 van conversion, which saw us turn an entry-level VW T6.1 into a dream camper.
We filmed each stage of the process, and put together a whole playlist of how-to videos on our YouTune channel, which will give you the information and confidence you’ll need to tackle these jobs yourself.
Click here to learn more about Project 22, or you can check out the YouTube playlist here.
Restored a gorgeous 1950 Dannenhauer & Stauss
Another big project this year was finishing the restoration on the JK D&S, a coachbuilt beauty from 1950.
We’d bought the D&S back in 2019, but the majority of the restoration work was carried out in 2022 in time for the VolksWorld Show.
There’s too much to say about the Dannenhauer & Stauss here, but click here if you’re keen to learn more.
The JK D&S actually won the People’s Choice Award at the 2022 Goodwood Open Day
As well as scooping up a prize at the VolksWorld Show, our Dannenhaur & Stauss also won the prestigious People’s Choice award at the Goodwood Road Racing Club (GRRC) Open Day at Goodwood House.
Our D&S was one of 40 cars which were hand-picked to attend, and received the most votes from other attendees as their favourite vehicle on display.
A huge amount of hard work went into the restoration of the gorgeous old Dannenhaur & Stauss, both from the JK Team and our friends, so it was amazing to be invited to the Goodwood Open Day and even more incredible to win an award while there.
Click here to read more about the Goodwood Open Day and our D&S’ award win.
Shone a light on some of our female colleagues for International Women’s Day
About a third of the JK Team are women, and this year for International Women’s Day we chatted to them about what it’s like to be a woman working in the automotive industry, how they developed an interest in cars both classic and modern, and all sorts of other topics.
Throughout the week we spoke to Amber, Caz, Gemma, George, Heidi, Leanne and Lorah.
Celebrated Drive Your VW to Work Day
An event which has been going strong for years now, Drive Your VW to Work Day was a great opportunity for those of us who’s Volkswagens aren’t in dozens of pieces to drive them into work and
park them up together for some photos.
Hopefully for Drive Your VW to Work Day more of the JK Team will have finished our project vehicles, and we’ll be able to fill our yard up with even more VWs!
Click here to check out some of our photos from Drive Your VW to Work Day.
Celebrated International Bring Your Dog to Work Day
While not technically VW related, we also took part in Bring Your Dog to Work Day! The JK Team has a lot fewer dogs than VWs, but the dogs are much easier to get into the offices here at JK HQ.
A highlight of the day was Benji, Luna, Bela, Otter and Holly posing for a photo in one of our meeting rooms. We absolutely did manage to get them to all sit nicely together, and definitely didn’t get the photo below with a tripod and some Photoshop wizardry!
We had a great time on Bring Your Dog to Work Day, even if some of our four-legged friends were better behaved than others, and we’d definitely recommend bringing your own dogs to work with you for next year’s event on 30 June 2023.
Click here to see some of the photos from Bring Your Dog to Work Day at Just Kampers.
Helped a famous cat live out her dreams of camping in a VW T2 Bay
We didn’t just help dogs have a great time this year, we also helped internet-famous rescue cat Nala get out and about in her VW T2 Bay, after seeing that Dean from 1Bike1World had recently bought a camper.
After helping them get some parts, and putting them in touch with a local garage, we were really impressed by the cat tower that Dean installed in place of the passenger seat!
Click here to read more about Nala and her campervan adventures.
Offered you a list of 100 Things to do for Under £100
For anyone else looking for adventure, we created a list of 100 things to do for under £100 to inspire you to get out there and enjoy some of the weird and wonderful events taking place across the UK.
Everything from the world championships of gravy wrestling, through to the Orkney science festival, cost less than £100 for a family of four to attend, and many of the events were totally free.
We’re working on our list for 2023 now, and we’re excited to share it with you. We’re already planning to attend a fair few of the events ourselves, so we’ll see you there!
Gave away a Lego camper
This month we sent a Lego campervan to one of our social media followers, after asking people to nominate someone they know who they felt deserved an extra special present this Christmas.
Our winner was a lovely 6-year-old who thinks the best thing about having a van is sharing it with his friends! Henry invites his friends to join his family for van picnics, joint camping trips where the van turns into a movie lounge for kids’ bedtime etc. He loves making his friends smile, and we hope the Lego camper gets a big smile from him when he receives it!
Raised over £20,000 for Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice Care
We also got involved in some far larger charitable efforts this year, raising over £20,000 for Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice Care throughout the year.
Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice Care is one of our key charity partners, and work to provide care and support to terminally ill patients, and their families, in a safe and comfortable environment.
They offer a range of free services to ensure that adult patients and families living with an advanced or terminal illness can make the most of their lives, because every day is precious.
We want to say a massive Thank You to everyone who donated at the JK Open Day this year - and any previous years - as this was the main way in which we raised funds for the hospice.
Click here to learn more about Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice Care.
Renewed our support for Surfers Against Sewage
This year we once again supported Surfers Against Sewage as one of the businesses in their 250 Club, who provide funding to keep the organisation going.
Gemma, from JK’s purchasing team, is a local rep for Surfers Against Sewage, and has helped organise beach cleans as well as fundraising and providing information and guidance on all things SAS.
Click here to read more about Surfers Against Sewage.
Raised over £1,000 for Breast Cancer Now by taking on the GRIM Challenge
More recently, you helped us raise over £1,000 for Breast Cancer Now as some of the JK Team took on the GRIM Challenge and ran for miles through waist-deep water in below freezing temperatures along a four or eight mile course in early December.
It was cold, it was wet, it was an odd mix of horrendous and fun, but it was all worth it to have raised so much money for such an important charity.
Click here to see how the JK Team got on during the GRIM Challenge.
So what's on the horizon for the JK Team and Just Kampers?
We won't be resting for loo long over Christmas and New Years, as we've got a busy year ahead of us in 2023!
We've got more vehicles to work on, new products to test, more helpful information to share, more events to support, charities to fundraise for, VWs to drive and a community to support.
If you want to keep up with what we're up to, follow us on Facebook and Instagram, subscribe to our YouTube channel and sign up to our email newsletter.
We hope you have a great Christmas break, and an excellent new year!
Thank you for all your support throughout 2022,
The JK Team
