The
history of the Camper van really goes back to the end of the 2nd world war, and
the British found themselves (right) running the VW factory in Wolfsberg in
Germany. To ferry parts across the massive factory stripped down VW Beetles
were turned into little transporters, (below) a good idea thought Ben Pon
(below right) a Dutch VW importer
who in 1947 sketched his idea of a Beetle based van. (below left) Two short years later it
was launched at the Geneva Motor Show as the modern equivalent to the ox and
cart.
They say most ideas are simple ones, the one behind
the VW bus is as pure and simple as they come. It started life off as a box on
wheels and what a big box, 170 cubic feet and enough room to hold a 15 hand
horse. It was meanly simple and in the next 5 years
VW would turn out 90 different body combinations from, refrigerated ice-cream
vans, half a hundred delivery vans from mobile milking machines to bakers bread
vans, scores of milk floats, florists, vetenary surgeons , beer wagons,
butchers shops, mobile grocers. Then there were the police wagons, fire
engines, ambulances, the pick ups and last was the camper van. The first big
sale was in America , in the mid 50s with dinky sinks and cozy cookers it was
the home from home. By 1963 America
had purchased 150,000 of these camper vans. The splitty was replaced in 1967 by
the bay window model and what the bay lost in personality it gained in
refinements with having windup windows and a top speed of 80mph. The bay window
made the VW a success and by 1975 the Hanover factory had turned out 4 Million
of these vehicles. Not bad for a van that started life as a box on wheels. A
different choice of engine sizes were available from the 1600cc, 1700cc, 1800cc
and 2000cc. VW had been giving away gold watches to anybody who got past the
100,000 mile mark, but had to stop when the bay window model arrived after
giving away 160,000 watches, because it became more reliable. But in 1979 all
that personality stopped be replaced by the wedge, the comfy camper became a
bungalow on wheels (hope this does not offend any T25 owners). There are 5 Million of these vehicles made by VW so they
must have done something right when they made the Camper Van.
Want to know if there is a VW event on this weekend then please
press here to find out more.
and
spin off to a show below?
The
history of the Camper van really goes back to the end of the 2nd world war, and
the British found themselves (right) running the VW factory in Wolfsberg in
Germany. To ferry parts across the massive factory stripped down VW Beetles
were turned into little transporters, (below) a good idea thought Ben Pon
(below right) a Dutch VW 
importer
who in 1947 sketched his idea of a Beetle based van. (below left) Two short years later it
was launched at the Geneva Motor Show as the modern equivalent to the ox and
cart. 
VW would turn out 90 different body combinations from, refrigerated ice-cream
vans, half a hundred delivery vans from mobile milking machines to bakers bread
vans, scores of milk floats, florists, vetenary surgeons , beer wagons,
butchers shops, mobile grocers. Then there were the police wagons, fire
engines, ambulances, the pick ups and last was the camper van. The first big
sale was in America , in the mid 50s with dinky sinks and cozy cookers it was
the home from home. By 1963 
America
had purchased 150,000 of these camper vans. The splitty was replaced in 1967 by
the bay window model and what the bay lost in personality it gained in
refinements with having windup windows and a top speed of 80mph. The bay window
made the VW a success and by 1975 the Hanover factory had turned out 4 Million
of these vehicles. Not bad for a van that started life as a box on wheels. A
different choice of engine sizes were available from the 1600cc, 1700cc, 1800cc
and 2000cc. VW had been giving away gold watches to anybody who got past the
100,000 mile mark, but had to stop when the bay window model arrived after
giving away 160,000 watches, because it became more reliable. But in 1979 all
that personality stopped be replaced by the wedge, the comfy camper became a
bungalow on wheels (hope this does not offend any T25 owners). There are 5 Million of these vehicles made by VW so they
must have done something right when they made the Camper Van.