The History Of The Vw Camper Van
The iconic VW Camper has stood the test of time through five generations and more than six decades, and History of The VW Camper Van traces this evolution through every generation. With cool curves and enormous flexibility, the VW Type 2 Transporter soon won the hearts of the public and revolutionised the possibilities for freedom and adventure as companies and individuals transformed their Type 2s into VW Campers. For many years, Volkswagen did not produce interiors for their VW Transporter, instead licensing more than 40 companies to create or convert Transporters into VW Campers. Whilst some owners love to fully customise their Campers with unique paintwork and hand crafted curtains and upholstery, others choose to restore their Campers to original stock condition. But the VW Camper would not exist today were it not for three men: Ivan Hirst, a British Army Major, who found a way to reconstruct the Volkswagen factory in the post-war devastation; a flamboyant Dutchman, Ben Pon, who drew a simple sketch in a notebook; and Volkswagen’s General Director, Heinz Heinrich Nordhoff, who recognised the need for a commercial vehicle and introduced the VW Type 2 Panel Van.Born in post-war 1950, the hugely popular T1 Splitscreen gave way to the T2 Bay with its distinctive one-piece curved windscreen in the late 60s and 70s. The third generation of the Transporter, the T25, with its wedge-shape styling, was introduced in 1979 and the fourth generation, the T4 Transporter, brought with it a major change when the engine moved from the rear to the front in 1992. The most recent VW Transporter, the T5, also heralded a major change with VW ending its special relationship with interiors company Westfalia and instead producing the interior for the latest VW Camper, the T5 California, in house, from 2005. This really is the definitive history of one of the world’s most iconic and loved vehicles.