The History of VW Camper Vans
The vw camper vans known as the type 2 were produced by Volkswagen from 1949, aaaahh, a beautiful year. It was a step on from the little cutie, the “Beetle” or “Bug”. I can only imaging that this was a necessary evolutionary leap because you couldn’t fit enough people into the beetle.
VW camper vans were in fact one of the first cargo and passenger vans produced, Imagine, ‘mini buses’ have been around that long. It wasn’t for the want of trying but no one could match it; Ford, Dodge and Chevrolet had a damn good try and Chevrolet even copied the Type 2’s rear end; sticking the engine in the boot.
“Buses” or vw camper vans, became cultural icons during the hippy era. As I mentioned before you could squash a lot more people into a far more luxurious space, (we had one with a completely carpeted interior). Not only could you transport more dudes, you could fit in the camping gear, stacks of food, plenty of T-shirts and shorts, the tool kit and if you wanted, the kitchen sink. Nothing had been seen like it and it wasn’t long before the personally customised vw camper vans appeared on the scene. Many were hand painted, christened and in the place of the VW logo, peace symbols were painted or other works of art such as scantily clad well endowed ladies.
They have now become highly sought after collector’s items and they make fantastic renovation projects.
