| It was after World War II that
Ben Pon, a Dutch Volkswagen importer came up with
the idea of creating a van based on the VW Beetle.
It is believed that his inspiration came from
visiting the VW factory in Wolfsburg, where he saw
stripped down Beetles being used to transport parts
around the factory. Pon’s idea captured the
attention of the Volkswagen chief executive
Heinz Nordoff, in 1948. The following year,
the VW van was born, released to the world
at the Geneva Motor Show. This first VW van
was known as a Type 2, the Type 1 being the
original Beetle.
The simplicity and versatility of the VW
van allowed it to be produced in many
different forms for many different roles,
these included milk floats, ambulances,
flatbed pick-ups, delivery vans, buses and
of course it’s most popular form as a camper
van.
Split screen buses were first produced in
1949 and continued on for the next 18 years.
They were known unimaginably as the Type 2.
The first Type 2 was called the Bulli and
came in 2 models the Kombi and Panel van.
The Microbus was introduced a year later in
1950. Splitties, Type 2, or Split Screen
Volkswagen buses came in many guises;
barndoor, panel van, kombi,minibus,
standard, deluxe, barn door, ambulance, fire
van, single cab pickup and double cab
pickup, Samba, with various options due to
their age such as walk-through, double door,
semaphore and safari to name but a few.
However it is the Samba model that is the
most desirable of all.
In 1967, VW Camper Vans evolved from
having a split windscreen design (known as
splitties) to having a bay window style
windscreen, wind up windows and a top speed
of 80mph. Later improvements included bigger
engines (up to 2000cc) and better
reliability – at one point VW gave watches
away to owners who managed to do 100,000
miles.
VW Campers are still popular today
(especially with the surfing community) and
it is common to see models with customised
paint jobs, lowered suspension, alloy
wheels and even Porsche engines. |
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