History of the Campervan: From Humble Box Van to Luxury Motorhome
The humble beginnings of the campervan go back as far as the
1920s with the first homemade attempts to adapt touring caravans into
motorhomes (with very strange results!). But it wasn’t until 1947 that the
campervan we know and love today was first conceived, purely out of necessity,
starting the vehicle on a long road of adaptations and improvements that
resulted in modern, luxury motorhomes. Here’s a quick potted history of the
campervan.
In 1947, the Volkswagen factory in Wolfsberg, Germany needed to transport parts around the building, so the quick-thinking engineers built platforms on to the chassis of the iconic Beetle car, creating the very first prototype of a camper van! A Dutch businessman, Ben Pon, was so excited by the potential of this idea that he drew up plans for a box van. Only two years later the ‘Type 2 Transporter’ was revealed at the Geneva Motor Show. Volkswagen went on to develop 90 variations of the Type 2 up until 1954, from ice cream vans to fire trucks. In 1957, production began in earnest and by the early 1960s adaptations had been made to make it family-friendly, with seats, windows and cookers. The word started to spread around the world: in 1963 America had ordered 150,000 campervans, and the vehicle became a favourite of the footloose hippy generation. By 1975, Volkswagen’s Hanover factory in Germany had produced four million campervans and today the Type 2 has become a sought-after collector’s item, fetching up to £20,000!
The modern day motorhome has been so refined that it has gone from being a goods transporter and weekend camper to a spacious and luxurious option for longer holidays. With turbo diesel engines; power steering and air conditioning; fantastic onboard cooking, shower and toilet facilities; stylish interior design and space to comfortably sleep up to six people; the original designers of the camper would barely recognise this beautiful, modern and powerful vehicle as a campervan at all!
In 1947, the Volkswagen factory in Wolfsberg, Germany needed to transport parts around the building, so the quick-thinking engineers built platforms on to the chassis of the iconic Beetle car, creating the very first prototype of a camper van! A Dutch businessman, Ben Pon, was so excited by the potential of this idea that he drew up plans for a box van. Only two years later the ‘Type 2 Transporter’ was revealed at the Geneva Motor Show. Volkswagen went on to develop 90 variations of the Type 2 up until 1954, from ice cream vans to fire trucks. In 1957, production began in earnest and by the early 1960s adaptations had been made to make it family-friendly, with seats, windows and cookers. The word started to spread around the world: in 1963 America had ordered 150,000 campervans, and the vehicle became a favourite of the footloose hippy generation. By 1975, Volkswagen’s Hanover factory in Germany had produced four million campervans and today the Type 2 has become a sought-after collector’s item, fetching up to £20,000!
The modern day motorhome has been so refined that it has gone from being a goods transporter and weekend camper to a spacious and luxurious option for longer holidays. With turbo diesel engines; power steering and air conditioning; fantastic onboard cooking, shower and toilet facilities; stylish interior design and space to comfortably sleep up to six people; the original designers of the camper would barely recognise this beautiful, modern and powerful vehicle as a campervan at all!
