It was invented immediately after the war, in the factory a far-sighted English military man had set up to turn the German economy from making machines of warfare to more pacific products.
By the seventies that dream had been amply fulfilled, as the VW Campervan became the conveyance of choice for West Coast hippies, Australian surf bums and Europeans taking the overland route to find enlightenment and good karma in India. It had also become indeed, still is the first choice for any couple, or family, seeking a cheap camping holiday with wheels attached. So never mind the oddly off-centre driving wheel, the vagaries of the aircooled rear engine the VW Campervan had become more than a vehicle it had truly become a way of life.
Mike Hardings first ride in a Volkswagen Camper Van was back in 1961, when it was the carrying around the gear and bandmembers of his rock band the Manchester Rainmakers. Finally, in 2009, he could wait no longer, and bought his own, a 2001 Type 2 bay window Brazilian import Danbury conversion in hot orange and off white. Add in the endless curiosity of the author of eight monographs on church architecture, and the hilarious sense of humour of one of Britains best stand-up comics, and you have a wonderful social history of the postwar years through the prism of a single transport icon.
Mike Harding is the author of A Guide to Tying North Country Flies and eight Little Books for Aurum, including the perennially successful books on the Green Man and Gargoyles. He is also a high-profile radio presenter with his weekly folk music show on BBC Radio 2, and hosts the annual BBC Folk Awards. He lives in West Yorkshire.
