Welcome to the campervan channel. Today we are continuing to celebrate the 70th anniversary
of the VW Transporter. The simple van that's at the heart of every VW camper on the planet.
In the previous video, I have already had a loopback at the origins of the Transporter
and its first incarnation, the Splitty. Today, we are cranking up our air-cooled engines
and spluttering into the 1970s to pay homage to the Bay window and then on into the 80s
to wonder at the wedge.There is no doubt that the first generation of Transporter, nearly
2 million of them 7 and unexpectedly created a cultural icon for the flower power generation.
When the second generation of Transporter was revealed, the basics were familiar. A
versatile commercial vehicle with an air-cooled engine at the back, loads of carrying capacity
and loads of versions including vans, buses, Kombis and pickups. But the styling was very
different. The split windscreen had been replaced by a single piece of curved glass which gives
this generation of Transporters its nickname, the Bay Window. A sliding side door became
standard to improve access to the load space. Over the T2's lifetime, there were countless
technical and safety improvements, tiny detail changes and engine tweaks. And of course,
they were hugely popular with converters, introducing the VW Transporter to an even
bigger community of campervan fans. For newcomers to the campervan scene, like me, Bay Windows
can be divided into two basic groups. Early Bays and Late Bays. This is going to get a
bit nerdy. The tell tale signs of an early Bay built between 1967 and early 1971 are
the front indicators being low down near the bumper, the rear brake lights being really
small and smooth wrap around bumpers from and back To identify a Late Bays built from
1973 you need to look out for indicators that have moved up to the level of the grill, tail
lights which are much bigger, taller, and the bumpers now have a groove in them and
don't wrap around the corners quite so much. I am fully aware that leaves 1971 and 1972
unaccounted for. Well these are the Crossover years when you could get some of the new features
but not all of them. For instance, you might get a new back end but still have an old front
end. Just to confuse us. In 1971, the Transporter celebrated its 21 birthday by passing the
3 million production mark. Main production of the T2 ended at the VW Hannover factory
1979. But slightly modified versions would continue to be built in Brazil until as late
as 2013. It is easy to spot a Brazilian, they have slightly deeper roof about 10cm above
the gutter line. And there is a good chance that they will have a radiator grill because,
shock horror, the later Brazilians had water- cooled engines! Now many people thought the
replacement for the Bay, the T3 Transporter, would finally ditch air cooled engines altogether.
But it didn't. Not to begin with at least. What DID change was the styling. Radically.
It was hard edged. Angular. And led many people to nickname it The Brick or The Wedge. Of
course, the purists hated it. But like every generation of Transporter, the T3 did find
a loyal fanbase and continued to improve throughout its production run. I should mention that
this third generation of Transporter is known as the T25 in the UK and the Vanagaon, a king
of mashup of van and station wagon, in the USA and Canada. The Transporter was 32 years
old when it finally got its first water cooled engine. For its 35 birthday it had a total
revamp. It is claimed there were over 1000 individual changes made to the T3. Now, whether
you believe that or not, there were certainly big improvements to the front suspension,
fuel injections systems and the introduction of the Syncro, the first ever four wheel drive
transporter. Like their predecessors, the T3s made great campervans and the Westfalia
versions have a real cult following particularly in the States. They say life begins at 40,
well for the Transporter, it was the beginning of a whole new world. Our next video celebrating
70 Years of the Transporter takes us from the T4 or Eurovan to right up to the present
day when the future for the Transporter is electric. We are planning over a hundred videos
on VW campervans. So please subscribe to the channel, that will really help us along, and
if you click on the bell icon we'll be able to let you know when every new video comes
off our assembly line. Thanks for watching.