Welcome to the Campervan Channel the place for advice,
information and inspiration on campervans built on every type of Volkswagen Transporter.
This video is an introduction to the Daddy of them all,
a genuine motoring icon. A humble van that became one of the most recognised and adored vehicles in
automotive history. Big build up there, but it is all true. Enjoy our overview of the splitty - the
original VW Transporter - the T1. If your pride and joy is camper based on a VW Transporter,
you might find it hard to believe that it is descended from this. It's a Plattenwagen,
a motorised trolley built on an early VW chassis that was used to ferry parts
around the Volkswagen factory as it recovered from the devastation of the second world war.
Dutch VW importer, Ben Pon, spotted these curious vehicles on a visit to the factory
in 1946. They gave him an idea and he did a quick drawing on how he thought their basic
layout could be used to create a light van for German businesses.
It may look a bit back of a cigarette packet, but it includes all the key characteristics
that what was to become a world-beating van: An Up-front, forward control driving position
above the front wheels. A rear engine mounted over the back axle and a huge cargo space in
between. He's even noted the key ambition of carrying 750kg. After developing prototypes
VW finally revealed its new van in November 1949 and went into production March 8th 1950. At first
glance, it does look a bit like a brick, but stop it having the aerodynamics of one the front panel
is V-shaped, as is what's probably THE most distinguishing feature - the split windscreen.
It is the reason the first generation of transporter is also affectionately nicknamed the
Splitty. Today, we also call it the T1 indicating it is the first Transporter. But that is with the
benefit of hindsight. To Volkswagen, this new model was the Type Two. The Beetle was its Type
One. The first phase of splitties built until 1955 are often referred to as the "barn doors".
It has nothing to do with the double doors on the passenger side of the cargo compartment,
but refers to the enormous door that covered the engine compartment. Other clues to identify a barn
doors are, there is no tailgate and there is no peak over the windscreen, that came later. Inside,
the barn doors had the petrol tank and spare wheel in the engine compartment.
The first engines were 24 horse power air-cooled units straight out of the Volkswagen Beetle.
Right from the start, flexibility was going to be the key to the Transporters success,,so
within a year, there were all kinds of variants.First off the line was the
"Commercial" a simple panel van offering a large cargo space and smooth sides for posters or a nice
bit of signwriting to advertise your business. This van, built in August 1950, is the oldest
surviving road legal Transporter. She is called Sophie. She had a bit of a charmed life compared
with lots of her brothers and sisters and went through a meticulous three-year restoration. She
now has pride of place in Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles collection of historic Old-timers.Within
a month vans were joined by Kombis. Still very basic but they had three windows down
each side of the cargo area and a middle and rear row of seats that could easily be removed.
So a Combination of a work van and family passenger car all in one. Then in another
month an eight-seater minibus. Very similar to the Kombi but with a smarter interior.
But in June 1951 Volkswagen took minibuses to new heights with the "Microbus Deluxe". Some versions
of these classic buses are some of the most sought after and expensive V-dubs on the planet.
They had an optional folding sunroof, tons of polished aluminium and chrome.
Even the VW Badge was chrome-plated. It was painted on lesser models.
Plus it had panaoramic views because it had more windows than your average greenhouse. With an
early Samba you could have up to 23 windows. That is including four optional skylights down
each side which was a popular design feature on much bigger buses and coaches at the time.
Plus two windows that curved around the rear pillars. These were dropped after 1963 to make
space for a wider rear window hence why later Sambas had to make do with only 21 windows.
The Sambas interior was far more luxurious than on the standard buses. The nine seats,
in three rows, were upholstered,. There were ashtrays and even hooks for coat hangers.
Volkswagen was very relaxed about third party companies converting its Transporters which led
to police vans, refrigerated vans, ladder trucks, fire engines and even hearses and of course,
campervans. But that makes campers sound like part of VW's grand plan. They weren't. It was an idea
that kind of grew out of the times when people were getting back on their feet and regaining
their freedom after the Second World War. They wanted travel and adventure. The story goes that
within a year of the Transporter being launched, an officer in the British Forces, who was based in
Germany, bought one of these Transporters and took it along to the coachbuilders Westfalia
and asked them to convert it into mobile accommodation. Westfalias solution was to
come up with camping boxes. They were a kind of kit of camping parts, all the paraphernalia you
needed to temporarily convert your Transporter into a campervan. The main element was a wooden
box or a kind of sideboard-cum-storage-cum kitchen unit that you slid into your van, behind the front
seats for the weekend. Then when you had been camping, you took it out again and presumably
stashed it in the garage when you needed your kombi or bus for work or as a family runabout.
Westfalia eventually sold a thousand of them and most importantly, the whole idea that you
could live in your Transporter was well and truly established. VV Credits Westfalia with showing its
first permanently converted splitty campervan in 1952. Eventually, the two companies formed
a partnership which would produce campervans based on four generations of Transporters. \
Of course many customers went elsewhere for their VW campervans. Indepdendent converters
started popping up all over the place, like Devon, which started out in a garden shed and Dormobile,
an adaptable coachbuilding company that actually had roots going back to the 1700s. By 1954, the
Transporter had become SO popular, the original Wolfsburg factory could not keep up with demand.
So VW built an enormous new factory in Hannover and have built Transporters there ever since.
From 1955 we kind of move into a second phase of Transporter production. Volkswagen continually
improves the Transporter with a tweak here and a upgrade here but in 1855 there was a flurry
of changes. The barn door was replaced with a smaller cover for the engine compartment.
There was a full width dash and of course the Transporter got its peak
over the front windscreens. It includes air vents for the new ventilation system.
1958 saw the arrival of the Crew Cab or the double cab pickup. Flashing indicators
replaced the semaphore. In 1962 the transporter finally gets a petrol gauge fitted as standard.
How did they manage for 12 years without that? And in 1963 there were some style changes. The front
indicators became the larger fish-eye style. Panel vans get the option of a sliding doors and the
tailgate is enlarged. Oh, and in 1965 you got foot switch to dip your headlights and a year later, 12
volt electrics finally replaced the 6volt system. In 1967, the Splitty was getting on a bit and
facing stiffer competition . It was time to make more fundamental changes and a whole new model was
in the wings. Splitty production in Germany halted in 1968 but not before VW had rolled out just over
one and a half million of them. But it is not just about the numbers. VW's simple van for business
had revolutionised the way we use vehicles. Yes, there were campervans based on other vehicles,
apparently, but it was the VW Transporter , these days referred to as the T1 - that set
the standard, made campervans cool and paved the way for the millions of VW campers that followed.
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