Date: Tue, 3 Jan 2006 20:39:30 -0700
Reply-To: Tom Boldway <jboldway@COMCAST.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Tom Boldway <jboldway@COMCAST.NET>
Subject: New Book - VW Camper - The Inside Story - preliminary review
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Hello all, my copy of "VW Camper - The Inside Story" by David Eccles arrived
today after floating across the pond from England. The book was purchased
from Grantham Book Services (no web page listed on their invoice, but I
ordered it over the internet) for 21.46 Sterling.
Quite an impressive book, (about 8 1/2" x 12.5") and not quite what I
expected. Highly detailed and much more of a focus on other varieties of
conversion - over 30 other manufactures listed! Seems many people had the
same idea as Westfalia, I knew this, but only thought there was about a half
dozen or so. Most are variations of the same theme and applied to the
splittie and loaf, but other manufacturers did Vanagon and Eurovan
conversions. I have not had a chance to do more than just skim the book and
look at some of the pictures - as there are TONS of pictures, all in colour
and excellent clarity. Everything seems well documented, and it's enjoyable
to read the book in English - a "two-burner hob" and such . . . ;~)
Anyway, I don't think there's a page without pictures and most pages have 4
pictures on them. Some of the pictures are the epitome of "retro," what with
the putrescent green interiors or the bizarre white and red checkerboard
carpeting and such. Others like the "Slumberwagon" seem like they were the
product of a bad acid trip. The amazing thing about many of the publicity
photos is the theme of wine glasses, a wine bottle and flowers in a glass
vase, all on an immaculately clean and wrinkle free tablecloth. However, as
the years progress to the newer loafs and vanagons there is more a focus on
practicality. Maybe the white carpet or yellow seat covers wasn't such a
good choice for a "camper," especially if the campers included children or
others who actually left the vehicle and went in to the dirty outdoors and
did something camping related. Or even cooked a meal for that matter . . . .
So, the subtitle "A Guide to VW Camping Conversions and Interiors 1951-2005"
seems spot-on. There are quite a few ideas here for those who are interested
in making some mods to their camper or making a camper out of a regular VW
bus.
I'm looking forward to reading this book in more detail tonight and the next
few nights - I will report back. The quick take is this book will be quite
enjoyable to those wishing to see non-westy (although there is a chapter on
Westafalia) VW bus campers in detail.
Well, that's it for now.
Tom
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