Date: Wed, 4 Jan 2006 08:23:14 -0500
Reply-To: Greg Potts <Greg@POTTSFAMILY.CA>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Greg Potts <Greg@POTTSFAMILY.CA>
Subject: Re: New Book - VW Camper - The Inside Story - preliminary review
In-Reply-To: <000001c610e0$7c83d0d0$6501a8c0@yourb27fb1c401>
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Hi Tom,
Sounds good. Could you share the ISBN number? This would help us look
it up if it's ever picked up by Chapters/Amazon/B+N.
Happy trails,
Greg Potts
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
1973/74/79 Westfakia Conversion **Bob the Tomato** LY3H
1977 Sunroof Automatic L63H/L90D
http://www.pottsfamily.ca/westfakia
http://www.busesofthecorn.com
On 3-Jan-06, at 10:39 PM, Tom Boldway wrote:
> 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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