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Dormobile
Dormobile is a 1950s-era onwards campervan (motorcaravan, motorhome) conversion manufactured by the coachbuilder Martin Walter of Folkestone in Kent. Initially based on the Bedford CA van, the name is associated more with those and subsequent Bedford CF conversions than other companies converted. History The first Bedford CA based Dormobile motorhome, complete with a gas stove, a sink and cupboards and seats which converted into beds, appeared in 1957. The elevating roof, hinged on one side and featuring a red and white striped canopy, was quickly evolved in order to make it possible to stand within the vehicle. The campervan idea originated as a compromise negotiated with the UK tax office. Earlier in the 1950s, the manufacturers specialised in converting the Bedford CA van into a mini-bus, featuring extra side windows and seats. The UK tax authorities asserted that the converted vehicle was effectively a form of station wagon, estate car, and therefore its retail price should ...
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Bedford CA
The Bedford CA was a distinctive pug-nosed light commercial vehicle produced between 1952 and 1969 by Bedford in Luton, England. It was manufactured in short-wheelbase and long-wheelbase forms, each form available in either a 10–12  cwt or a 15 cwt version. Generally it was supplied as a light delivery van with sliding doors, but it was also available as a chassis with cowl upon which specialist bodywork could be added. The Bedford Dormobile was a Campervan conversion based on the Bedford CA van. In its day, the vehicle was ubiquitous; the Ford Transit of its time. These vehicles are now rare, however. The CA was also exported to Canada and sold as the Envoy CA, as part of the Envoy brand line-up. In its 17 year production run 370,000 were manufactured.Delivery van is bigger than its predecessor ''Freight & Container Transportation'' September 1970 page 35 Dimensions Body The overall profile and architecture of the CA changed little during the vehicle's ...
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Bedford CF
The Bedford CF was a range of full-size panel vans produced by Bedford. The van was introduced in 1969 to replace the CA model, and was sized to compete directly with the Ford Transit, which had entered production four years earlier. Its design was similar to its American counterpart, the Chevrolet Van (1971–1995). Bedford was a General Motors subsidiary, and in some markets outside the United Kingdom and Ireland the CF was sold through Opel dealers as the Opel Bedford Blitz from 1973 on when the original Opel Blitz was phased out. In other markets such as in Norway the CF retained its original name. The CF was notable for being the last solely Vauxhall-engineered vehicle when it was discontinued in 1987 (the last Vauxhall passenger car had been the HC Viva which had ceased production in 1979); since all Vauxhall models by that point had switched to being based on Opel platforms. The Bedford brand continued on certain badge engineered light van designs from Isuzu and Suzuk ...
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Bedford Vehicles
Bedford Vehicles, usually shortened to just Bedford, was a brand of vehicle manufactured by Vauxhall Motors, then a subsidiary of multinational corporation General Motors. Established in April 1931, Bedford Vehicles was set up to build commercial vehicles. The company was a leading international lorry brand, with substantial export sales of light, medium, and heavy lorries throughout the world. Bedford's core heavy trucks business was divested by General Motors (GM) as AWD Trucks in 1987, whilst the Bedford brand continued to be used on light commercial vehicles and car-derived vans based on Vauxhall/ Opel, Isuzu and Suzuki designs. The brand was retired in 1991. The van manufacturing plant of Bedford, now called GM Manufacturing Luton, is now owned and operated by Stellantis, following Vauxhall's acquisition by PSA Group in 2017. History Until 1925, General Motors assembled trucks in Britain from parts manufactured at its Canadian works. This enabled them to import veh ...
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Martin Walter Of Folkestone
Martin-Walter was a long established, 1773, firm of harness makers in Folkestone, Kent which switched to building bespoke bodies for motor cars when horse-drawn vehicles began to disappear. As well as bespoke bodies they built short runs for various motor manufacturers. In the Great depression of the 1930s they made very distinctive Wingham cabriolet bodies which were fitted to a range of chassis from large Vauxhall to Rolls-Royce. After the Second World War they built ambulance bodies and in particular conversions of Bedford vans, "a bedroom on wheels", and other Vauxhall products as well as Austin and Volkswagen Kombi vans. Martin Walter was distributor of Vauxhall and Bedford Vehicles for East Kent. A separate coachbuilding company was incorporated in 1969 and named Dormobile after its best-known postwar product,. Martin Walter's business was subsumed in Chatfields-Martin Walter motor group.Charringtons Contract Hire, ''Commercial Motor'', page 27, 13 August 1987 References ...
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Volkswagen Westfalia Campers
The Volkswagen Westfalia Camper was a conversion of the Volkswagen Type 2, and then, the Volkswagen Type 2 (T3), sold from the early 1950s to 2003. Volkswagen subcontracted the modifications to the company Westfalia-Werke in Rheda-Wiedenbrück. Types Early Volkswagen split-windshield ''Kombis'' were built between 1950 and 1967. Production of Volkswagen camper variants continued to 2003, and was based on the Kombi, then the Vanagon, then the LT Mk 1, then the Transporter. Other coachbuilders, including Dormobile, EZ Camper, ASI/Riviera, Holdsworth, Danbury Motorcaravans, and VW Sun-Dial, also built campers based on the Transporter. Models Between 1951 and August 1958, approximately 1,000 Camper Box conversions were made by Westfalia, official builder of Volkswagen camper conversions. In August 1958, the SO (german: Sonderausführung, German for "special model") models were introduced.Website located ahttp://so23westfalia.com/about.htmviewed 14 July 2006 Westfalia special models ...
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Campervan
A camper van, also referred to as a camper, caravanette, motor caravan or RV (recreational vehicle) in North America, is a self-propelled vehicle that provides both transport and sleeping accommodation. The term describes vans that have been fitted out, whereas a motorhome is one with a coachbuilt body. Ambiguity with motorhome The term motorhome is sometimes used interchangeably with campervan, but the former can also be a larger vehicle than a campervan and intended to be more comfortable, whilst the latter is more concerned with ease of movement and lower cost. For example, some campervans lack built-in toilets and showers, or a divide between the living compartment and the cab. The United States term "recreational vehicle" (RV) is more analogous to motorhome than campervan. Features Campervans may be equipped either with a "pop-up" roof which is raised during camping, or a fixed roof, either shared with the commercial van that forms the basis of the vehicle (commonly ...
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Anthony Burgess
John Anthony Burgess Wilson, (; 25 February 1917 – 22 November 1993), who published under the name Anthony Burgess, was an English writer and composer. Although Burgess was primarily a comic writer, his Utopian and dystopian fiction, dystopian satire ''A Clockwork Orange (novel), A Clockwork Orange'' remains his best-known novel. In 1971, it was adapted into a controversial A Clockwork Orange (film), film by Stanley Kubrick, which Burgess said was chiefly responsible for the popularity of the book. Burgess produced numerous other novels, including the Enderby quartet, and ''Earthly Powers''. He wrote librettos and screenplays, including the 1977 TV mini-series ''Jesus of Nazareth (miniseries), Jesus of Nazareth''. He worked as a literary critic for several publications, including ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian'', and wrote studies of classic writers, notably James Joyce. A versatile linguist, Burgess lectured in phonetics, and translated ''Cyrano de Bergerac (play), ...
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Liana Burgess
Liana Burgess (born Liliana Macellari, September 25, 1929 – December 3, 2007) was an Italian translator and literary agent who was the second wife of English writer Anthony Burgess. Burgess and Macellari had embarked on an affair while Burgess was married to his first wife, and Macellari gave birth to a son nine months after their meeting. The couple became tax exiles in the late 1960s, living in Malta and Italy, and spent several years in the United States. They finally settled in Monaco. Macellari played an important role in Burgess's later literary career, negotiating film rights and acting as his European literary agent, and translating his novels. Academic life Macellari was born in Porto Civitanova, Italy, in 1929. Her mother was an amateur poet and artist, Contessa Maria Lucrezia Pasi della Pergola, and her father was Gilberto Macellari, a photographer and actor. Her father died in the Second World War. Macellari had a sister who was later killed in a mountaineering a ...
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Morris Commercial Cars
Morris Commercial Cars Limited was a British manufacturer of commercial vehicles formed by William Morris, 1st Viscount Nuffield, William Morris, founder of Morris Motors, Morris Motors Limited, to continue the business of E G Wrigley and Company which he purchased as of 1 January 1924. The marque was re-launched in 2017 when a proposal for all-new electric J-Type was announced, which was unveiled in November 2019. History Morris bought the assets of Soho, West Midlands, Soho, Birmingham axle manufacturer EG Wrigley and Company, E.G. Wrigley and Company after it was placed in liquidation late in 1923. Up until that point a small number of commercial vehicle variants of Morris cars were built at the Morris plant at Cowley, Oxford, Cowley, but with the newly acquired plant in Foundry Lane, Soho, Birmingham serious production began. In 1932 the business was moved a few miles across Birmingham to the former Wolseley Motors, Wolseley factory in Adderley Park. In 1936 Morris sol ...
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Minibuses
A minibus, microbus, minicoach, or commuter (in Zimbabwe) is a passenger-carrying motor vehicle that is designed to carry more people than a multi-purpose vehicle or minivan, but fewer people than a full-size bus. In the United Kingdom, the word "minibus" is used to describe any full-sized passenger-carrying van or panel truck. Minibuses have a seating capacity of between 12 and 30 seats. Larger minibusses may be called midibuses. Minibuses are typically front engine step in vehicles, although low floor minibuses do exist and are particularly common in Japan. Minibuses may range in price from £2000 to nearly £100,000. History It is unknown when the first minibus vehicle was released but it is possible that the first one was the 1935-1955 Chevrolet Suburban or the Volkswagen Transporter, even though the Suburban is thought by most to be an SUV, the first generation to the third generation could have theoretically be classified as minibusses today. Usage Minibuses are us ...
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Commer
Commer was a British manufacturer of commercial and military vehicles from 1905 until 1979. Commer vehicles included car-derived vans, light vans, medium to heavy commercial trucks, and buses. The company also designed and built some of its own diesel engines for its heavy commercial vehicles. History This business belonged to Commercial Cars Limited, a company incorporated in September 1905 by directors H C B Underdown, In 1905, Underdown formed a small syndicate to try out and determine the commercial value of the Lindley automatic change speed gearbox. A four-ton motor lorry using the gearbox was made in a South London workshop and its success led the syndicate into giving birth to Commercial Cars Limited. In October 1917, Underdown was appointed Director of Agricultural Machinery at The Ministry of Munitions and the following biographical notes were published: :Landowner, of 4,000 acres in Norfolk, a Governor of the Royal Agricultural Society, chairman of the commercia ...
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Bedford CA Based Dormobile February 1968
Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst the Borough of Bedford had a population of 157,479. Bedford is also the historic county town of Bedfordshire. Bedford was founded at a ford on the River Great Ouse and is thought to have been the burial place of King Offa of Mercia, who is remembered for building Offa's Dyke on the Welsh border. Bedford Castle was built by Henry I, although it was destroyed in 1224. Bedford was granted borough status in 1165 and has been represented in Parliament since 1265. It is known for its large population of Italian descent. History The name of the town is believed to derive from the name of a Saxon chief called Beda, and a ford crossing the River Great Ouse. Bedford was a market town for the surrounding agricultural region from the early Middle Age ...
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