Dormobile is a 1950s-era onwards

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 fitt ...

(motorcaravan, motorhome) conversion manufactured by the coachbuilder

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 vario ...

in Kent. Initially based on the

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 ...

van, the name is associated more with those and subsequent

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 ...

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

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

estate car A station wagon ( US, also wagon) or estate car ( UK, also estate), is an automotive body-style variant of a sedan/saloon with its roof extended rearward over a shared passenger/cargo volume with access at the back via a third or fifth door ( ...

, and therefore its retail price should bear passenger car purchase tax, a burden from which buyers of vans were spared. However, the manufacturers negotiated an agreement whereby Dormobile converted vans could be sold without purchase tax, provided they incorporated "built-in life support equipment" such as a cooking device, and facilities for the washing and storage of clothes. These stipulations triggered a move away from minibus conversions to motorhome conversions, which carved out a substantial new life-style market as the ensuing decade saw a substantial increase in disposable incomes in the UK. The novelist

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, d ...

and his wife,

Liana A liana is a long- stemmed, woody vine that is rooted in the soil at ground level and uses trees, as well as other means of vertical support, to climb up to the canopy in search of direct sunlight. The word ''liana'' does not refer to a ta ...

, owned one and used it as a home and means of travelling throughout Western Europe in the late 1960s. Burgess described the Bedford Dormobile as "a miracle of British design, although much let down by slipshod British execution – screws missing, bad wood-planing ..."

Dormobile

Other vans were converted under the Dormobile name such as

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 Com ...

, VW, BMC, Land-Rover, Ford, Leyland,

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 ...

. The company subsequently converted a number of different van-based vehicles to other uses, including

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, th ...

and ambulances, before collapsing in the mid-1990s. In 1997, Dormobile Ltd. was revived and is now based in Lyndhurst, Hampshire. The company carries out modern camper conversions as well as supplying spare parts and full restorations of the classic models.

References

External links

Dormobile Owners' Club

CF-UK The Bedford CF Owners Club

Dormobile Ltd

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 ...

History

Dormobile

See also

References

External links