Volkswagen Split Screen panel van/camper

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Loved by generations of surf-dudes and independent travellers, the iconic VW Transporter was launched way back in 1950 and only stopped flying off the production lines of Volkswagen’s Brazilian factory a few years ago.

In a miracle of Tardis-like packaging, it used the same wheelbase as the Beetle, its functional and boxy lines providing a huge amount of interior space and a useful 1,000kgs payload - hard to believe that its footprint is virtually the same as the cramped saloon.

Performance wasn’t the main priority, the first vehicles using the rather asthmatic 1,131cc engine which was geared down to cope with the job in hand. In 1963 a more lively 1,593cc version of the air-cooled flat-four was introduced which lasted until the arrival of the bay-window in 1967.

Volkswagen produced so many, that the number of permutations seems almost endless, although their staple machine was the basic panel van. This is one such vehicle, which we understand to have been imported into the UK in 2012 from Cyprus, which would help explain its RHD configuration and rust-free condition.

It is unusual in having a sliding side door rather than the more common ‘barn doors’ and has been mildly customised by the vendor’s husband. As can be seen, he was careful not to cut it about, which would have been a shame as T1 panel vans are now few and far between, so many having fallen by the wayside or been converted into full-blown campers. As far as we know, it retains its 1,500cc engine.

Fitted with a set of leather seats front and rear that look to come from a Jaguar, its new owner could easily use it as it is, carry on the development, or simply turn it back to basic form. Its last MOT expired in mid-2017 and showed no advisories.