Is there any job that the VW bus hasn''t done? Fire engine, ambulance, snow-plough, mobile home, shop, cement mixer, school bus. The list is endless and although critics call it ugly, many owners and fans know different.'

VW Bus: Camper, Bus, Van, Pick-up & Wagon Malcolm BobbittThe full and fascinating story of the Volkswagen Bus from the earliest split-screen types through the bay window models to the later generation vehicles. Filled with development history, technical appraisal, variants, customized buses, production figures and specs, plus a listing of clubs and specialists. Hdbd., 8x 9 3/4, 16 pgs., 143 b&w ill., 27 color.

A comprehensive guide to original factory specification and equipment of VW Split-screen and Bay-window transporters. 265 photographs of 25 vehicles from Germany, the UK and the USA illustrate not only the people carriers but the many variations panel van, pick-up truck, double-cab pick-up and highroof panel van.

A unique volume dedicated to three generations of VWs legendary Transporter. Meticulously researched with many model specific photographs reproduced to illustrate a genuinely informative text.

A highly illustrated look at the inside story of the first version of the iconic VW Transporter or ‘Split Screen’.

It was invented immediately after the war, in the factory a far-sighted English military man had set up to turn the German economy from making machines of warfare to more pacific products. By the seventies that dream had been amply fulfilled, as the VW Campervan became the conveyance of choice for West Coast hippies, Australian surf bums and Europeans taking the overland route to find enlightenment and good karma in India. It had also become – indeed, still is – the first choice for any couple, or family, seeking a cheap camping holiday with wheels attached. So never mind the oddly off-centre driving wheel, the vagaries of the aircooled rear engine – the VW Campervan had become more than a vehicle – it had truly become a way of life. Mike Harding’s first ride in a Volkswagen Camper Van was back in 1961, when it was the carrying around the gear and bandmembers of his rock band the Manchester Rainmakers. Finally, in 2009, he could wait no longer, and bought his own, a 2001 Type 2 bay window Brazilian import Danbury conversion in hot orange and off white. Add in the endless curiosity of the author of eight monographs on church architecture, and the hilarious sense of humour of one of Britain’s best stand-up comics, and you have a wonderful social history of the postwar years through the prism of a single transport icon.