camperfanatic

 My association with motorhomes and campervans stretches back to the late 1960s, influenced to a large extent by my fathers Rootes Commer Maidstone campervan ownership, and later his home-built ex-Co-op mobile butchers van. Like the majority of teenagers during that period I discovered music, at a time when the hippy trend was giving way to heavy metal, Glam rock and the tail end of the Beatles. I was a huge fan of bands such as The Kinks, The Small Faces and rock 'n' roll in general. I was a bit miffed when the Small Faces broke up, with Steve Marriott going off to form Humble Pie and the rest of the band becoming The Faces, with Rod Stewart as lead singer. Although a big fan of Marriott, I was never taken with HP, opting to follow the rest of the band and the Faces music. The stand out member for me was always Ronnie Lane, who with Steve Marriott in the Small Faces co-wrote such hits as Itchycoo Park, All or Nothing, Here Comes the Nice, Lazy Sunday, My Minds Eye and many mor...

Illustration of the Bedford CA panel van conversion by Maurice Calthorpe Produced at Vauxhall's Luton plant, the Bedford CF was introduced to the UK market in 1969, replacing the CA model which had been in production since 1952. In this pictorial blog I will display some of the best British campervan conversions produced on the Bedford CF. Pictured above is the rising roof conversion by 'Auto-Sleeper' of Worcestershire. This company began to produce campervans in 1961 on the Austin-Morris 152/J2 chassis, switching to the Rootes/Chrysler Commer in 1963. The Bedford Freeway model seen above featured the distinctive Dormobile roof, with its candy-stripe fabric glass-fibre roof capping. The Freeway was an extremely popular model in the UK throughout the 1970s. Another one from Dormobile of Folkestone, England. The larger Dormobile Landcruiser, with its glass-fibre rear living body. The same body style/design had been used by them for their 'Debonair...

During the current worldwide virus pandemic I'm sure that many people who are self isolating, or living in areas of lockdown are spending far more time perusing internet and social media content as a way of passing the time. Those of you with an interest in retro/vintage camping might be interested in some fabulous old videos available on Youtube, though I realise that not all YT content is available in every counntry, so apologies if you are in one of these. Stay safe people, follow the Government and health specialist advice for your country, and together we can all get through this current world crisis. Enjoy the vid's The Classic Camper club The Rootes/Chrysler Commer

I'm not a full-time writer/author, it is purely a hobby which pays very little, but does give me a great deal of satisfaction. I began my writing exploits back in the early 1990s, copy editing letters which had been sent to a motorhome magazine Editor in the UK; I had no previous experience of such work at that time. The main reason I had been invited by him to assist with copy editing, was my years of motorhome experience, I knew my subject, and most of the letters did require answers to motorhome related questions. I did this for quite some time, without my name appearing within the magazine, but eventually I was invited by the Editor to put my name to a section of the publication relating to technical queries. If I was unable to answer a particular question, then I had several 'experts' to call upon who were specialists in their field; these pages were a popular section of the magazine (and still are), and extended to around four/five pages in Britains most popular motor...

        Celebrating 60 years of the Rootes Commer 3/4 ton FC For owners and enthusiasts of the Rootes Commer 3/4 ton light commercial, this year marks a special anniversary; 60 years since the launch. Light commercial chassis in 1960 Britain was limited to the Bedford CA, Austin-Morris 152/J2, Ford Thames, Standard Atlas, Morris J-type, and the Austin-Morris J4 (also launched in 1960). Let us not forget the iconic split-screen VW, popular not only in the UK, but around the world.The vehicle of choice, and certainly the most popular in the UK in 1960, was the Vauxhall-Bedford CA, which had been introduced in 1952, and would continue in production until 1969 (when the CF was released). As with most light commercials, the Commer was available a basic delivery van, pickup, minibus, gown van, milk float, with many other configurations made available by specialist coachbuilders, such as a camera vehicle for film and tv work, and tv detector van. My main focus of int...