30 years of fre edom PART 1: THE EARLY DAYS

Westfalia is arguably the best known VW Camper conversion company in the world and has always been at the forefront of design and developments, right from the early days of the Split Screen Type 2 right upto the very latest electric concept VW Vans. In this feature we’ll be looking at the background behind the California conversion, which is sold via VW dealers across the globe – i.e. the ‘official VW’ conversion, if you like. And, just to clear up any confusion before we get too involved, Westfalia were responsible for the design and early development of the California model (which was launched in 1988) but when the Westfalia company was bought by DaimlerChrysler in 2001, VW decided to design and build and their own Campervan in-house (by VWCV Special Business Unit, a subsidiary of Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles). And so, from 2003 onwards (i.e. T5 models), the California range became