A Visual History of Motorhomes

Book excerpt: Following on from Andrew’s A Visual History of Caravans, this new title takes a look at the motorhome’s heritage, spanning over 100 years. The motorhome is a popular leisure vehicle with an ever-growing demand in the UK as well as abroad. From the early designs often built by one-man bands, this book shows how the motorhome was to evolve in the 1920s but was to be outsold by the popularity of the touring caravan. Images from all decades are mainly from the author’s own vast archives, while some have been loaned and supplied from motorhome industry personnel. These pictures demonstrate how the motorhome developed with the advent of smaller chassis cabs from the 1950s major manufacturers such as Bedford, Austin, Morris and Ford. Covering UK-brand motorhomes as well imported models, the book shows how different UK tastes were to the imported makes. Although not an A-Z of motorhomes book, the author has chosen images that represent as many manufacturers as possible. Andrew includes some rare images of coachbuilt motorhomes and shows how the motorhome boom began in the mid-1960s. With the further development of chassis cab designs in the 70s with brands such as Commer, Toyota and Leyland more manufacturers of motorhomes would emerge as the boom carried on. Caravan’s International motorised division was re-named Autohomes, and became the biggest UK manufacturer of coachbuilt motorhomes, going on to also be built in Germany. Well-known maker Dormobile concentrated on campervans, though several coachbuilt motorhomes such as the classic-looking Debonair were produced. From those early days, A Visual History of Motorhomes will make interesting reading to motorhome users, showing how the leisure vehicle took shape.