Steve Tansey's '63 Sundial Split Screen Camper Van
- Tuesday, 26 August 2008
- 1 Comments
Back in 1963, when this Type 2 Panel Van rolled off of the production line at the Hanover factory, it was destined to be shipped over to the west coast of the United States, but would VW in Germany have expected it to be converted into a Camper rather than being used as a delivery vehicle? Well, the VW dealers in Southern California certainly did as they were getting regular visits from a man name by the name of John L. Nixon and his company, Sundial Camper of Edgemont California. He was converting new Panel Vans into Campers so that the VW dealers could hit their sales targets for commercials and meet demand for recreationals.
Learning the ropes
Nixon had been shown how to convert VWs by his sister Mary and her husband Ben Blankenship (who were behind converters EZ Camper based in Concord, California) at the start of 1961. Mary and Ben wanted John to be their representative and converter in Southern California. After three months learning the ropes, John was back at home and working from his garage. He later rented a workshop in Home Gardens on the outskirts of Riverside, California and started to produce completed vehicles under the brand name Caravelle Campers. Thanks to the exhaustive research of Sundial authority, Bart Daugherty, we can tell you the Caravelle conversions were carried out until Mary and Ben split up. This shake up in the family saw Mary, John and his wife, Paula, along with Mary’s accountant and her husband, join forces and start a new company called American Camper. When Mary went back to Ben, the other four changed the name to Carousel Camper and components were manufactured up in Concord and sent down to Riverside. It wasn’t long before John grew unhappy with the quality of the parts and decided he would be better off making them himself. The company was wound up and John and Paula Nixon started up under the brand name Sundial Campers.
Initially the conversions were carried out at the premises of the VW dealers. The pre-cut wooden interiors were taken along in kit form and the metal was cut out by John, who then fitted the new Sundial windows. John’s wife Paula remembers how on some days he would convert up to three Vans at different dealerships.
Clearly, having someone converting Vans in the workshop became a hindrance to some dealers and so the Nixons bought an old skating rink in Edgemont and it was only then that production really picked up speed. At one point Sundial Campers had over a hundred employees and although the Nixons can’t recall exactly how many conversions they carried out, it was in the thousands. Sundial was certainly the first American company to convert a Bay Window Type 2, but the fuel crisis at the start of the 1970s put an end to the Sundial brand.
For the full story check out the September 2008 issue of VolksWorld magazine. On sale on 08 August and then available through back issues.
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December 09 02:42
Paula Nixon
It is so fun to see our old Sundial Camper business being still in the news. We enjoyed our years with Sundial. John was always coming up with something new.
Paula Nixon