Unless you’re a petrol head, most cars you can probably take or leave. Among the exceptions are vintage VW Campers, which have character. It’s great to hear, then, that a new Irish company has been set up to hire them out to holidaymakers.
Retro Camper was established by Jenny Keating and her husband, Colm Redmond, near Ashbourne, Co Meath. After two years of unemployment, it’s a good news story in more ways than one. According to Keating, the couple are booked to the point that they need more vans.
In line with VW Camper hire best practice worldwide, the company’s vehicles have not just names but personalities and even backstories.
Peter, for example, is the couple’s 1979 VW Devon Camper, named by its first owner before being bought by friends of theirs. In 2006 Peter underwent a grand tour of Europe, finishing up back in the VW factory in Wolfsburg, where he underwent a full restoration. He sleeps two adults and two children, and in a lot more charm than any hotel room.
Oman, the second vehicle in the couple’s stable, is a 1970 Westfalia Camper rescued from a barn last year, where he had been laid up for the previous six years, having spent his early years in Bahrain. The couple got him in September 2010, and are just putting the finishing touches to his makeover. He has a pop-up top, so can sleep four adults.
You can follow his and all their campers’ (there’s one more in gestation) progress online. At the very least, have a look at the garage section of the website: it would give you hope for your own banger. Rates start at €115 a day.
- retrocamper.ie
