The king of VW campers- The LT range.

You don't see many about.
Suppliers supply volume markets; I can't see the LT ever being one.

 

Yes. They do, but trucks are far more driver friendly than cars if I am honest. The seating position, bigger mirrors and all round vision is similar to a bay, but bigger. The actual steering and use of controls is quite light and very similar to a bay.

I think the point about storage is probably the biggest factor. and of course, you need to be confident enough to drive one.

 

I think the LT will always be a niche market in the uk. They have a good following in Germany though.

 

A bit of LT geekiness...

The early LT's had round headlights, these were changed to square headlights in 1986.

The very early LT had an option for a Perkins engine. They were cumbersome and slow. Very few exist today. An inline four-cylinder diesel engine by Perkins was available. The 48 kilowatts (65 PS; 64 bhp) 2.7-litre diesel was included in the LT range from 1976 onwards.The Perkins engine was replaced in 1978. By the inline 6 non turbo d24 VW diesel engine.

The Westfalia LT came in two models. The Sven Hedin and the California.

Karmann Produced a LT they called the LT distance wide. They produced 3200 of these still very popular motorhomes.. Based on the LT 31 ( 3100KG GVW)

The Karmann LT distance wide.. or 'Dune' as it was called by some.





The number after LT. E,G - LT28 means 2.8 Tonnes GVW to signify the gross vehicle weight loaded. They did a a range from the LT28 up to the LT55. The later LT55 did buck the trend a bit as the GVW was 5.6 tonnes.

Heavier models ( over 5.6T ) were designated the 'G' series.

Later LT'S were available in single rear wheel axle versions to allow a wider load area in the rear. This included the 55 model.

The LT finally went out of production in 1996. Five million LT's were produced and sold in just 21 years.

 

A bit of reading for those interested.

1991 4 x 4 product brochure...

http://coyote.marlow.dk/~marlow/lt40/brochure_1991_vw_lt_4x4.html

1995 4x4 product brochure

http://coyote.marlow.dk/~marlow/lt40/brochure_1985_vw_lt_4x4.html

A German 4 x 4 LT Forum link..

http://www.lt-4x4.de/

 

Karmann distance wide autovilla..

 

Niesman and Bischoff a German caravan seller began making their legendary 'CLOU' or Clouliner on a LT chassis back in 1981. They were subsequently bought by 'Hymer' and the Cloul is now a part of the Hymer company range..

The original Clou. A 6 berth world overlander of gigantic proportions and luxury...





The ultimate roof rack on a camper..

 

FOSTER AND DAY.

Foster and day of Manchester road Rochdale. apparently made 17 Volkswagen LT Luxury motorhomes. They are quite rare and 16 are known to be in existence today.

Like my Woodlander An alternative to the LHD German versions of LT luxury.

 

As you guys will know, I am not an expert on coachbuilt LT motorhomes. I am simply gathering up knowledge where I can and posting it up on here for your perusal and my reference. I remain a dyed in the wool bay person,,, That owns an LT motorhome.

 

5 million LT's in 21 years. 1975 -96.

 

VW own MAN. I am sat in my lorry typing this. It is a MAN TGM 18 340. It is a VW really. The small truck you remember was the MAN pick up from when they were an independent company. I can't remember when they merged. Early 90's at a guess!

 

The small MAN 8 - 150. They drove exactly like my LT. They look pretty similar too.






MAN ( Machinenfabrik Augsburg Nurnberg ) Became VW owned after a long and drawn out takeover bid for Scania failed. VW stepped in and swept up the company along with other assets. MAN were a Munich based truck company that was once very big indeed.

From Wiki...

In September 2006, MAN produced an offer for the take-over of the Swedish competitor Scania AB. The European Commission approved the takeover on December, 14. Nevertheless, MAN voluntarily withdrew the offer on January 23, 2007, after Scania’s major shareholdersVolkswagen AG and the influential Wallenberg family had declined the offer. On December 24, 2008, MAN published to possess further stock options of Scania and to therefore maintain more than 20 percent of the voting rights.

In 2008, the MAN group celebrated its 250 year anniversary with numerous events, like exhibitions in several museums, a vintage car tour with the motto “MAN on the road again” and a great anniversary gala. At the beginning of December 2008 MAN took over the company VW Truck and Bus Brazil and changed the firm’s name to MAN Latin America. Therewith, MAN now is market leader in Brazil with a market share of 30 percent.
Takeover by Volkswagen[edit]

Headquarters of MAN SE in Munich
In July 2011, Volkswagen AG acquired a 55.9% voting stake and 53.7% of the share capital in MAN SE. Pending regulatory approval, Volkswagen planned to merge MAN and Scania to create Europe's largest truckmaker. The combined trucks group is planned to save about 400 million euros per year, mainly by bundling procurement.[18][19] Regulatory approval was granted, and the takeover completed, in November 2011.[20]

In April 2012 MAN SE announced that Volkswagen had increased its interest to a 73.0% voting stake and 71.08% of the share capital.[21]

On 6 June 2012 Volkswagen AG announced that it had increased its share of voting rights in MAN SE to 75.03%, paving the way for a domination agreement to be put in place.[22