Type 2 VW Camper

Type 2 (aka Split Screen) 1950 - 1967 The original VW Camper has it's origins in the wartime VW factory in Wolfsberg, Germany, which was at the time manufacturing VW Beetles. Ben Pon, an importer of VW

Beetles to Holland, came up with the original design of the Beetle based van. Pon's original idea was not for a leisure vehicle, but rather a utility vehicle and indeed the early Split Screens functioned as everything from Ambulances to Grocery delivery vans. The first Type 2 prototype was demo'd at the 1949 Geneva Motor show and production began in 1950. After modifying the base vehicle to be used for a number of these utility type purposes, as per the designers original intention, finally in the mid 1950's the first T2 VW Camper was built.

The idea, of putting a living space on a van based vehicle was not totally new, but it had not been done with a whole lot of success up to that point and certainly not on a commercial basis.
The early versions of the T1 until 1955 were often called the T1a or "Barndoor", owing to the enormous rear engine cover, while the later versions with a slightly modified body (the roofline above the windshield is extended), smaller engine bay, and 15" roadwheels instead of the original 16" ones were called the T1b. From the 1964 model year, when the rear door was made wider (same as on the T2), the vehicle was referred to as the T1c. 1964 also saw the introduction of an optional sliding door for the passenger/cargo area instead of the outwardly hinged doors typical of cargo vans. This change arguably makes the 1964 Volkswagen the first true minivan, although the term wouldn't be coined for another twenty years or so.
German production stopped after the 1967 model year; however, the T1 still was made in Brazil until 1975, when it was modified with a 1968-79 T2-style front end, and big 1972-vintage taillights into the so-called "T1.5" and produced until 1996.