Yes, it is Throwback-Thursday and yes, this is me in the family Volkswagen Camper Van, a shot taken in May of 1971 when we were apparently on a trip to Colorado Springs. There are many other shots of me years later when I wanted to drive (like in 1972) where I am sitting on the drivers seat, but this should be good enough for this week. My grandmother seems to have written on the back of every single photo ever taken and the caption on the back reads
Scott has his own picnic at Pike National Forest Colorado Springs May ’71
My sister hadn’t come along at this point yet so I was the star of the show. I love the classic look of this van, especially the license plate. Don’t remember exactly but I am pretty sure this van was very new at this point. Worth about 500 times today what they paid for it back then. Wonder if the “Roy Bridges” car dealership is still in business?
I did a post about buying our “new” camper van Our New-Old Ford Econoline E250 Conversion Camper Van and I posted several photos of our 1971 Red VW Camper Van over there. I love those photos of that van, it is such a timeless classic of a vehicle looking from the perspective of 2025.
3 responses to “Scott in the 1971 Volkswagen Camper Van”
Scott,
The van was purchased new and I think this was the “inaugural” trip in May of 1971. This picture was in Colorado Springs where we all went for a picnic. Your mom and dad and you flew from California to Colorado Springs and then all 5 of you drove back to California where Gan and Pop-pop visited. I believe this was the first time they saw you! Your dad was in the Air Force and stationed in California.
Have a great day!
That’s AWESOME, thanks so much for giving that bit of history that went along with the photo, I never would have known any of that ๐
The VW at it oldest is a 1968, so yes it is fairly new.
To answer your question, Roy Bridges went out of business in the early 1990s. The original building (used until 1967) is still standing, now as a dialysis clinic. Sadly, the building that opened in 1967 to fanfare was razed in the 1990s and is now Children’s Hospital’s parking deck.
I’m in the Birmingham area and a VW enthusiast and I’m doing searches on information/images on our defunct local VW dealers from this era.
Just an fyi, Roy Bridges was Birmingham’s first standalone Volkswagen dealer, opened around 1956. My great aunt bought her first car, a brand new red 1958 Beetle there.
This is a great picture by the way