TheSamba.com :: View topic

Mon Sep 26, 2022 8:19 am

This is something I've not see before, a '73 Campmobile with a full width top bunk. Lovely functional design, as all the Westfalia fittings alway are. The bunk mattress/support is made with a long piece and a short hinged piece. The hinged piece folds under the long piece to allow access to the bunk, then once up there you would use the strap to pull the hinged part 180 degrees, then flip the wire support over to catch the edge of the hinged part to complete the bed. Ingenious design and perfect simple manufacturing. Poptop hold downs are also all different than typical, yet similar. Uses two of the hold-downs that are normally found at the rear location, but at both sides. The metal brackets for the hold-downs are attached to the mattress wood, not the edge of the roof opening. Footman's loops on the roof opening edges are for the hold-downs to keep roof down. Hold-downs double as retainers to keep the mattress hinged up near the roof when not in use. The owner of this Bus is new to Buses and has never popped the top since she had the vehicle!

How common/rare is this?

Mon Sep 26, 2022 8:25 am

Looks like a really nice bus. That's a Continental bed I think.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...mp;start=0

Mon Sep 26, 2022 8:31 am

Yep, that does look nice, and it is a Continental bed. Fairly rare in North America, only available on European models.

Mon Sep 26, 2022 9:23 am

It's a great design. Would be an excellent upgrade for a North American camper.

Mon Sep 26, 2022 9:26 am

I smell a kit option Scott ;)

Thanks for the pictures!
Robbie

Mon Sep 26, 2022 9:40 am

https://nlavw.com/home/532-double-roof-bed-conversion-frame-and-fittings.html

I see this kit above. The metal parts look good but for whatever reason this kit has reimagined how to make the bed work, instead of just reproducing the original design. I don't like how the plywood is cantilevering so far past the joint with the metal rails sticking out, instead of using the original design with the ingenious little flip-over wire support at the edge of the roof opening. Also it deletes the 180 degree hinged section of the mattress support, which is unfortunate. NLAVW is to me, a really impressive company especially in how massive their product line has become in such a short time. So this is not a dig at them but this kit in the link above is a miss. Just make the thing the way Westfalia designed it. It was basically perfect. Nigel already did the working drawings!

Also notice in the thread posted above that lots of people have been making kits for this Continental upper bed, somehow I have completely missed this. A user 'faux' seems to have made some nearly perfect reproduction metal parts but that was long ago.