1967 Volkswagen Camper Goes from Vintage Van to 'Back to Future' Time Machine

The VW camper is a van that has experienced unprecedented iconic status in the history of American automobiles, representing a symbol of travel on the open road. For this reason, a Back to the Future-inspired revamp of a classic 1967 edition of the Camper by Velocity Motors is getting a lot of recognition.

The Nashville-based company, which also does stunning re-imagings of fan favorites, kept the frame of the class car intact, but added gull-wing doors reminiscent of the gray Delorean from the film, and even included a Flux Capacitor that can be controlled from the front of the van. 

The gray chrome exterior and orange and yellow interior no doubt add to the vintage charm. It features a 1.5 liter flat 4 engine, which is not the most powerful engine, but potential buyers we imagine are not interested in power.

From the side doors, one can access the passenger area, with restored sofas and retro chairs, which offer the perfect view for watching films on the flat screen television. 

In fact besides the flat screen, the only feature of the van that isn’t vintage is the price. Buyers will have to pay a hefty $89,995 to own this piece of history and material culture.

Since Volkswagen made the difficult decision back in 2013 to end production of camper vans—also formally known as the Kombi or VW T2—there has been renewed interest from collectors and automobile enthusiasts alike in owning one. 

Interestingly, Brazil had been the last country producing the van, which is a testament to how far the model has come since its humble beginnings in Europe back in 1950 and was known as the Microbus in Germany. And though there have been noteworthy efforts to modernize the classic van over the years, the classic frame and design aesthetic remain more or the less the same. The latest, of course, was the introduction of a complete overhaul of the design in the form of an all-electric minibus. 

Bob Gale, writer and producer of the film, explains the enduring legacy of the film Back to the Future: “One of the things that is unique about Back to the Future compared to other time travel movies is the first movie Marty McFly isn’t planning to travel through time. He is an accidental time traveler. And so that puts a whole different perspective on time travel that I don’t think had ever been done before.”

The VW Camper truly has an enduring legacy that one finds difficult to explain, especially in today’s automobile market in which innovation is so strongly emphasized—at times at the expense of allowing the designs from one model to the next to evolve naturally. Combine that with the themes of exploring the unknown as well as time travel from the film and you have an irresistible narrative that appeals to everyone from vintage car collectors to engineers.