| Riviera PopTop Conversion |
| Since the early days of the VW Bus, camper conversions have been extremely popular. Starting in 1952, Westfalia Werk, a company based in Widenbruck, Germany began outfitting Type 2's with practical and useful accessories to make the bus into a "home away from home" for camping and long term vacationing. Some of the more obvious fitiments include seats that fold down to make a bed, a gas stove for preparing meals and an ice box to keep your food and drinks cold. Another not quite so obvious, yet incredibly popular addition to the VW based camper is the elevating roof, more commonly known as the "PopTop". The PopTop assembly generally consists of a hard fibreglass shell attached to a strong hinge mechanism that allows a section of the roof to be raised in order to facilitate standing upright in the bus while cooking, changing clothes or performing any other activity that requires an upright posture. The fibreglass shell is joined to the body of the bus with a canvas tent assembly which often features one or more screened windows to provide ventilation and a nice view of your surroundings while keeping the bugs outside where they belong. In addition to adding extra headroom, the poptop section would soon evolve to include a sleeping area for up to two more people in the Baywindow VW Bus.. |
| Part1 - A Bit of History |
| Since I first got Gretta I had been toying with the idea of installing a poptop to increase space and sleeping capacity. After doing some research into the matter I realized that the ASI Riviera "Penthouse" top would probably be the easiest and most useful top to add to my beloved bus. After a little more than two years of passively searching for a Riviera top in good shape, I found one just a couple hours away from home listed on eBay. $150.00 later I was the proud owner of a full poptop setup. Now came the fun part of installing it... |
| As the worldwide demand for camperized buses grew, Westfalia had a difficult time keeping up with demand. At several points Volkswagen AG required its dealers to purchase several non-camper models for each Westfalia camper ordered. As a result of this practice, several aftermarket manufacturers created their own versions of the camper interior and pop-top mechanism that could be added to the kombi and panel delivery van model buses after ariving at their port of delivery. In England, the Dormobile camper with its unique side opening accordion top became quite popular and is still a highly prized collectible. Likewise, the Devon Moonraker helped to quench the insatiable thirst for comfortable camping in minimal space. Here in the United States, several manufacturers set to making their own versions of the camperized VW Bus. Notable examples include EZ Camper, Sportsmobile, Adventurewagen, Sundial and ASI among others. Information about many of these campers can be found in the library at www.type2.com. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| ASI Riviera |
| Dormobile |
| Sportsmobile |
| "Early" Westfalia ('68-'73) |
| "Late" Westfalia ('74-'79) |