During its heyday the Dormobile was a hugely popular vehicle and it even had a few famous owners and has even appeared in a film.
A Dormobile featured in the Italian Job. The white converted Ford Thames van that they did up as a football supporters van and used to get of the city was a Dormobile as was the vehicle that Bridgers heavies drove when they went round to give Charlie a “good going over”.
Not only is the Dormobile the star of the screen it also had some very famous owners not least the author Anthony Burgess. He owned a classic Bedford Dormobile which he and his second wife spent large parts of their early marriage to travel Europe in, especially France and Scilly. However, Burgess couldn’t drive so his wife did all the driving while he used the desk in the van to write. In fact he said that the Dormobile helped him in what he what he described as “the struggle against bourgeois conformity”. He even wrote the entirety of Beard’s Roman Woman while in his Bedford Dormobile and on the road round Europe.
Even without its famous owners the Dormobile is still hugely popular with ordinary people because of its versatility and has become a much loved part of the campervan environment as it meant ordinary people could get away on holiday thanks to their Dormobile. And now days it still has a wide following of Dormobile enthusiasts who love the conversion and still use their Dormobile as a holiday home.