European camping style with a camper towing a trailer
Let’s Chill Out! (Let’s Chill Out), held June 1-2, 2024 at the National Musashi Hills Park in Saitama Prefecture, is a new style of car show and auto camping event centered on outdoor and custom cars. The event was the center of attention at the event. The site that attracted the most attention was a classic Volkswagen Type 2 camper, towing a camping trailer. We asked the owner, an advanced outdoorsman, to give us a closer look at his vehicle.
I’m fascinated by the classic VW and camping equipment of the same age
“I like the combination of these two vehicles so much that I can’t see the towing style myself, but I honestly think the towing scenes my friends have taken of me are cool.”
This is a 1961 Volkswagen Type 2 (commonly known as a Wagenbus) Westfalia camper coupled with a 1957 Caravan (the European name for a camping trailer), also made by Westfalia, to create the “Let’s Let’s play outside,” who showed us his perfect outdoor style with his friends at “Let’s Chill Out!.” You may know him as “Let’s play outside” on Instagram, where he shares his wonderful car life under this handle. You may have heard of him on Instagram, where he introduces his wonderful car life under the handle “Let’s play outside.
“I used to enjoy car life with a Chevrolet El Camino, but my family structure changed and I decided on a VW, which I had been interested in for 16 years.
“Let’s play outside” was also in a group with several VW friends that day, and he says he has been inspired by their lifestyle since he met them.
“Once I started collecting outdoor items of the same age as the VWs, I became more and more interested in them. Everyone is not only obsessed with cars but also with tools (laughs). (Laughs) I also studied foreign magazines and video websites, increasing and decreasing the number of items I collected, until I finally achieved the style I have now.”
A camping trailer was explored as the finishing touch to the VW camping style
The caravan, which was finally registered last year, is something we have been looking for as the final chapter in completing our camping style for 4-5 years.
“Nowadays, there are no more caravans for sale, but back then, this caravan “Westfalia 310-4” could be found all over the world, from pin to pin. After years of searching for a good quality one, I found it in Norway.
It was good that the car was imported by Strollers, a VW store in Chiba Prefecture that is active in promoting these caravans, but it took a good deal of time from then until it was registered.
“I thought that registration would be a short process since the manufacturer was still in existence, but it took some time. It seems that Heimer, the same German manufacturer, has a better response time in terms of submitting documents. Westfalia has strong e-mail security, but their e-mails were often sent to spam, so we had to use other means to confirm each time, which was very difficult for Strollers.”
They enjoy traveling long distances in this style
He usually enjoyed camping and canoeing with his VW friends, but after the caravan was finally registered last fall, he also enjoyed long distance trips, including a play trip to Shikoku.
“Let’s Chill Out! allows each owner to enjoy the show in a way that suits their lifestyle, and we are happy to be able to present the European caravan style, which is the theme of our friends,”
While he doesn’t often go to car-only shows, “Let’s Play Outside” is his third entry for Let’s Chill Out!, which combines the outdoors with cars. This was the third entry for “Let’s Play Outside,” a VW Caravan style that reflected his own style beautifully.
Because of the heavy rain on the day of the event, the awards were announced at a later date by voting, and he was crowned “Best European Vehicle”.
translated by DeepL