Since its introduction in 1950 the Volkswagen Transporter has become legendary for its versatility and adaptability to many commercial uses. Known originally as Sonderausfuhrungen, abbreviated to SO, these Special Models were usually converted by specialists, companies and coachbuilders approved by VW. Using archive, promotional materials and period and contemporary photographs, this book traces the development and variety of these SO and other Special Body conversions from 1950 - 2010, across the five generations from T1 to T5. As well as all the officially SO-designated models, many rare and unusual conversions are profiled, some with full photo-features. The models covered include: Airport buses, ambulances, Binz double cab, Brazilian body variants, Broadcast buses. Cherry pickers, Disaster vans, Display and exhibition buses, Drinks delivery vehicles, Electric buses, Fire trucks, Fire trucks, Half-Track alpine buses, Hearses, Ice cream vans, Ladder trucks, Low loader pick-ups, Miesen ambulance, Military conversions, Mining buses, Mobile shops, Money transporters, Police vehicles, Rail buses, Refrigerated transport vans, Tipper trucks. AUTHOR: David Eccles has been passionate about the VW Bus since taking one to India and back in 1976. Since 2000 he has been the editor of VW Camper and Commercial magazine and he has also authored four previous VW Bus specification and lifestyle books. Michael Steinke has owned twenty-eight different VW Buses of all generations and type of conversions, and driven more than 1.2 million kilometres in them. Interested in the history of the VW Transporter, he began to build up archives of Classic Volkswagen Transporters in his hometown Frankfurt, Germany. SELLING POINTS: The full story of these special models is documented and celebrated in great detail in this book The models are an aspect of the Volkswagen Bus, Transporter and Pick-Up that is rarely seen and covered Whether a lover of the VW Camper, the VW Bus, vintage or working commercial vehicles, or just an admirer of photographs of the unusual and the bizarre, this book will be an endless source of both information and fascination 700 colour photographs