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Coachbuilder, Converter, Manufacturer · Folkestone, Kent, United Kingdom · 1773–1994

Martin Walter Ltd (Dormobile)

Folkestone coachbuilder tracing its origins to a harness-maker of 1773, maker of the pre-war Wingham cabriolet and, after 1945, of the Dormobile motor caravan whose side-hinged striped elevating roof became a British icon. From 1961 it converted Land Rover 109 Station Wagons into Dormobile campers.

History

Martin Walter was founded at Folkestone, Kent in 1773 as a maker of horse harness, moving on through carriage and coach building to motor bodywork as the car arrived. It became a private company in 1911 and built bespoke coachwork on Daimler, Rolls-Royce, Mercedes-Benz and Vauxhall chassis, as well as short production runs for manufacturers. Its best-known pre-war product was the Wingham cabriolet, a convertible body that could be run closed, as a coupe de ville or fully open; in 1937 the firm merged with Abbey Coachworks to form Wingham Martin Walter. The company was also the Vauxhall and Bedford distributor for East Kent, and in 1935 introduced the Utilecon, a van whose interior converted in seconds into a seven-seat passenger saloon — a trick that served as Red Cross ambulance and Royal Navy utility bodywork through the war.

The Dormobile grew directly out of that convertible-interior thinking. Martin Walter went public in 1955 and turned decisively to camper conversions on the Bedford CA van; the side-elevating roof with its candy-striped fabric sides and roof lights, introduced in the second half of the 1950s, made the name famous. Sources differ slightly on the start: the present Dormobile company dates the 'bedroom on wheels' to 1952 with the elevating roof arriving in 1957, Grace's Guide records Dormobile conversion manufacture from 1956, and other accounts give 1954 for the first Bedford CA conversion. By 1961 the firm employed around 1,300 people. In January 1969 a separate company, Dormobile Ltd, was incorporated to carry the brand.

Land Rover work began in the spring of 1961, when Martin Walter added the 109-inch Station Wagon to a conversion range that already included Bedford and Volkswagen. The Land Rover Dormobile received the elevating roof with its two stretcher bunks, seats folding to a double bed, cooker, sink, water carriers, wardrobe and table, and was sold as a catalogued option through Land Rover dealers with a riveted Martin Walter identification plate. Research collated by marque historians estimates about 830 four-door (type 626) station-wagon conversions at Folkestone between 1961 and 1975 — roughly 725 Series IIA and about 104 Series III — for a rough total of a thousand Land Rover Dormobiles including two-door and Series II cars.

Independence ended in 1972, when Martin Walter Ltd accepted a takeover offer from Charrington, Gardner, Locket and Co; in 1981 it was combined with another Charringtons subsidiary as Chatfields-Martin Walter. Rising costs, cheap package holidays and imported campers eroded the business, and the historic Folkestone factory closed in 1994. The Dormobile name was bought and relaunched in 1997 on the south coast as a restoration and conversion specialist, and still reproduces the classic elevating roof for Land Rover 109s and Defender 110s.

Imagery

Not a Land Rover: a 1936 Daimler 15 with Martin Walter's Wingham cabriolet coachwork, the firm's signature pre-war body.
Not a Land Rover: a 1936 Daimler 15 with Martin Walter's Wingham cabriolet coachwork, the firm's signature pre-war body. Steve Glover, via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0 ↗
A 1963 Bedford CA Dormobile at the Wessex Car Show, Lulworth Castle — the van conversion that made the Dormobile name before Land Rovers joined the range.
A 1963 Bedford CA Dormobile at the Wessex Car Show, Lulworth Castle — the van conversion that made the Dormobile name before Land Rovers joined the range. Andrew Bone, via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0 ↗

Vehicles in this registry (1)

Sources & citations

Maker record updated 2026-09-10T04:48:16.006Z · status: researched