This ultra-compact campervan has beds for three people thanks to ingenious design and execution, making the Roma the doyenne of the outdoors
From a 2023 perspective, the prospect of spending a weekend with your family in a converted small van may seem distinctly limited. The joys of the experience would undoubtedly include Camp Coffee with tinned evaporated milk, sleeping with your feet in a tailgate-mounted box and, probably, rain. However, 55 years ago the Bedford HA Roma was a versatile and innovative camper and Steven Gray’s 1968 example is believed to be the oldest still on the road.
We featured the Bedford in British Rail “public utility” guise back in 2021, but the Roma is an even more exclusive vehicle. The HA van from Vauxhall’s Bedford commercial vehicle division debuted in 1964 (a year after the HA passenger car) and in that same year the coachbuilder Martin Walter of Folkestone offered the Beagle, a four-seater estate conversion. This formed the basis of the Roma, which was introduced in October 1967 to complement the company’s larger, Bedford CA-based “Romany” campers.
The Roma’s marketing placed heavy emphasis on its versatility. During the week, it “slips easily through the traffic every morning” and “parks in only 14 feet when your wife is shopping around”. Then, by the weekend, “when the whole family is ready to head for the hills or the seaside – your Roma is waiting to take you in a three-berth caravan style all her own”.
To ensure a pleasant break, Martin Walter fitted the Roma with a single-burner gas stove, a sink with water from a six-gallon tank, aircraft-style folding tables, curtains, a 3ft wardrobe and “all timber” cabinet work. Once at the camping site, a glass-fibre extension “box” attached to the tailgate to provide space for feet and allowing the seats to fold into a six-feet-long double bed. The later Mk2 had a tent fitted to the rear door.
Most notably of all, raising the roof provided 6ft 5in of headroom; the dashboard contained a warning light to prevent the Roma from being driven with the top elevated. Gray’s Roma is the £671 De Luxe; the £30 premium over the standard model included a third berth incorporated in the extending roof and an “occasional” folding seat. A heater remained a £14 extra, but the De Luxe did at least feature a rather dashing side stripe.
An Autocar test concluded, “it is not surprising to learn that the initial reception Martin Walter has had for the Roma has been very encouraging”. By March 1968, the company had a large backlog of orders, as the HA had few rivals as a lightweight, affordable estate car that doubled as a camper. Two Mini-based motor-homes, the Wildgoose and Caraboot, cost £867 and £1,095 respectively, while the Bedford was, if not as fashionable, considerably cheaper.
Roma production ended in 1973, along with the Beagle estate, although almost unbelievably Bedford was still producing the HA van until September 1983. Gray says: “It is believed Martin Walter produced around 550 Romas and I only know of 18 in existence, most of which are incomplete or getting restored.” Their survival rate was perhaps not helped by the sink draining into the sills...
Gray’s is probably the most original Roma in use, exemplifying the brochure’s promise of “a long, carefree weekend of caravanning fun”.
Gray is a long-standing Bedford HA enthusiast and his fleet includes two vans dating from 1970 and 1977 as well as the Roma, with its Grecian White paintwork. He says: “My dad bought a new van in April 1969. He ran it as our only family transport for over 20 years, then I used it as my daily transport. I’m in too deep now!”
Progress in the Roma is best described as “steady”; the top speed is 70mph, with 0-50mph in 24.4 seconds. However, few motorists in 1968 would have expected scintillating performance from the 1,159cc engine. Gray observes: “She drives better than the original vans because the extra weight of the conversion helps with suspension movement.”
Naturally, Gray’s Roma is an object of public fascination and he finds “It has the biggest ‘wow factor’ of all my collection, with many comments on the curtains and the picnic tables”.
It is certainly a vehicle that embodies a realm of holidays in damp fields, with the recreation hall’s screening of Carry On Doctor as the day’s highlight. Not to mention the pride of owning a camper with “front seats trimmed in moquette”.
Read more from The Telegraph’s UK rarest cars series: 1973 Moskvich 434 van, the sole survivor on British roads
Related Topics
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