When the Rascal van went into production in 1986, Iain Macpherson, the chairman of Autohomes, was invited to view it, along with other Motorcaravan manufacturers.
He decided that as a panel van, it would be too small to convert. But when he saw the pick-up version, he saw the potential for building a micro-coachbuilt on the chassis.
This produced a van 18” wider and two feet longer than the panel van, and was fully insulated - a miniature version of the big brother Highwayman.
Then came the challenge of finding a name. Iain’s daughter suggested Bambino, the Italian for baby. Iain thought “Bambi” would sound even better. To his surprise, Disney allowed the use of the copyrighted name. So Bambi was born, and was soon so popular that there were waiting lists for it for the first 3 years.
Then, alas, Autohomes went bankrupt in 1992, and since then, no more Bambis have been made. But 1500 were built, and most are still going strong.
