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mahatmakanejeeves

(56,897 posts)
Tue Mar 10, 2015, 03:08 PM Mar 2015

The Volkswagen bus turns 65

The Volkswagen bus turns 65

Kurt Ernst at 8:00 am



Volkswagen Transporter production in Wolfsburg, 1950. Photos courtesy Volkswagen AG.

It began with a simple idea, sketched on notebook paper by Dutch Volkswagen importer Ben Pon in 1947. Inspired by the Plattenwagen, a flatbed factory hauler built from the wartime Kuebelwagen, Pon imagined a Beetle-based bus that could meet the needs of commercial customers and consumers alike. The result was the Type 2 Transporter, which entered production on March 8, 1950, and remains in production (entering its sixth generation) for global markets today.
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The Volkswagen bus turns 65 (Original Post) mahatmakanejeeves Mar 2015 OP
I didn't think they could ever hit 65! snooper2 Mar 2015 #1
downhill... lame54 Mar 2015 #12
Still have mine! nykym Mar 2015 #2
The old ones were dangerous as hell. Xithras Mar 2015 #3
beetles, too. mopinko Mar 2015 #6
I even had one in the day RoccoR5955 Mar 2015 #4
I had a 1966 model with the Fabulous Freak Brothers painted on it. B Calm Mar 2015 #5
recently started collecting fisher price toys. got a bunch of mopinko Mar 2015 #7
My buddy in HS had a '65 with no side windows... bluesbassman Mar 2015 #8
my first vehicle was a 63 Microbus olddots Mar 2015 #9
Love the Samba! cyberswede Mar 2015 #10
I had a 77. NutmegYankee Mar 2015 #11
Yeah, they are pretty slow CreekDog Mar 2015 #13
I think limiting the horsepower on personal automobiles would be an excellent idea. hunter Mar 2015 #14
I still have one for a daily driver. denbot Mar 2015 #15

nykym

(3,063 posts)
2. Still have mine!
Tue Mar 10, 2015, 03:28 PM
Mar 2015

Parked in my yard. It's kinda a frankenbus...dash from a 69 chassis is a 71 if I remember.
and misc years of parts incorporated. Unfortunately it has a blown engine.
But have no fear I has another engine and it is going in this spring if the snow ever melts.
Ultimate plan is to swap a Subaru 2.2 engine if the rust doesn't beat me to it.

Xithras

(16,191 posts)
3. The old ones were dangerous as hell.
Tue Mar 10, 2015, 03:50 PM
Mar 2015

Several friends of mine were killed in high school while driving down a two lane highway in a a 1960 21 window. It was a windy day and a large truck passed by going the opposite way just as a gust of wind hit them. The combined air blast yanked them across the roadway and into a muddy orchard, where they hit a tree. The driver (17 years old, IIRC) had one of his legs completely severed and bled to death before they reached the hospital. His 15 year old girlfriend was killed instantly in the front passenger seat. One of the passengers (another 15 year old girl, IIRC) in the back flew out the open sunroof and hit the tree head first. My best friend in high school, and one of the few high school buddies that I still keep in contact with today, was one of the two who survived. He also went out the sunroof, but missed the tree and landed in the mud. He busted a few bones, but he lived.

The witnesses and survivors all said that the bus slowed hard in the mud and was nearly at a stop when it hit the tree. The police never worked out the exact speed of the bus at impact, but they confirmed that it was doing less than 25MPH. It folded up like a soda can.

mopinko

(69,806 posts)
6. beetles, too.
Tue Mar 10, 2015, 04:51 PM
Mar 2015

my first car was a 63 beetle. driving it was a white knuckle experience in ANY kind of weather. no defrosters and all.
but it did get blown around horribly. and the trunk latch was less than stable, often resulting in the hood popping up from a truckers gust of wind.

 

RoccoR5955

(12,471 posts)
4. I even had one in the day
Tue Mar 10, 2015, 04:32 PM
Mar 2015

It was a 1969. I used to carry a spare engine in it. It got so that I could swap out engines in less than a half hour!
I think that the rust got to it.

mopinko

(69,806 posts)
7. recently started collecting fisher price toys. got a bunch of
Tue Mar 10, 2015, 04:52 PM
Mar 2015

mini-buses that are clearly vw's. they were a quite popular toy.
most of their vehicles were jeeps, tho.

bluesbassman

(19,310 posts)
8. My buddy in HS had a '65 with no side windows...
Tue Mar 10, 2015, 05:33 PM
Mar 2015

The entire interior was paneled and trimmed to resemble the cabin of a sailboat. Spent many a Friday and Saturday night cruising over to San Francisco to see a concert at Winterland or the Filmore in that old girl. Great times!

 

olddots

(10,237 posts)
9. my first vehicle was a 63 Microbus
Tue Mar 10, 2015, 05:39 PM
Mar 2015

I lived thru the experience , the thing was dangerous even in a parkimg space .

hunter

(38,264 posts)
14. I think limiting the horsepower on personal automobiles would be an excellent idea.
Tue Mar 10, 2015, 06:03 PM
Mar 2015

These vans had 25 horsepower on a good day. That's plenty enough to get you anywhere, and it would be especially so in a modern hybrid electric car.

When I was a kid our family drove two V.W. vans all over the U.S.A.. The first van's engine burned up, literally, smoke coming out of the heater vents. Smoke always came out of the heater vents, but this was more than usual. Abandon ship!

My dad later replaced it with a newer van.

I took my first driver's license test in in the second van. Modern kids raised on video games and automatic transmissions have no idea how terrifying that was. We lived in a hilly community. Stopping uphill, at a light or stop sign, was the stuff of nightmares because letting the clutch out too fast would stall the engine, and letting it out too slowly meant you'd roll backwards into the car behind you. Furthermore these vans had the sloppiest stick shift of any car ever made, before or after. It seemed to be connected to the transmission with a rubber band. Stopping on hills and hitting the right gears under the judgmental eye of a DMV officer took major guts.

Awesomely I later took this van and a mess of friends to San Francisco to hang out, to a bunch of biology and geology university field work sites, and a few nuclear power public hearings and anti-nuclear events. I enjoyed the full California young adult 1970's hippie experience, predating the Australian version:



My dad started driving more sensible cars after he hit a deer in the van. The deer was killed instantly, but the front of the van was frightfully damaged too.

Some Highway Patrol officer took the deer and probably made sausages out of it, and my dad and my brother repaired the van but later sold it for some small amount of money.

Seeing what those vans are selling for today is astonishing.



They ought to have just left it parked in the yard.

denbot

(9,894 posts)
15. I still have one for a daily driver.
Tue Mar 10, 2015, 06:27 PM
Mar 2015

If given a choice between walking home from school and me giving my daughter a ride in my van as opposed to our sedan, she would prefer to walk.

This is my '86 Vanagon Syncro 4X4 ( A.K.A The surf wagon)

[IMG][/IMG]

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