I saw one of these in Seattle Friday. I’ve always liked the VW ‘crew cab pick-up’ based on the Bus (pic), and I like the Transporter-based ones even better. There’s just something cool about them.
Sadly, I have too many cars already and not enough space.
Interesting; I’d pretty much forgotten about those.
I’ve always had a bit of a thing for oddball cars and light trucks, although I can’t be arsed to buy and restore one. My personal fave? Early '60s Corvair vans and ‘rampside’ pickups.
We used to have a regular style VW bus back in the mid-60’s. My grandparents had one almost exactly like it, except that it was one year newer. I remember going camping with them, and having them parked side by side on the campsite. Mom used to let us shift them when she was driving. She’d hit the clutch, and we could shift from gear to gear like 7 year old experts!
I was behind a Vanagon one day last week that had a fuel can and spare tire strapped to the back of it and all sorts of hate speech printed all over the back window. I suspect it had many guns and explosives on board also, but I couldn’t see that.
My sister and her boyfriend lived in a VW bus around 1970 or '71. It looked very comfy. A friend had a '70 VW bus, oh… about 8 or 9 years ago. It always freaked me out a little riding in it, as the nose would come right up to the wall of his garage or parking space. I loved the use of interior space in it.
But this isn’t about the Bus, really. It’s the pickup. The rear seating area just looks so Teutonically functional with it’s little bulkhead between it and the front. The bed with the drop-down sides look practical as well. The Type 2s are cool; but the Type 3s (Transporters) look very utilitarian, and have more power and some had 4WD.
My brother had onw when I was in High school. I think it was 1960 or so. We had a lot of fun going camping in that thing.
Years later I found a 1967 Westfalia bus camper. Did a lot of camping with my boys in that one.
Just remember what Click & Clack said about the classic Bus: “In a collision, the driver’s legs are the first line of defense.”
