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Long, Strange Trip Ends for a Symbol of the ’60s


al mcguire

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The New York Times

October 4, 2013

Long, Strange Trip Ends for a Symbol of the ’60s

By IAN AUSTEN

For many Americans, they prompt images of hippies and surfers, or perhaps memories of wholesome camping holidays. Europeans may associate them more with the police or parcel delivery. As for their name, take your pick: Type 2, T2, Kombi, Transporter, Bulli, Micro Bus, Samba Minibus, Vanagon, Caravelle, Clipper L.

The warm feelings will no doubt be chilled by Volkswagen’s announcement that production of the much-adored rear-engine vans will shut down at the end of 2013, after 63 years.

Long gone from European and North American showrooms, the vans that were admired for their simplicity and durability, if not their reliability or speed, have continued production in Brazil, where they are called Kombis. But new safety standards in Brazil are finally forcing the end of assembly of second-generation — or as VW prefers, T2 — models.

When the assembly line shuts down, the production of rear-engine vans will total about 1.6 million units in Brazil over 56 years, on top of roughly 7.9 million built at plants in Austria, Germany, Mexico and South Africa. A special Last Edition model of 1,200 Brazilian T2s, with retro hubcaps and interior features, will see out the model.

“It’s the exclamation point, the end of an era,” said S. Lucas Valdes, the owner of GoWesty, an online parts retailer for camper vans in Los Osos, Calif.

The idea of a van based on the Beetle came from Ben Pon, whose family imported VWs to the Netherlands. On a visit to the factory in 1947, he saw a flatbed truck fashioned from a Beetle chassis being used for in-plant deliveries. His sketch of a box on wheels strongly resembled what became the T1.

The early models were inexpensive to buy and economical to run, and their squareness offered remarkable interior space relative to their overall size. The shortcomings, notably a lack of horsepower, were just as obvious.

With their large windshields and front seats positioned above and ahead of the front axle, the vans offered a somewhat unsettling driving experience.

“You feel like you’re being catapulted in front of the vehicle,” said Mr. Valdes, who owns a 1979 T2. “There’s just a little piece of sheet metal in front of you.”

Over time, variations proliferated. VW offered pickups and raised-roof models; aftermarket companies offered conversions that included hearses and roving airport traffic control towers for the Australian air force.

The era of rear-engine vans for the United States ended in 1991 when VW stopped importing the T3. While larger and more sophisticated than the first two models, even a change to a water-cooled engine did not reverse the view that the T3 was antiquated and overpriced. North Americans received the T4, or Eurovan, with a water-cooled engine up front in 1993. In 2006, the Brazilian T2s lost their air-cooled power plant, replaced by a 1.4-liter engine that required the addition of a prominent black radiator to the van’s front.

In 2001, VW displayed a Microbus design study at the Detroit auto show that combined the styling of the T2 and T1 with modern mechanical and safety features. But in the end, VW introduced the Routan, a restyled Chrysler minivan that evoked suburban driveways more than peace signs.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/06/automobiles/collectibles/long-strange-trip-ends-for-a-symbol-of-the-60s.html?ref=collectibles

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I just got mine 2 weeks ago...and couldn't be happier!...sure it is not the iconic 70s one, but i have to say, it is in pretty good shape for a 86'.

Good for you, that's a great car, even though it may not be the 60's one, it's still a classic.

I had one like that, built in 93. One of the last few they built like that, with the engine in the back. VW had already released the new model, but, by popular demand, they built 2500 of that type. They sold them numbered as the Last Limited Edition. I had no. 1793. great car and in great shape! It got stolen in London, almost exactly ten years ago :(

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Lots of VW van-camping growing up, and my first childhood memory is a nightmare that featured our blue and white VW van. Both my father and step-father owned them. I'm sure you'll remember this tome, Crew. It floated around the garages of my childhood like the bible...

 

Doh! I drove a VW SuperBeetle for almost 10 years in the mid-1970s through the early 1980s. Put 150,000 miles on it, on two engines. I carried a copy of that book in the back, and it saved my life on a couple of occasions. It was a crap car, but by god, it was reliable. You haven't lived until you've had a clutch cable snap on you, and you have to drive the car around without a clutch and still shift gears! 

 

I had many memorable times in VW microbuses, throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Brings back a lotta memories. Boy, those air-cooled engines were loud! I can never forget the distinctive sound of those engines -- you never hear that nowadays.

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Hey, Rich, love seeing the really boxy white Thermodyne case you're sitting next to. I still have 2 of those, identical to yours. I also had a number of Volkswagens (I know, that is the topic) and I loved them all. For me, the first VW was a 1965 bug, my first car that had roll up windows and could actually be relied on to run properly every day. Before that it had been all British sports cars, so the step up to German engineering and reliability was a real bonus. Later I had a Westphalia Camper, I think a 1968 but I'm not sure, lots of great camping trips (but never used for work since I wasn't working yet). In 1970 my grandmother gave me a new Volvo station wagon (my first of two Volvos) as a wedding present (first marriage of three). It was the Volvo that I started to work out of --- my "sound cart" and a few cases fit nicely in the station wagon with the seats folded down.

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I had a 1971 Westphalia from 1986 to 2006.  First year of disc brakes and the last year it shared the engine with the Bug.  

Dipped it's axles in the both the Pacific and the Atlantic over the years and had it as far north as Inuvik and south to the bottom of Baja California. 

And every place in between.

From deep sand to deep snow, that truck would pretty much do it all!  

Made me into a very good mechanic though, having replaced every moving part on that thing at least once, and getting up to 2 or 3 times for some others...

 

Cheers,

Brent Calkin

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I have to disagree, respectfully with Mr. Wielage, "...it was a crap car..."  Volkswagens were built to last, if properly maintained.  I had a 1978 Camper, a 1985 Vanagon, and a 1990 Vanagon, while I preferred the air cooled engines, the water cooled Vanagons had much more space to them, they are commanding a huge premium on today's used car market.

 

No, I'm talking about my 1971 SuperBeetle! Trust me, that was a crap car: freezing in the winter, roasting in the summer, very prone to not starting after a rain (when the spark plugs in the back would get wet. I'm only speaking about my own car. I couldn't have hated it too much, since I drove it for almost 10 years! Among all my friends, every last one of them referred to it as "The Piece of Shit." As in, "hey, Marc, we have to drive in Miami this weekend -- I'll pitch in for gas if you'll drive The Piece of Shit."

 

220px-Volkswagen_Beetle_.jpg

(not my car, but almost an exact replica)

 

But I had many adventures in it, driving to California 3 times (the last one to live here in 1977), and for a piece of crap, it held up very well. I still occasionally drive by the little place I used to use to repair it, an independent VW shop on LaBrea a block or so from Mole-Richardson. They're still there. 

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 You haven't lived until you've had a clutch cable snap on you, and you have to drive the car around without a clutch and still shift gears! 

 

Tell me about it. 3 snapped clutch cables in 10 years. I drove a 1967 type II until May this year when I sold it (for comfortably more than I paid).

The last time the cable broke was earlier this year, pushing me over the edge to selling it.  I kept rags and stuff in the back so I could always crawl under for repairs on the road, but I'm in my work shirt and said to myself "f it, I'm getting a tow".  Got it to work and came in on the weekend to put the replacement in.  Potholes in the road shook my Electronic Ignition to pieces as well.

 

Tom.

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Snapped throttle cables were a drag too. I once drove home with a long piece of fishing line running out the driver's window, over the roof and through the open rear engine hatch and attached to the throttle linkage.  Pull string to give it fuel and let it go to throttle down.  Pretty interesting to accelerate through the gears like that...

 

Then there was the time when the heater cores rusted through and sent a near fatal dose of carbon monoxide into the cab while driving from BC to Baja in the winter...

 

Oh yeah, and the time I had to drop the engine in a campsite across the river from Dawson City, Yukon, to tighten the head bolts...

 

and the time when it stalled in the middle of an intersection in Evanston, Illinois, and I had to crawl underneath to hammer on the starter to make it go...

 

And the time I had to change a master brake cylinder in a campsite in Tofino,  'cause it was failing and I had a mountain pass to get over.

 

And the time the front brake caliper exploded on a flat suburban street 2 days after a 300 km mountain trip with several huge downhills.

 

And ... why did we love these trucks again?   ???

 

Cheers,

Brent Calkin

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Snapped throttle cables were a drag too. I once drove home with a long piece of fishing line running out the driver's window, over the roof and through the open rear engine hatch and attached to the throttle linkage. Pull string to give it fuel and let it go to throttle down. Pretty interesting to accelerate through the gears like that...

Then there was the time when the heater cores rusted through and sent a near fatal dose of carbon monoxide into the cab while driving from BC to Baja in the winter...

Oh yeah, and the time I had to drop the engine in a campsite across the river from Dawson City, Yukon, to tighten the head bolts...

and the time when it stalled in the middle of an intersection in Evanston, Illinois, and I had to crawl underneath to hammer on the starter to make it go...

And the time I had to change a master brake cylinder in a campsite in Tofino, 'cause it was failing and I had a mountain pass to get over.

And the time the front brake caliper exploded on a flat suburban street 2 days after a 300 km mountain trip with several huge downhills.

And ... why did we love these trucks again? ???

Cheers,

Brent Calkin

Sounds like my stepdad...delightful (unless you were doing the work).
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and the time when it stalled in the middle of an intersection in Evanston, Illinois, and I had to crawl underneath to hammer on the starter to make it go...

 

When one of my managers came over from Tokyo, I drove him back from San Francisco Airport to our office.  After lunch it wouldn't start, so I ran around back, grabbed the rubber mallet, threw a towel on the ground and crawled under to give that starter some percussive maintenance.   It's his favorite story, he says it looked like it always needed some loving persuasion to get going.

 

Tom.

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