Volkswagen Kombi 2007 News

MARCH, 1950: Volkswagen started building its second ever vehicle, known in the factory as the Type 2 or the "Bulli" but later to be called the Kombi.

The price, paid by an unnamed telephone bidder after a relentless battle with several rivals in the auction room, was substantially more than the $135,000 paid for a hero 1969 Falcon XW GT in award-winning unrestored condition.It was also more than double the price paid for a 1968 Holden HK GTS Monaro 327 Coupe – also in unrestored condition – that sold for $96,000.The VW Kombi's result brought a standing ovation from the large crowd that had packed into Shannons Cheltenham, Melbourne showroom.Early Kombis have attracted a cult following around the worldIt capped off a night of top prices paid for many of the 39 classics on offer - 21 of them presented for sale with 'no reserve' (an auction trend championed with growing success by Shannons).Based on the national and even international interest that was shown in the Microbus before the sale, Shannons was quietly confident that the humble VW – fresh from a five year restoration – would top pre-auction expectations of $120,000-$140,000.Once the preserve of hippies looking for cheap, live-in transport, early Kombis have attracted a cult following around the world, with top examples routinely fetching six figure sums overseas in recent years.The Volkswagen Type 2 was introduced in 1949 and rapidly established itself as one of the most versatile and popular commercial vehicles ever made.The Kombi is finished the delightful two-tone period colours of Paprika and White with contrasting tan upholsteryThe first examples were seen in Australia in 1953 and were assembled at VW's Clayton plant in Melbourne from 1954.The 'step-through' T2 Deluxe Microbus with its period 'Golde' folding roof – widely regarded as the most collectible Kombi of all – was completed on December 13, 1960 and first delivered in Melbourne.Beautiful in every detail, the Kombi is finished the delightful two-tone period colours of Paprika and White with contrasting tan upholstery.It has been the recipient of several awards, including President's Choice at the Volkswagen Club of Victoria's ‘Day of the Volkswagen' in 2013.The Kombi's sale near the end of the auction almost took the wind out of the sale, despite excellent results being posted by a number of other lots.Shannons National Auction Manager, Christophe Boribon said the result set a very positive tone for Classic vehicle sales in 2015."This is a spectacular result for our first auction of the year," he said.

And so it goes. Another automobile icon fades from view because of 21st century safety regulations. After 64 years of production, the final Volkswagen Kombi will roll off the production line today -- this one in Brazil where the more relaxed safety regulations allowed the Kombi to continue, and where they have been built for the past 56 years.And it travelled a long way. The vehicle that came to symbolise the counter-culture around the globe started out as an idea on paper for the war ravaged VW to make some much needed money. The Kombi is now one of the few cars in the pantheon of true classics. More than any other automobile, the VW Kombi is an enduring image of the flower-power hippy era in the 1960s and of the wider surfing culture across the world.Cheap, plentiful and able to carry big loads with ease it was an ideal vehicle for a newly mobile, baby boomer generation. The first series Kombi was released for sale in 1950, after its appearance at the November 1949 Geneva Motor Show. Its heritage goes back to when the British Army occupied and ran the VW factory in Wolfsburg, Germany, after the end of Second World War.There are various versions of how the Kombi came to be, but the main facts are agreed. Needing a vehicle to move parts around the VW factory, the Army cobbled together a strengthened Beetle chassis, surrounded it with a utilitarian panels and created a small truck.In 1947 a Dutch VW dealer, Ben Pons, saw these little trucks while visiting to the factory. He thought that with some improved body panels it would make a cheap, sturdy and light truck to be used in the rebuilding of the war torn Europe. He sketched a design for VW managers and went back to Holland.Heinz Nordhoff, who was ex-Opel, and been installed by the Army to run VW, took up this idea and made it happen. The rest of the story is legend. Kombis have a strong fan base and devotes of the vehicle have their own language to describe the “buses”. Those built between 1950 and 1967, are known as split-window buses or 'splitties' because of the divided windscreen.Those built after 1967 have a one piece screen and are known as the 'bay window' Kombis. Prices for early models continue to rise, across the world. In Australia models from the 1950s can run to $45,000 and above, particularly the 'barn door’ versions in good condition.So if you are in the market for a real classic, buy a Kombi now. The price will only rise. Apart from their investment potential, we love the Kombi for many reasons. 

VW has put the call out for its boxy Kombi children to return to the vans' birthplace for rejuvenation. Volkswagen has opened a huge restoration centre at Hannover - the home of the Kombi since the van's origin in 1950 - to cater for the cult-car's burgeoning demand for restoration work. The company says it's serious about its heritage, changing tack from working on its own heritage cars to taking on private work. The classic centre, called Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles Oldtimers, is now headed by a former chief executive and currently classic director of Audi, Bentley and Bugatti,  Franz-Josef Paefgen. The Oldtimers department of Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles has 100 buses on show - all bought and restored by the centre - and this year moved into a new 7000sqm facility in Hannover, Germany. It has 13 staff - from mechanics to a technology historian and an event planner - to restore and preserve the vehicles and its own paint shop. Volkswagen says that no matter whether a full or partial restoration is required, or a bus is simply to be made roadworthy, the "Bulli'' workshop team will undertake any assignment. "Paint renovation or an inspection is also possible. The staff talk through all personal restoration wishes with the customer before preparing an individually tailored offer,'' the company says in a statement. "The unique feature is that only here does the customer receive certificated ex-works restoration. In addition, for each customer the team of Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles Oldtimers provides comprehensive documentation of the restoration of the vehicle, in which every step is photographically documented and described in detail. "Thus the work performed by the specialists from Hannover is recorded for posterity, and customers can leaf through their folder whenever they wish.'' Volkswagen Classic Parts, which continues to make components for it older models, supports the Oldtimers centre as a partner. "Some of the replacement parts needed when working on oldtimers are even taken from Volkswagen's original stock,'' Volkswagen says. Volkswagens from all around Australia converge on South Australia this weekend for the annual National Bug-In. The event, first started in 1970, this year focuses on McLaren Vale, Aldinga Beach and Port Willunga.

After teasing the world in March with a concept van called the Bulli at the Geneva Motor Show, a Volkswagen insider has revealed to Carsguide that there is a definite production plan for a 21st century Kombi. The born-again Kombi is coming as Volkswagen makes big changes to its small-car lineup, starting with a new-new Beetle and confirmed production plans for the city-sized Up. The Kombi van - a nickname that came from Germany and stuck around the world - hauled a generation from just after World War II through the hippie era and surfside lifestyle in Australia. It still stars Down Under in a Bigpond television commercial. But safety problems with the rear-engined van, and a change of focus for the VW workhorses that provided the basic package, led to its death and the next Kombi will be comparatively smaller, substantially safer and even more versatile. Based heavily on the Bulli, the six-seater hybrid or petrol-diesel van is expected to go on sale in Europe by late 2012 and possibly in Australia the following year. Carsguide can confirm that Volkswagen is so serious about the Kombi that it recently organised a photography session in the USA with the Bulli alongside a 1950 Kombi van. The new Kombi move comes after an earlier proposal was ruled out because it was too big and costly. Now Volkswagen communications director Christian Buhlmann says the economic key is to fit the Bulli concept onto the same modular mechanical platform to be used by the new Up range of city cars. The platform - known by its German initials as MQB called MTM in English for Modular Transverse Matrix - is intended to be the base for up to 60 Volkswagen Group models in petrol, diesel and electric-hybrid versions. Its use in so many models - including those from Skoda, Seat and Audi - will slash design and production costs. Most importantly, MTM will be the basis for the Up range of small cars that will be first shown in production form at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September before going on sale later this year in Europe. MTM will go into action for the first time as the platform for the new Audi A3, but the VW Up will come as three-door and five-door hatchbacks sized smaller than Polo. The Bulli will become Up's third derivative as the MPV version. "Up is designed to be a range of efficient vehicles for the city,'' says Volkswagen's Buhlmann. "It will have small engines or electric motors but also will be offered with CNG (compressed natural gas) which we see as an excellent alternative fuel.'' Volkswagen has recently taken to the track with CNG-fuelled production cars, as well as competition models running on ethanol. The Up hatchbacks and Bulli are expected to be available with a 1.0-litre three-cylinder diesel or 1.2-litre four-cylinder petrol engine made to the high-efficiency, low emission BlueMotion specifications. It also has been confirmed that an option will be a plug-in hybrid using a small diesel or petrol engine and an electric motor with lithium-ion batteries. MTM can reduce the number of front-wheel drive platforms from 18 today to just two. It allows for large variations in track width, wheelbase length and vehicle length and can support all-wheel drive systems and - specifically for electric and/or hybrid vehicles such as the Up models - a channel in the spine to carry batteries or fuel tanks.

Make fellow campers do a double-take in this full-sized replica of the cult classic 1960’s Volkswagen camper van. Just like the original VW Kombi, an average person can stand up inside it. It’s also generous in size – sleeping up to four adults. All that's left to do is bust out the incense and dream of paisley. Visit Firebox.com for more information.  

Now it's back. Volkswagen's newer take on the, er, new Kombi, was shown at Geneva motor show - but though the shape is familiar, it's not what you'd expect.  For one the Bulli - the German nickname for the original 1950 concept - is smaller. Second, it's powered by batteries.Yes, it's just a concept but whispers on the Geneva show floor say it's very possibly in showroom contention.  Volkswagen product director Ulrich Hackenberg says there's a "big chance" it will be built.The concept Bulli gets seating for six - three in the front, three in the back - and runs on lithium-ion batteries stored under the floor.  The concept has a single, 85kW/270Nm electric motor under the blunt nose and drives the front wheels.Volkswagen claims a 0-100km/h time of 11.5 seconds (compared to an hour and a half in the 1960s Kombi) and a 300km range.  But for production, Volkswagen is looking at a petrol or diesel engine.Given the space under that short nose, this is likely to be the 1.2-litre, three-cylinder petrol or diesel engines.  All the cues of the past - except the gaping accommodation in the rear - are there including the bold VW emblem on the nose.As for size, it's small. The Bulli is 3900mm long (the 1969 bay-window Kombi is 4350mm); with a 2550mm wheelbase (2400mm in 1969), and is 1650mm tall (1918mm).

... pulling on our heart strings.  It's not the first time the German carmaker has toyed with our feelings like this. Back in 2001 VW rolled out a Kombi concept at the Detroit Motor Show but changed its mind about building it for real. It's an emotional thing the Kombi van, and that's been the key to its success in the past and, if it ever gets built, to its future. You see it'd be hard to find somebody who doesn't have a soft spot for the Kombi. Our love affair with the Kombi has lasted 60 years now. It's difficult to explain why when they ain't exactly pretty and they don't go all that well. Yes, not only is love blind, it knows nothing about cars. Any Kombi owner will be able to tell you all about the public affection their transportation gets. "I'd walk out of the house and find people in my driveway taking photos of it," Sharon Burton, 38, of Sydney says. Admittedly, it is a brilliant example of a Kombi; so good in fact that it's on the market for $89,995. It's a 21 Window 1964 split screen model and rare. Burton bought it and shipped it over from the UK last year after seeing it for sale online. When the van arrived in Australia Burton took it on a road trip to the Old Bar Kombi festival in Taree and won the show `n' shine. "When we were driving back from Taree people were hanging out of their cars taking photos on their phones as they drove past. There's something very unique about them. It doesn't matter what you go out and buy, you just can't replicate that look." Burton had her first Kombi when she was at uni. "I had 1968 bay window that had all the internals, the cooker, the bunk beds But I'd always wanted to have either a 21 or a 23 window." A baby is now on the way for Burton and though her husband and stepson love jumping in the Kombi and driving to get fish and chips the change in circumstances has led them hand it over to the folks at the Classic Throttle Shop to sell. "There has always been a market for these wonderful machines," the Classic Throttle Shop's Nicholas Ramunni says. "A generation of buyers now have the means to invest in high quality examples, like the one Classic Throttle Shop has on offer, to re-live the good times and to pass on this experience to a new generation of admirers. "But high quality cars are hard to come by, in particular the variants like this the 21 Window." Dean Coutts from Volkswagen specialists Volkspower in Melbourne agrees. "I'm afraid that it's becoming very difficult to find good cars," he says. Coutts's father started Volkspower in 1957 and Dean's been working there for 30 years. You're not going to find many people who know more about the emotional and mechanical sides of the Kombi and if anybody can explain our love affair with the van it's this man. "Pretty much everybody on the planet has a Kombi memory and they seem to be family memories that people develop, which I think makes people passionate about them for long periods of time." "We've all been in a Commodore but people remember being in Kombis. It seems like a fantasy-type connection people have with these cars. When they go in an old Kombi it fulfils that dream." Somebody who's keeping that dream alive, well, on the weekends at least, is Matt Brinsden, 38, from Melbourne. His current Kombi in an Australian-built 1964 split screen. "I got it in 2001 and spent four years getting it right as money permitted," Brinsden says. "I paid 1200 bucks and I've probably spent 30K on it." Brinsden reckons this is his favourite Kombi, it's been to shows and won trophies, but these days, what with work and family, it only comes out when necessary. "If I get home from work and I've had a bad day I go for a drive in the Kombi and it cheers me up pretty quickly." Brinsden's love for the Kombi started at the age of 19 when he saw one on the side of the road and bought it for $250. "I got this thing home and put it back on the road and loved it - went everywhere in it. That was a 1964 as well. That's where it all began." Five Kombis, marriage, children and 20 years later Brinsden still feels the same way about the bus. But for a little while he dabbled with non-Volkswagens, but it only reinforced what he already knew - that Kombis were the way for him. "For a few years I started chasing 1950s Holdens but they never gave me the same feeling as Kombis." And the answer to why we all love the Kombi so much is clear to Brinsden. "It's almost that they're so ugly they're beautiful. I think the look of them, especially the front of that car, makes people smile," he says "There's this feeling that you get when you're driving, too, and I reckon all my mates would say the same thing - it is a feeling. I go for a drive on the weekend and you can't get the grin off your face."

Volkswagen's iconic Kombi van turns 60 this year and the German carmaker is preparing a fitting celebration. A three-day event in Germany in October is expected to attract thousands of Kombi enthusiasts and their vehicles. The first Kombi was built by VW staff to transport heavy panels around the Hamburg factory, but became a full production model after it was seen by a Dutch dealer. In the 60 years since its introduction the Kombi, now in its fifth generation, has been the vehicle of choice for the flower-power generation and holiday campers, a people mover and a humble goods carrier. Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles is behind the international VW Camper event, from October 5-7 in Hanover. Thousands of unusual Kombis are expected to make the journey. “Scarcely any other vehicle evokes as many emotions as the VW Kombi,” Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles brand management spokesman Stephen Schaller says. “Back then it stood for new departures, economic success, independence, fun and travel. “It is pleasant, reliable and a real cult vehicle. We want to establish the unrivalled legacy of our brand with the international VW Camper event.” At the event, visitors will be able to see lovingly restored models such as the T1, T2, T3 and T4 and talk to their owners. They will also be able to see which model was on the road in which decade, and browse through the latest products.  

When we think of Volkswagen history two vehicles come to mind: the enduring Beetle and of course the ubiquitous Kombi.At the recent Klubfest held at Parklands on the the Gold Coast, it was fascinating to see how many incarnations VW has had over the years Beetles, Karman Ghias, Kombis as campers, utes, twin cab utes, people movers, vans, beach or dune buggies, sedans, three wheeled bikes.VW engines have been fitted to just about everything from two wheels to four.Tucked away on its own at the show organised by the VW Club and the Kombi Club, was one Australian-designed and built VW that was rare when it was produced, let alone more than 40 years on.It was the Australian Country Buggy, just 887 units were built and sold in Australia.Put politely, the buggy was not the most handsome car produced here, or anywhere else.It was designed and built at VW's Clayton plant in suburban Melbourne with the first prototype hitting the testing phase in 1965 ahead of a release in 1967.As its name indicates, the buggy was intended for rural use but not the extreme stuff where a 4WD would still be required.In that sense it was probably the equivalent of the current day `soft roader' style vehicles.But, anyone who has had anything to do with light-bodied VWs knows they are highly competent off-roaders, with all the engine weight over the rear wheels, good ground clearance and excellent entry and departure angles.It's worth mentioning that in the 1950s VW Beetles won the Redex Trial, three Mobilgas trials and and Ampol trial, and also took out most of the top places.That was in an era when Highway Number One was little more than a goat track with more than 100 river crossings.There's little doubt the Australian Country Buggy had its roots in this success, and also as a flow-on from the Volkswagen Kubelwagen, a military-style Beetle used by both the Wehrmacht and the SS.The Aussie buggy was a much smaller vehicle having just two doors while the above mentioned vehicles had four doors. It was powered by VW's proven 1285cc (1300) four-cylinder, air-cooled engine, although a 1192cc (1200) engine was also available.The car was, by any measure, spartan when it came to instruments or comfort.Options included the smaller engine, a soft top and side curtains and winter tread tyres. There was no standard or optional heater.The first commercial buggy made its public appearance at the 1967 Melbourne Motor Show.At the time the little buggy was described as a cross between a Jeep and a Moke the unkind described it as a Joke.The little vehicle was far from a joke, but its demise just eight months after release was cruel.VW sales were on the decline and in 1968 VW was in turmoil.The buggy's timing could not have been worse. As the company looked for answers, one easy target was the Country Buggy.Newspaper ads from that time provide an insight into VW's marketing: “If you think the Beetle is ugly ... take a look at this one. VW Country Buggy. The uglier Volkswagen built for rugged dirty work.”Couldn't have said it better myself.