Volkswagen Microbus finally reaches the end of the road

Fox News ^ | 8-22-13 | By Gary Gastelu

[rawhide]

After all these years the Kombi is officially fried out.

First introduced to the world in 1950, Volkswagen

[knarf]

Mine was 1960 .. yellow and white .. and the funnest thing to drive.

[rawhide]

An online photo of my '77 Westfalia:

[Puppage]

An absolute classic, hands down.

[Da Coyote]

Just passed a late 60s version on the way to work this morning. It was adorned with all the requisite markings of the day - peace symbol, flowers, etc.

They were indeed fun to drive - albeit giving the driver adequate time to compose a doctoral theses whilst attempting to get up to highway speed.

[llevrok]

My first car was a ‘62 with sun roof and tons of windows. So much rust I could watch the road pass under my feet. $600.

I was in heaven!

[DManA]

discontinued due to upcoming safety regulations

And the world died not with a bang but under the weight of regulations.

[freedomlover]

Lots o fun when a semi goes zooming by you

[2banana]

Can they still survive an EMP attack?

:-)

[Clay Moore]

I never would have believed that you could pull the front wheels off the ground (69 bus) by alternately mashing the throttle and clutch.

I was there when my sister managed while my dad was trying to teach her to drive. LOL!

I also remember trying to drive a 40hp bus over the ship channel bridge in Houston. I thought I was going to have to get out and push. I cannot imagine trying to drive something like that loaded to its rated capacity of 3/4 ton in the mountains.

[DManA]

When I was a kid if you saw a beetle you’d yell “SPUD” and get one point. If you saw a VW microbus you’d yell “STEEL” and get six points.

[knarf]

You probably had the 1600cc upright engine ... I had the 2200 (I THINK that's right) flat engine.

.I never had any troubles .... 'course, I was never in a hurry or hot rodding around, either.

[ZirconEncrustedTweezers]

My vision of hell is being stuck behind a VW Microbus on a steep, winding mountain road for all eternity.

[knarf]

Wooses ...

They were punch buggies ... and guess what you did ... or got .... when you spotted one.

[Rightly Biased]

Got one stuck in a parking garage in Frankfurt one time in teh ‘80’s... We had to find a bunch of people to get in with us so we could back out...

FARFEGNUGEN!!!

[Bringbackthedraft]

I had 2 of them, a 64 and a 71. I converted the 64, and the 71 was a light Beige pop up that I drove to Mexico and back. The 64 drove from NY to Fla with a bad transmission and limped back home with 2 working gears. Add to them, 2 Bugs and a Ghia. If the original bug was still produced, I’d have one.

[central_va]

Instead of a speedometer, they give you a calendar.

[Second Amendment First]

Had a new 1970 in blue that I called “Strider” and it was a lot of fun. Except in the winter when the heat (passive) never reached the front of the van. You couldn’t keep the slush from freezing on the windshield.

[Alex Murphy]

After all these years the Kombi is officially fried out. First introduced to the world in 1950, Volkswagen’s venerable Type 2 “Microbus” has been produced in Brazil since 1957, a 56-year longevity record that ends in December.

[knarf]

I had a plug-in heat bar that sat on the very small window ledge.

Passengers had to believe.