Car No. 61
12/1966
Motor: 1,6 l
The VW Type 1 Bus itself was presented at the end of 1949 and introduced to the market in 1950. It was the counterpart to the VW Type 1 Beetle, where the bus/transporter was a working vehicle supposed to help the war-torn Germany to recover. Therefore, the production was incredibly simple and practical. The simple technique and the voluminous luggage compartment were exactly what made it popular.
The VW Type 1 Bus sold in 1950 in just over 8,000 specimens. In 1967 it ended with a production of approx. 163,000 vehicles. In the best year of 1964, it was produced in more than 200,000 specimens!
The most sought-after VW Type 1 today is the so-called Samba Bus. It is sought after because it is rare and according to the thinking of the time a luxurious bus with three rows of seats and 21 windows (also available with 23 windows). Today the bus is sold – of course depending on its condition – at a price from 100.000 € and upwards (2023).
History
My fine specimen of a VW Samba 21-window bus is delivered with a combination of VW colour code L633 combined with lotus white colour code L282 and dark blue leatherette interior.
It was originally in California and with an equipment worth mentioning was two-tone colour, it had clock and Blaupunkt radio installed. It has a 1,5-l (1493 CC) engine with 51 hp and even with 6-7 passengers the engine pull is surprisingly good.
I have had the car for more than 10 year and when you are driving such an older construction you can really feel that you are driving an old bus and you must concentrate much more than usual compared to today’s VW busses. On a hot summer day you may feel tempted to pull back the large ”samba” folding roof, but you will have to be patient and drive very slowly because at speeds above 50-60 km/h it creates violent wind turbulence inside the entire cabin which makes it really uncomfortable to be a passenger. But for café and ”quiet driving past the beach” it is absolutely perfect.
I had black classic license plates put on when I bought it.
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