The VW Kombi van has a magic and charm that is lacking in other vehicles. It represents freedom, the open road, and is about bringing smiles to peoples’ faces when they see the old VW van trundling along.
The longest-produced model in the global automotive industry, the Volkswagen Type 2 Microbus, better known as the VW Kombi, is finally being discontinued in Brazil on December 31, 2013 after 56 years in production.
Brazil is the last place in the world still producing the vehicle after a VW plant in Mexico discontinued the classic version of the van in 1995. Production ended in the UK in 1967 and production in Germany halted in 1979 because the van no longer met European safety requirements – the same reason Brazil will stop producing the VW Kombi. More than 10 million of them have been made since the model was introduced in Germany 63 years ago. In Brazil, 1.5 million have been produced since 1957.
The vans were called the ‘Type 2’, because they were the second type to be offered by carmaker Volkswagen, the first being the Beetle. They were also commonly known as “VW camper vans”. The first thing I think about when I hear Volkswagen is the Beetle, however, the Kombi has more meaning and character for me. The car will definitely take you where you want to go and beyond. In Britain and the US during the 60s and 70s, partly because it was cheap the Kombi became linked with youth, music, and art culture. It carried hippies through the 60s, hauled surfers in search of killer waves during endless summers before becoming a workhorse across the developing world. The van even appeared on Bob Dylan and Beach Boys album covers, among others; although in music circles it is most closely linked to the Grateful Dead and the legion of touring fans that followed the rock group across the U.S.
Fans of the machine including celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, DJ Fatboy Slim, Top Gear’s James May, Doc Martin star Martin Clunes, F1 speedster Jenson Button and boy band One Direction say its mechanical failures only reinforced its charm and because its engine was so simple it was easy to fix, which imparted a deeper sense of ownership.
Nobody requested higher specs than Jamie Oliver, who drove a 23-window Samba Bus in Italy for his reality series Jamie’s Great Italian Escape. In addition to its 2.4 litre Porsche 914 engine, and Porsche Fuchs alloy wheels, Oliver had it fitted with £10,000 of extras including satellite navigation, two televisions, a PlayStation, and an audio upgrade.
Normally, Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton would not be seen dead in anything that doesn’t corner at 150mph, but even they succumbed to the retro chic of the Kombi. In 2011 when they were teammates at McLaren they were filmed driving to Silverstone in a Kombi for a promotional video for team sponsors Vodafone. Jenson Button has owned two – a red-and-white model from 1956 and a gold 1970 Volkswagen Kombi.
Actor Martin Clunes owns two campers, a rare black one with a bay windscreen and a navy-and-white split-screen model dating from 1977. “There’s something so self-contained about a camper. Driving one is like putting on a comfortable pair of old slippers,” Clune said.
In Brazil the car’s uses are perhaps not as romantic. It is used by the postal service to haul mail, by the army to transport soldiers, and by funeral directors to carry corpses.
Brazilians also convert their vans into rolling food carts, setting up on street corners to serve the working-class lunchtime crowd.
A commemorative special series with a production run of only 600 units will be the last VW camper vans to be made. So it’s not too late to get yourself a VW Kombi. VW unveiled a new version of the camper van at the 2011 Geneva Motor show, but it never went into production.
Does this mean that the last VW Kombi to roll out of the Brazil factory on December 31 is indeed the end of the VW Kombi? Will the journey of the VW Kombi halt when the last VW Kombi is assembled? I think it’s safe to say that the VW Kombi story has just turned another chapter. With garages that specialize in automobile restoration and die-hard fans that range from our grandparents to teenagers, as long as there is an open road and the thirst for freedom, the Kombi’s spirit will live on well after its demise.
