Another Trip Down Diesel Street
Volkswagen Camper and Commercial|Issue 154
A further stroll down Wolfsburg’s Diesel Street quickly unearths a lovely array of Transporters well worthy of a word or three.
Richard Copping
Another Trip Down Diesel Street

Let’s be honest, on our first outing to the Stiftung AutoMuseum on Diesel Street we didn’t make a great deal of progress. Interesting hopefully, but hardly speedy! ‘Must do better’, came the editorial edict. Down to business then, the emergency business and one of Wolfsburg’s own, the factory built core model Ambulance.

From the word go, the Ambulance was seen as one of the core models in the range. An explanation regarding why an inevitably niche market vehicle like an Ambulance should be so significant in VW’s master production plan is always absent. Consider the figures; the ‘best’ year for the Ambulance in split-screen terms is 1965, when 864 vehicles were built. By comparison, the delivery van clocked up 48,481 units in 1964 and even the expensive Samba attracted 18,790 vehicles in 1966.

The coachbuilder Miesen of Bonn were up and running with a transporter based Ambulance within six months of the first mass-production delivery vans coming off the assembly line. The problem for them was that without rearward access rigid stretchers had to be manoeuvred through the side loading doors. VW set to work creating that vital rearward access by reducing the size of the engine compartment, relocating the spare wheel and more importantly the fuel tank, with the result that the first factory Ambulance rolled off the production line in December 1951. Amazingly, the basics of rearward access were not extended to other models in the range until March 1955.

Denne historien er fra Issue 154-utgaven av Volkswagen Camper and Commercial.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

Denne historien er fra Issue 154-utgaven av Volkswagen Camper and Commercial.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

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Lance & Lisa Beaver tell the story of their...‘Old School' Westfalia Bay
Volkswagen Camper and Commercial

Lance & Lisa Beaver tell the story of their...‘Old School' Westfalia Bay

The history of our bus is varied. I heard that it used to belong to a soccer player who lived in it for a while, and a tale of a cross country trip that was taken in it. Since we’ve owned it, we have been to numerous car shows with our car club Kahiko Kula and enjoy that immensely, but taking it camping is our joy.

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4 mins  |
Issue 156
Messing About in Boats
Volkswagen Camper and Commercial

Messing About in Boats

“Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing — absolutely nothing — half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.”

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4 mins  |
Issue 156
Volkswagen Camper and Commercial

Hector A Cautionary Tale.

We’d wanted a splitscreen bus for years. And first got the bug, after hiring one for a holiday in Cornwall in 2009.

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4 mins  |
Issue 156
Volkswagen Camper and Commercial

Ruby Red

Since the tender age of just 3, Joanne Dix has been into splitscreen Volkswagens.

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4 mins  |
Issue 156
Playing with Fire
Volkswagen Camper and Commercial

Playing with Fire

‘There we were, all just sitting around the campfire...’

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3 mins  |
Issue 156
Four lads take on Le Mans
Volkswagen Camper and Commercial

Four lads take on Le Mans

We’d had the Le Mans 24 hour race on our bucket list for a long, long time...

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4 mins  |
Issue 156
Happy 70th Birthday, Miss Sofie!
Volkswagen Camper and Commercial

Happy 70th Birthday, Miss Sofie!

This T1 Bulli from 1950 is the world’s oldest street-legal VW bus and is kept in VWCV’s Classic Vehicles collection in Hannover.

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2 mins  |
Issue 156
Sitting on the Dock of the Bay…
Volkswagen Camper and Commercial

Sitting on the Dock of the Bay…

Lockdown Projects.

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2 mins  |
Issue 156
California Dreamin'
Volkswagen Camper and Commercial

California Dreamin'

The beginning of our second week and we were being treated to a day out...

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4 mins  |
Issue 156
Brochure Line - A 2.6 litre T3!
Volkswagen Camper and Commercial

Brochure Line - A 2.6 litre T3!

Taking a peep at a highly desirable VW Bus few of us will ever see in its ‘Exclusiv’ finery

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Issue 156