Volkswagen Concept: der KleinTransporter

Aside from the Type825 military pickup, Volkswagen never produced a Type1-based pickup truck but in 1946, the factory toyed with the idea of one and made a prototype Beetle pick up truck. They used it in the factory but ultimately designed and created the Type-2 to serve as the workhorse of the Volkswagen fleet.

It is not to say that a Beetle-based pickup truck is anything new as a lot of people have cut off the rear end of a standard Beetle and grafted on the rear of a pickup truck. One of the cleaner designs utilize the rear of a Type 2 and with a lot of metal work, manage to convince VW fanatics of an alternative truck design.

Volkswagen Concept: der KleinTransporter follows on that theme of a practical late model Beetle-based pickup truck. Using a late-model standard Beetle, the rear of the sedan had been cut off and remnants of an old Type2 Single Cab grafted on.Countless hours were spent on shrinking and fitting the larger Type2 panels to fit and make factory-like.

The truck was then anewed with a complete chassis rebuilt with a 3 inch narrowed beam with dual adjusters and shorter Koni shocks. The rear was adjusted 3 notches to bring the ride height down to respectable levels.

Powering the small pickup truck is a bullet-proof 1776cc, dual Weber40-fed engine. Instead of massive horsepower, daily driver reliability and smooth power delivery was the priority. A custom designed air-conditioning system was mandatory for pleasurable cruising in and out of town. The two-seater cockpit is a pleasure with beige leather seats and door panels. A charcoal carpet absorbs as much road noise so that the iPod-powered simple single Woofer-fed sound system gets the tunes across. A freeway flyer geared tranny with blacked-out 18-inch replica 8-Spoke rims with Bridgestone Potenza rubber adds the 1-2 punch.

A Bekowa-inspired roof-rack adds additional functionality, freeing the rear bed for more substantial hauling. Painted an eye-searing Yellow, the truck quickly draws a crowd at the local Jollibee burger joint.