Lego Kombi Update No. 2

This is pretty cool – found it on the VW Short Bus home page: Somebody built the Lego campervan I had mentioned in a previous post, took a snapshot of every single piece when it was put into its position, and then made a video from it. Nice!

VW Bus T-Shirts, part 10

I got this nice shirt in 2009 as a birthday present from the colleagues at work. Front shows the front of a splittie, back shows the back. The label says “Stefan Brandt”, but I could not find a company web site, so no link here. Here is a link to all the previous blog posts on VW Bus T-shirts.

Along the same lines, here is my favourite tea mug. I got it actually twice, probably both times imported from England – one as a present from Jan and one from Caroline and Emmanuel for my birthday in 2009. Which is great, one is now at home and one at work. It is from Elgate. Could not find this particular mug on their web page, but at least they have one.

Summer in Berlin

The summer has arrived in Berlin and it seems everyone is getting their split-windows out and into the sun – two cool buses seen last week at the Beetle Clinic. The red and white one used to be a fire brigade van. The Samba-like roof windows and the pop-up roof were added later when it was converted to a campervan. Bullet indicators, but not yet the T2 back lid, so should be from between 1960 and 1963. The one in the background was also pretty cool. A T1 microbus with a bit of a rat look going on. No time for more photos as the baby got decidedly unhappy with my lack of attention.

Volkswagen Enters Bus Restoration Business

Interesting news from Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles (VW Nutzfahrzeuge), the division that builds the kombi: Beginning of April they started offering a restoration service to external customers, focusing solely on the bus (T1 to T4). A new service center has been installed in Hanover already in 2007, called Volskswagen Commercial Vehicles Oldtimers. It opened to external customers on April 1st this year and the first restored bus was delivered to a customer already in mid-April. The buses are taken apart and separate specialized units then overhaul the engine and the other mechanical parts and fix all rust problems of the body. Only original VW spare parts will be used, either from stock (VW Classic Parts) or newly made if not available any more. The completed vehicle comes with a certificate and full documentation. Partial restorations are also on offer. Of course this service does not come cheap, with hour rates of € 80 and the newspapers quoting VW on a Samba restoration costing up to € 100.000. In preparation of this opening  Volkswagen has purchased one hundred kombis of all generations which will or have been restored as well, as demo material for customers and for general PR. Visitors to the center in Hanover can have a tour of these vehicles on 7000 square meters exhibition space. Will add some photos below. Good to see that VW starts to appreciate what a dedicated fan community they have with bus drivers worldwide. All was triggered by the overwhelming number of people and buses that joined the 60-years-of-VW-Bus festival 2007 in Hanover, which at the time had taken the board of Volkswagen quite by surprise. Perhaps there will also be more spare parts available for T2s at Classic Parts, now that they start to make missing parts from scratch again. Last time I checked they did not have much anymore for the pre-T3s.

Photos from the opening of the VW Commercial Vehicles Oldtimer Center in Hanover, April 2012, taken from the N24 and Heise web pages (see links below).

You will find many more beautiful photos of the restoration process and the already restored kombis when you click to these web articles: Heise, N24, both in German. Here is the link to the English press release from VW (you may have to scroll down to 29.03.2012).

Cool VW Bus Pen Box

I got the pen box below as a birthday present some three years ago. A T1 campervan with a red and white color scheme similar to our Old Lady, made by the German company Werkhaus. Werkhaus produces toys, office articles and shop interiors made form eco-friendly paper, fiber board and rubber bands. Two weeks ago I passed by their Easter season shopping window, full of VW buses at Moritzplatz, Berlin: Seems they have now swapped my campervan design for the Samba, in five different colors. And there is also a sand-colored double cabin/pick-up bus – see all available models in detail on the Werkhaus Bulli web page. Cool stuff!

Hippie Samba

Double Cabin
(from Werkhaus web site)

VW Bus T-Shirts, part 9

Here is another kombi T-shirt. Got this one as a christmas present from friends when we stayed with DrJ’s family in Australia in 2006. Company name on the label (and on the number plate on the front bumber) is BAEK, but I cannot find them on the net, so no link to a supplier. A split-window bus with bullet indicators. Interesting that the word Kombi is trademarked. Wonder who holds these rights? Thanks again to Danielle and Rene for the present!

Roller Derby Meets VW Bus…

This is what happens when you mix Roller Derby with a hot rod kombi… The first photo is currently doing the rounds amongst Roller Derby fans on facebook. It’s an art work by Ken Keirns who discusses it on toysrevil.blogspot.de.

Lego VW Bus – An Update

Last November I blogged about the Lego model of a VW split-window campervan which had then probably just been released. According to the Lego web page it is a 1962 campervan, including pop-up roof and safari front windows.

Now a friend just sent me this photo of the completed Lego model, taken at the Lego Store in Frankfurt (thanks, Anke!). Reminded me of a wonderful series of blog entries I’d like to share with you: Zero-to-sixty-eventually (great kombi blog!) updates regularly on his daughter’s progress in building this model, with great shots along the way. Turns out Lego has put quite some effort in getting the details right. Have a look at the completed flat four cylinder boxer engine, and the lower section slowly taking shape. Including checkered floor and storage shelfs in the back doors. Amazing!

VW Bus T-Shirts, part 8

I got this cool T shirt as a birthday present from Matti in 2011. A kombi interpretation of “Make love, not war”, from the Spanish clothing and product design company Kukuxumusu. Thanks again, Matti!
PS: Here is a shortcut to the other blog posts on VW Bus T shirts.

1962 Volkswagen Kombi

Beautiful split-window campervan, seen two days ago just outside Christchurch in New Zealand. Registration sticker reads “1962 Volkswagen Kombi”. So kombi may have been the official name for such a campervan at the time. Could be an early Westfalia conversion? I believe those came with just this small fold-up roof in the middle.