![“What’s this?” you might ask. It’s a VW 147, which was developed in the mid 60s by Volkswagen and Westfalia (who produced the camper vans) for the German Post as a delivery vehicle, mostly for country postmen. It was based on a Volkswagen Type 1 Beetle chassis, and the shape sort of looked like a Type 3 (notch back) and VW Kombi van combined into one disproportional car; it was either nicknamed “Fridolin”, or less tastefully, due to its shape, “Contergan”, which was the German brand name for the drug “Thalidomide”, which caused so many malformed baby births.
It hat sliding doors, one fixed seat and (sometimes) one folding front seat, storage space in the back. The axles were from the Volkswagen Karmann Ghia to give it a little wider wheel base. Only 6,126 were built between 1964 and 1973; now they enjoy real collectors value…
I used to own one — a long time ago; it was the only vehicle I ever drove, which found hills [= it lost speed] where one would not see any incline in the road surface… :D](http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:VW_Typ_147_vr_yellow_TCE.jpg)
“What’s this?” you might ask. It’s a VW 147, which was developed in the mid 60s by Volkswagen and Westfalia (who produced the camper vans) for the German Post as a delivery vehicle, mostly for country postmen. It was based on a Volkswagen Type 1 Beetle chassis, and the shape sort of looked like a Type 3 (notch back) and VW Kombi van combined into one disproportional car; it was either nicknamed “Fridolin”, or less tastefully, due to its shape, “Contergan”, which was the German brand name for the drug “Thalidomide”, which caused so many malformed baby births.
It hat sliding doors, one fixed seat and (sometimes) one folding front seat, storage space in the back. The axles were from the Volkswagen Karmann Ghia to give it a little wider wheel base. Only 6,126 were built between 1964 and 1973; now they enjoy real collectors value…
I used to own one — a long time ago; it was the only vehicle I ever drove, which found hills [= it lost speed] where one would not see any incline in the road surface… :D
early 50s VW split window front (click image for link to many more beautiful photos of historic VWs)
rare prototype of a 4-wheel-drive T2 Volkswagen Westfalia camper van — this model never made it to production
A T2 Hippie van - a bit run down (like in real life).
Plenty more beautiful photos and graphics where these come from
…a vintage Volkswagen US advertisement from 1962 (look at the price and try to get one today for this money!).
The classic Type 2 - T1 (1st series Transporter) as we know it, now often referred to as split window Kombi. This one is from around 1950. It still has the flip-out indicators in the B-column behind the driver door; the first Beetles used to have these too.
♦ A little of the history of Volkswagen vehicles, to explain where the Type 2 naming originates from. ♦
more flower power than engine power
