A Strange Kind Of School Bus Was The Most Expensive Volkswagen You Could Buy In 1955: Cold Start

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This past week, I was covering the global launch of the Volkswagen ID.Buzz, the three-row version of VW’s electrified and resurrected (you know, like the process Victor Frankenstein used) Type 2 Microbus. While at the event, VW also announced that June 2 is International Volkswagen Bus Day, by decree of, I guess the Pope or something? There was a meeting of lots and lots of vintage buses to celebrate the day, and while there I saw a particularly fascinating one I’d like to share with you. It was a school bus, of sorts: a Mobile Service School. When it was made, in 1955, this was the most expensive vehicle VW would sell you. Let’s look at it.

If you follow our Instagram account, which you absolutely should, for ethical reasons, you may have already seen me geeking out about this thing:

 

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I got the year wrong there, it seems. It’s not a ’54, it’s a ’55, which I know because I found the owner/restorer talking about this on The Samba. Though, it might be a ’54 sold in ’55? I talked to the owner and I could have sworn something like this was said, but I’m not certain. This incredible machine, which cost about $5,000 in 1955 – that’s about $57,000 today – was a mobile training center for VW technicians.

It started life as an ambulance-spec bus, which is why it has that flip-down tailgate in a time when most buses only had an opening engine lid at the rear. That’s also why, as you can see in the top picture, it has that funny “hat” – that was a fan/air intake unit for ambulance-spec buses that would later become unnecessary when the Type 2 grew a little visor over the windshields that had fresh air intakes.

Look inside this thing, though:

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As it says on the tin, it’s a whole training center in there. We have workbenches and racks of drawers with tools and equipment, and there’s a whole other VW air-cooled flat-four engine in there, for technicians to practice on. These were usually Beetle engines, though this particular one is an unusual VW industrial engine, though it looks to have Beetle engine tin at least in parts, since I think VW industrial engines had more rectangular lower tin elements.

Still, it’s incredible. Look at this, too: there’s a VW transaxle there, set vertically, and, for training reasons, one of the axles is a Beetle-style swing axle, while the other is from a Bus, with its Kübelwagen-derived portal axles/reduction gears:

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I’ve never seen one of these before, and very likely never will again. The restoration of this was meticulous and careful, with as much preservation of originality as possible, and it was all very well documented.

Cs Vwtrainingbus4When it was found, the bus had been extensively modified and altered from the more original state you see here. In fact, it had ten layers of paint, including the following colors:

Blue
Black
White
Silver
Red
Blue
Grey
Green
Tan
Purple
Copper
Orange
Blue

Holy crap. I’m so delighted I got to see this thing.

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Mercedes Streeter

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23 thoughts on “A Strange Kind Of School Bus Was The Most Expensive Volkswagen You Could Buy In 1955: Cold Start”

  3. When I was prepping my then just-bought ’67 VW squareback (100k miles in 1978) for painting, I found something unusual.
    Sanding a deep chip in the hood revealed 23 separate colors of paint! The so-far only reasonable reason for it is that the hood kept getting rejected at the factory until someone gave up and installed it. There wasn’t any other significant damage on the vehicle to need replacing the hood.

  4. Coolness turned up to 11. Rareness, probably 13. There must be another somewhere in Brazil. The Pope really should order an expadition.

  5. How did I not realize this was happening in my hometown lol. Hope you enjoyed yourself. Also, its on your other article but there’s almost always a ship docked at the naval weapons station off PCH these days.

  6. Will the iD Buzz version of this service bus come with its own chainsaw? My understanding is that this is critical maintenance equipment for EV technicians…

    Also worth noting that we already knew you worshipped at the altar of old VWs, but it’s great to see VW honoring your affection for both ancient VWs and taillights by throwing a bus party for your special day. You judiciously excluded any shrimp-barrow photos from this article, but I hope you had a good one JT!

  10. Did the owner strip off all those repaints to reveal the original Dove Blue(?) underneath? I see some bare spots which are often indicators of that process, which I’ve seen done on countless buses. Every once in a while someone comes across one that wasn’t prepped for its first repaint at all, with all the original paint preserved and unsanded underneath.

  11. This got me wondering what an equivalent VW training vehicle would be like today. Could you even fit all of the tools needed to work on modern VWs into a van? Would it include flashcards teaching you the phrases: “We have to ship the part over from Germany.” and “That’ll be another $1,000.”?

  16. Seriously cool! And kudos to the person who restored it with such lovely results.
    If it was made in 1954 but sold in ’55 one could say it was…NOS.

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