The Cybertruck still isn’t out yet, and yet the hype around it is still powerful and even a bit unhinged, at least among certain dedicated Tesla hives. But what if you’re sick of waiting? What if you want your curve-free truck option now, and, even better, what if you want to spend a lot less money? In that case, you’re in luck, because Volkswagen made something that I think would work fantastic for you, way back in the 1970s: the Hormiga. It’s a truck that looks like a low-polygon video game that ran on an SNES with the SuperFX chip. What more do you want?
Technically, the Hormiga is very interesting because it’s only one of two air-cooled VWs that placed the flat-four engine up front, driving the front wheels; the other is the original VW Gol. The Hormiga is even a bit different still, as it’s a cabover design, and you actually sit in front of the engine. The engine is still ahead of the front axle, so I don’t think that makes it mid-engined, but it’s definitely odd for an air-cooled VW. It’s also the only air-cooled VW to use leaf springs!
These were designed to be as simple as possible to build, with no complex curves or stampings required, and all flat glass. You could get them with stakebed pickup bodies or a chassis-cab, like you see there, and from there it could become anything! Look at the little camper in the lower right! I’m not sure what those black deflector-looking things are on the corners; is that for some…aero purpose? Could that be? On something this crude? Maybe they keep some crazy wind noise within human tolerance levels?
Look at how useful this thing is! It’s a multitool! And look how the rear window is off-center! And that it has at least one seatbelt! And that it can make both cowboys and construction workers smile!
Most Hormigas were made in Mexico (the name means ant, which I love) but there was a variant built in Indonesia and Turkey and some other places called the Basistransporter that used some VW Type 2 Bus body parts for the body. But weirdly modified, as you can see. They just used the front panel/windshield, but added in some clunky air intakes and, in the case of that chassis-cab version on the left, even swapped out the turn indicator lenses with little off-the-shelf round ones!
Anyway, my advice to all of you waiting on a Cybertruck is to save money and be cooler and look for a good used Hormiga.
That makes me remember the existence, or rather, the not complete existence, of the Gordon Murray Ox, which is a very saddening fact when you think about it. If only Tesla followed its example and used plywood instead of stainless steel, the Cybertruck would be so much cooler
If you want a boxy vehicle with an asymmetrical rear window you’re probably better off finding a Nissan Cube on a BHPH lot. 😉
Just registered so I can post this, but the little knob thingies that lock the vent windows say Sr. Hormiga on them instead of just Hormiga, so maybe at one point VW de Mexico was going to call this thing the Mr. Ant
The Cybertruck Will End Warfare and Hunger, can your Hormiga beat that?
Wouldn’t the VW Thing then also appeal to low-poly-style car enthusiasts?
Oh the heady days of function over safety when your kneecaps were the front line protection in crashes.
The Hormiga is already way cooler than the Cybertruck, even discounting for the fact that the Hormiga actually exists.
Imported/restored Hormigas sell for over $20k in the US, they’re already incredibly cool. Wonder how much you could get a runner in MX for?
I wonder what a modern version would look like…..(see Canoo truck)
The cybertruck will make everything cool because it isn’t that piece of shit.
Took me a minute, but this post is a gem. Nice work, Chris.
I took inspiration from the VW Hormiga and the Gurgel line of pickups and vans when imagining Hiccup the Pickup. I think you (Torch) introduced me to both.
I’d like to actually build Hiccup from the ground up at some point, so the straight lines were definitely appealing for that reason. Toying with the idea of doing an aluminum frame with 3/4” plywood body panels. But I’ll definitely need some help on the suspension side of things. It’s pretty much my dream truck.
Also working separately and slowly on a more passenger-friendly but still very utilitarian dream van, which I hope to share more details on soon.
https://www.electricoffroaders.com/post/truck-bed-covers-are-about-to-change-forever
✅ skateboard chassis, just slap a bed on it
✅ simple, distinctive design
✅ probably possible to meet crash standards???
✅ cheap???
If I were a startup I’d run with this so hard as a local delivery machine. But I’m not, alas.
Wondering how much weight you’d need in the cab to pop a reverse wheelie with that thing. Without the racks, I bet a couple of big guys, one of them reaching down for a dropped Jarritos bottle, could do the trick
Wow; this is a fun google image search rabbit hole. Talk about a minimalist interior; it’s barren. Love the camper.
Can you imagine how loud that thing must be? Even with the engine in the back and most of the factory sound deadening hanging in ther, my Beetle is one noisy car. Now picture sitting on top of that little engine, running at full tilt to carry some heavy cargo. None of those things would keep me from owning one though. I bet it doesn’t need a heater, with the engine right under you and all. Maybe the first air-cooled VW with a heater that actually works. (In VWs defense, the heater does work fairly well if everything is hooked up correctly. Well. Only on the floor vents. Forget about defrost.)
The prototype design was constructed out of Lego’s.
Seriously, look at Lego tow truck set 6656 and tell me that’s not a Hormiga.
Just what makes that little old Ant,
Think he can cool the Cybertruck cant.
Everyone knows an Ant can’t,
Cool the Cybertruck cant.
No he’s just high on dope,
He’s just high on dope.
He can’t vie with the Cybertruck guy, no, nope.
So any time you think know
How to spoil Tesla’s show
Just remember you can’t,
‘Cause Elon Musk will crush you like that Ant
Would the rear window be off center due to the rooftop air intake tube? A vehicle as relentlessly rational (!) as this surely would have had a good reason for such fenestration, one would think.
The Cybertruck makes every other truck look cool LOL
Tesla should’ve made a Teslamino out of one of their existing models. IOW, it should’ve just been a pickup that’s also a Tesla.
Simone Giertz did it first: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R35gWBtLCYg
+1 that’s more awesome than the cybertruck
“I Think The Cybertruck Will Make The VW Hormiga Cool Again”
“Again”? When did the Hormiga ever stop being cool? The Cybertruck can only dream of even starting to be cool.
They should call the bare cab and chassis version the VW Endo.
I believe those black pieces on the front corners of the cab are there to provide some impact protection: they resemble the square-tube bumper immediately below.
I think it would be fun to have one of those and add GTI badges to it to mess with people.
The black pieces are definitely a mystery just by looking at online photos. This one photo I found is from such an angle that they appear to be rudimentary air curtains due to the radius of the piece and you can see daylight between the body and the part from this angle. Plus they look like they are just bolted to the body panel and not the frame. I still can’t decide if it’s impact protection or air curtain. https://images.app.goo.gl/y7GnM2u8BTVTfKgW6
The Cybertruck is the antithesis of cool, therefore making everything else cooler.
+1 came here for this
The rear window isn’t just off-center, it’s off-center the wrong way! With it offset to the left as it is on a left-hand drive truck, it’s perfectly positioned so it can still sunburn the back of the driver’s neck while the extra-wide right pillar blocks over-the-shoulder visibility.
Take out that panel and flip it around? The whole thing feels modular enough, it might work!
Not only cooler, but air-cooler!
Definitely cooler, but ackshually air-warmer.
/endpedantry