In the last episode of Torch Drives I drove a pretty obscure weird, underpowered car, and it was a blast. This time, the car is pretty much the opposite of obscure. It’s not necessarily a common sight on modern roads, but it’s one of that small set of cars that have transcended their initial roles to become something truly iconic. The Volkswagen Type 2 Transporter, called variously a Bus, Hippy Bus, Microbus, Station Wagon (yep), Clipper (yep again), Bulli, VW Van, or whatever is one of those cars that almost anyone can identify, whether they give a brace of BMs about cars or not. It’s not like the story of this car hasn’t been told a million times before, but you know what? It’s still a good story. And old VW buses are still a blast to drive and just be in, not feeling quite like anything else on the road, their own peculiar, idiosyncratic thing. So, when Volkswagen offered me a few hours with their lovely ’67 21-window Bus, of course I leapt at it, smacked into the side, and then thanked them and grabbed the keys.
[Reminder, we’re trotting out a new video player. It’s below, please leave feedback.
You can click WATCH MORE and it’ll show you the full YouTube video – MH]
There’s a lot of interesting details about the origin story of the Type 2. We all know the story about how Ben Pon, VW’s Dutch importer, saw the little plattenwagen factory runabout truck-things that were crudely built by factory workers, and how that humble but useful machine inspired him to draw his famous sketch of that other humble but useful machine, a machine that was desperately needed in postwar Europe to get economy going again by moving stuff around, which, as any economist will tell you, is the backbone of any economy.
What’s less noted is that, really, the Bus was the first actual Volkswagen. Now, settle down, I know the Beetle came first, but the Beetle started life as the KdF-Wagen, part of one of the Third Reich’s all-too-rare non-horrific genocidal plans. The Beetle wasn’t born a Volkswagen as we know the company today, but was adopted into the family after the war, after the British control of the Wolfsburg factory, when the modern Volkswagen company was born.
The Bus, on the other hand, was the first project to be undertaken by the new postwar Volkswagen, and when it came out in 1950, it was the first vehicle to be developed by the Volkswagen that we know today.
You know what else is fascinating about the early development of the Bus? Despite everything your eyes tell you, VW actually paid attention to aerodynamics. The first prototypes of the Type 2, known then as Type 29, were really crude and angular, with no curvature at all to the cab:
VW took their prototype the wind tunnel at the nearby University of Braunschweig, where I presume the wind tunnel was used to extensively test the aero qualities of liverwurst, and were informed that the aerodynamics of the Type 2 were terrible, just terrible. Like, unusable, especially considering the engine they had to use at the time was the 1100cc 25 hp unit from the Beetle. Something had to get fixed, so the clever Braunschweigers and VW’s people re-designed the Bus into something a bit more rounded and wind-friendly while still retaining the spaciousness of a box on wheels.
The result was a drag ratio of about 0.42 Cd (that may be for the later “bay window” version, but it’s close enough for my point here) which is shockingly good (I mean, all things considered) and a reminder that aerodynamics is hard and not at all obvious, because the sleek, sporty, low Jaguar E-Type has a Cd of 0.44! That’s worse! How is that possible?
There’s lots of interesting details about the Microbus, and I hope the genuine delight I feel driving one of these things comes across in the video, because it’s genuine. Sure, it’s absurd Boomer nostalgia that has driven prices of these up to the point of inaccessibility for most of us, and that’s lousy, but it’s worth taking a moment and revisiting the old Bus to get a reminder of why these things became icons. It’s one of those cases where a singular focus on a job to be done, an unrelenting lock on utility somehow transformed into charm and character, unplanned and unbidden but desperately real.
Oh, and forgive me if the end feels a little like an endorsement for the new ID.Buzz. I like the ID.Buzz and I meant what I said, but we were late returning the Microbus and VW’s people were right there, so I wanted to, you know, give them a little something. Take it for what you will.
Another thing to consider about the Bus; in many ways, it was the lone successful example of a concept of a “futuristic car” from the 1930s or so. Cars like the Stout Scarab or Buckminster Fuller’s Dymaxion car were all about one-box designs with rear engines and a lot of often-flexible space. The first company to really realize this general concept was Volkswagen, with the Type 2, even if it was done for simple space-utilization and utilitarian reasons instead of noble utopian goals.
We take them for granted now, but the VW Bus absolutely earned its iconic status. The next time you see one puttering around, try to look at it with fresh eyes. That shouldn’t be too hard to do, since it likely won’t be going all that fast.
After turning off the ad blocker and refreshing the page, the video player did not work at all. I could and did use the link to YouTube to watch the full video.
Re the video player, didn’t work at all with my Pale Moon browser (a Firefox fork), just sat spinning its wheels and saying “contacting e.channelexco.com”. So I tried the DDG browser (a Chromium derivative) and it worked fine there. All player controls were there, and ads at the very end (now that’s civilized!).
In the early ’60s my family had a rusty Microbus, I think it was a ’55, before VW invented the gas gauge. I was driving it when it suffered the infamous engine seize-up, and then it went to the knacker’s yard.
No player on Brave with default settings, Android 13 (LineageOS), 10″ tablet, which renders the mobile site.
Perhaps it may not have been too draggy. If you happened to drive into a stiff headwind, like the SoCal Santa Ana winds, it came to a virtual standstill. Heaven help you if it was a cross wind. They had their charm, but really they were noisy, kind of smelly and not too terribly comfortable. That aside, in later life, when I actually grew a frontal lobe in my brain, I kind of realized they were a hip deathtrap in a collision. My bud spent $30K restoring one just like that, but in the pale green color. Only to sell it as soon as he could since he was kind of hesitant of the 3/32 of metal between you and anything. Not a scaredy cat by any means, he did fly F-14’s off a carrier for a few years, just to put it in perspective of danger perceived.
Many cars are cool and have a certain vibe. A whole lot of them had issues, particularly when it came to any attempt at safety of the passengers. The VW busses stood out. I just remember how many “hippies” died in them in and around where I grew up in Laguna Beach in the 60’s. Though, on a fond note, they always picked you up if you where hitchhiking.
yep. they have a cool vibe, are total death traps. slow, braking is just a thought, no frontal impact protection, sail in the wind. good for moving materials in the shop, what they first were. anything over 45 mph and it’s a bad idea.
This video made me so happy. Thanks for taking us along, Torch!
Also, Matt — I watched the video on YT; for metrics purposes, should I prioritize watching it on this site, or does it matter? Just want to do the most good.
Thank you Geoff! Just watch however it makes you happy, that’s more important that a small difference in ad revenue.
Well not bad but a few suggestions
1. Show the menu button for play, stay, sound, expand for about 5 seconds so I can setup my viewing pleasure.
2. After the commercial the video was blocked with play/pause, Pic size etc couldn’t view any thing
Thank you!
When I got my Autopian member swag a while ago, I was very pleased to find a handrawn-by-Torch VW bus included. I need to find a frame for that…
Good video! I did notice a kind of funny typo in the closed captioning – during the discussion about aerodynamics, it said that the 0.44 Cd of the bus is actually better than “the Beatles at 0.48″… was that Abby Road long hair hippy Beatles? Maybe their drag was better back during their bowl cut / suits and skinny ties days… 😀
We’re just gonna call that an “easter egg”
Frontal area of a 1971 Volkswagen “Station Wagon” is 2.71m² as tested in Northrop’s wind tunnel. The only number I can find for a FHC E-type is 1.63m²; Jaguar really endeavored to keep the frontal area down.
Using those numbers, you get a CDxA (metric) of 0.715m² for the E-type and 1.139m² for the VW Bus. The E-type roadster has a Cd of 0.55 (as far as I have been able to find out). This calculates to CDxA of less than 0.894m², less since the frontal area should be less than for the FHC. No matter what, the E-type has considerably less drag than a VW Bus.
Lastly, the 0.44 was measured in a MIRA tunnel in the 1960s. They measured a Lotus Elise to be 0.336 around the same time, but when they tested it again in the 1990s they got a number of 0.29. So we are pretty much comparing apples to lychees to sunglasses.
Lotus Elise, in the 1960’s?
Whoops, that was supposed to read “Elite”. Fat finger mistake.
I committed to using the video player to watch that, and it mostly worked but had a couple bugs. There are a few more ads than I’d like – which, I understand you need ad revenue, and that’s why the video player exists in the first place – but the main issue with the ads is poor timing, and buggy skipping functionality.
The ads often cut you off in the middle of a word or sentence, which breaks the flow of the video jarringly and if I don’t skip the ad (which is often impossible as the button is frequently unresponsive, your dialogue starts back up in the middle of the ad. I had to rewind the video after every ad to see what I missed due to advertisements talking over you. It would be helpful if you could manually control the timing of the ads so they happen during cuts and transitions rather than random moments.
Also not being able to drag the progress bar to rewind, the pause button not working, the mute button stopped working temporarily, and the aforementioned skip button not working. If it helps, I’m on Chrome with no adblockers.
Other than teething issues with the video player (which I’m sure y’all can sort out), the video was good and I enjoyed it. VW buses are one of those vehicles that only exist in pristine restored condition or rusted out husks of junk, no in-between, but the rusty bus-shaped hulks that pop up for sale every now and then are still tempting projects because who hasn’t wanted to try van life in a VW bus?
Also, you make it sound like the VW was the only successful execution of the idea, but there were plenty of imitators that found their own success. The Fiat 900, Alfa Romeo Romeo (yes that is real, Alfa Romeo had a VW bus competitor and it could be had with a supercharged two-cylinder diesel!), Tempo Wiking, SEAT Siata, and Corvair van are a few of my favorites 🙂
Also there’s the assorted kei vans for which you can get conversion kits to make them look like VW buses, and since kei trucks are already popular imports it’s just a matter of time before a ton of VW bus-ified kei vans get imported and turned into mini campers by the hordes of gen z and millenials (heck probably even gen alpha) who can’t afford a real VW bus but want to live the dream regardless. After the R34 GTR, I predict that to be the next importation craze.
I bought my first Bus, a 1956 Deluxe (as defined by clock on the dash, two-tone paint (blue over white) and trim between the two colors) in ’81. It was too much fun to drive! It had been crudely and cruelly “chopped” by a PO, with the wheel wells enlarged and rubber flares added, plus a hole in the roof covered with Plexiglas that perpetually leaked. It was too much of a blast to drive and after I repaced the 1300 mill it came with with a 1600 DP with dual Webers, it was even more of a blast! With the “tunnel axles” in the rear, ground clearance and crawler low-gear–which was unsychronized–were awesome–besides the bottom of the rig being one big steel plate–so it begged to go off-road, which it did whenever I had the chance. Everyone who ever rode in it insisted on driving it–for a little while, after which they were more than happy to give the con back to me. One buddy described it as “the most vague vehicle I’ve ever driven”.
I miss that old bus. RIP, ol’ Bounder!
What a fun ride. Love the glee from torch. No ads for me in the player on an android s20 Samsung.
Matt, The video does not show at all for me on Chrome. It does load and play on Firefox. I have little doubt the Chrome problem relates to my use of PiHoles, but I thought you should know about the no load issue.
Can confirm — I’m not seeing the video player at all in my chrome browser (Mac OS Ventura 13.4).
Thanks Sage, are you also using ad blocking?
Do note that a big part of the reason I pay for a subscription is because I so aggressively block ads and don’t want to leech.
Hey Matt – Yep, ad blocker was the problem. I was able to watch the vid after disabling and reloading. To echo some others on here, the frame rate and overall quality weren’t great, but I loved the content!
The joys of driving a split window across the Dakota’s in winter with a heavy cross wind are not ones I want to revisit
Exactly. We would drive from Mpls to Colorado to ski. Crossing Nebraska was pure hell.
My Dad would get right on the rear of semi trucks and ride in the “vacuum” to avoid the damn crosswinds. Not fun to remember at all.
We called that the VW Conga dance.
I can’t resist the unrestrained joy that is “Torch Drives”. And this video brings back lots of fond memories of when I was a kid in the late 70’s and we had a relatively new 1973 microbus. There is no better road-trip vehicle when you’re a kid than a microbus. So.Much.Fun. And that VW plastic seating – I can still smell it today when I think about it.
I’m a aerodynamic hobbyist geek, and have dabbled in all sorts of aero mods to improve MPG. Adding genereous radii to the top of a box truck makes such a HUGE improvement to efficiency/reducing drag. Makes total sense to me.
One thing tho, you can have a higher .cd but still less drag if the frontal area is less, I think.
It’s a Lobster, isn’t it? I bet it’s a Lobster.
(It’s a Jeep thing, you wouldn’t understand.)
I mean, I can guess at least a few. I did not, however, guess the one you chose.
Former Westy owner here. The Type II is great fun to drive: I miss it terribly.
A note on Cd: The C stands for coefficient; it’s a ratio, essentially. To get the total drag, you have to multiply the Cd times the frontal area of the vehicle.
Type IIs have a lot of frontal area, especially compared to an E-Type.
Additionally, as the A gets smaller for vehicles, the Cd tends to get bigger because things like the exposed tire size and ground clearance have practical limits and don’t shrink proportionally. You still need 4″ of clearance or more, even for an E-type, and still have rotating wheels & tires, their exposed front area, their associated openings etc. As the rest of the body gets smaller, these grow proportionally, as does their contribution to drag, making Cd go up as A goes down even with the same body profile.
Which is why the Autobianchi/Lancia Y10 is so cool.
Additionally, additionally, sports cars value increased downforce, which negatively affects Cd number. F1 cars are especially not slippery.
Definitely true, but I don’t think the E-type was really doing much to try to increase downforce.
Another great video, but waaaaaaayyyyyyyy too many ads.
How many ads did you see? I saw two.
I get an ad every 30 seconds. Over 20 while watching the video.
Matt, there were two different ads but each one played 4-5 times and I only watched about 8 minutes of the video.
I watched the whole video and got an ad every couple minutes or so, at random moments. Also the ads wouldn’t skip properly, and sometimes Jason’s dialogue would start back up while the ad was still playing and refusing to skip.
I had the same issue. Probably an ad a minute when viewing the video on my iPhone. Totally worth it though. I might have grown up watching John Davis with my grandpa but I’m glad my daughter can grow up watching Jason.
Interesting, thanks for the report. I’m going into our video company’s office on Tuesday try and set ad schedules.
We had both a 66 and a 70 bus. One night whilst parental units were sleeping, my 12 year old idiot self took the 70 out for a 2 am cruise around Mpls.
As I was exiting an apt complex I sideswiped a huge trash dumpster. And put a 10 foot long gouge down the side.
The weird thing is that my old man NEVER noticed it!
Good times.
Would love to have another bus, but am not up to doing the Subie engine swap thing anymore. Shit happens.
The Jeep Commander had a drag CO of .41, I win.
oh wait, wrong way, I lose. How can the commander not be worse…
That’s more than fair IMO.
The introduction of a third child (and a dog) to the family prompted my father to trade in our beloved ‘57 Beetle on a spanking new ‘63 VW Bus. Alas, no skylights in our basic Bus, yet still it soon became as much a part of the family as the old Beetle and the vessel of a million kids’ fantasies. It’s too bad every family didn’t have one of these for at least awhile.
Station wagons with the way-back seating sufficed for many.
I know I’m stealing Toecutter’s thunder here, and I hope they forgive me, but drag coefficient is only one part of the equation. The reference area, the projected frontal area of the vehicle, is a significant variable, too. A 1960s E type may have a Cd of .44 but I’m guessing its frontal area is much smaller than a that of a VW bus.
Auto marketers hyped Cd since the dawn of automotive time, but without the frontal area they might as well be hyping a vehicle’s fuel tank size without mentioning the average MPG.
This is why I love this place. I didn’t really think about that aspect of the equation, and have learned something today!
True, but the VW is more likely to run. So the overall fuel consumption will be lower for the Jag.
I wrote something similar yesterday on another article comparing Cd between two vastly different sized vehicles. Cd on its own is a very useless number and I wish people would stop quoting it.
Another fun example? The Wrangler and Viper have basically the same Cd. Aero addons like spoilers and chin splitters are bad for Cd (F1 cars have crazy high Cd numbers).
You are right but it’s pretty irrelevant. The Cd is the design aspect of the drag and the only thing that affects frontal area is the size. So for the size the Jag is less aerodynamic. If you scaled the bus down to the frontal area of the Jag it would have less drag, which is notable considering one is the brickiest vehicle ever made and the other is one of the sleekest looking.
Its the shape that’s more aerodynamic.
Additionally, as the A gets smaller for vehicles, the Cd tends to get bigger because things like the exposed tire size and ground clearance have practical limits and don’t shrink proportionally. You still need 4″ of clearance or more, even for an E-type, and still have rotating wheels & tires, their exposed front area, their associated openings etc. As the rest of the body gets smaller, these grow proportionally, as does their contribution to drag, making Cd go up as A goes down even with the same body profile.