The early second-generation Volkswagen Type 2 bus is one of those vehicles that’s supposed to be so suffused with sacred nostalgic vibes that any example, no matter how trashed, will sell for tens of thousands of dollars. As we can see here, the presence of this reasonably complete 1971 Kombi in a wrecking yard near Pikes Peak indicates that real-world values for these vans may differ from the values quoted in online diatribes angrily banged out by Internet Car Experts.
To be fair, these vans have been rare junkyard finds in such yards during the last decade or so; I see plenty of Vanagons (including the allegedly priceless Westfalias), but not many second-gen Type 2s and zero first-gens.
This one has tie-dyed shirts as seat covers and a few lysergic stickers, though actual Colorado hippies are a lot more likely to drive beater Subarus or even Bronco IIs these days.
This one has some rust in the usual places, nothing too catastrophic by the standards of air-cooled VWs.
Someone, maybe a Porsche 914 owner, has grabbed this Kombi’s engine.
Colorado east of the mountains is very dry, so the body rust didn’t go so deeply after the van’s last owner opted to remove all the paint and sport that trendy “patina” look.
The interior seems less biohazardous than most RVs you’ll find in a place like this, though I’m sure the hantavirus risk would be strong if you spent much time in here.
In Mexico, the Kombi was pitched as the ideal vehicle for a peso-pinching sheik to haul his eight-member harem across the Mojave.
“Travelling in a fried-out Kombi
On a hippie trail, head full of zombie
I met a strange lady, she made me nervous
She took me in and gave me breakfast”
Name checks out. Great first comment.
So what’s wrong with it other then a good cleaning and, well, maybe an engine?
I’m surprised nobody’s taken the doors yet.
I don’t get the supposed nostalgia factors these have, for me Type 2 is associated with poverty, misery, smog and bitter cold. It was a terrible vehicle for terrible times, the absolute bottom of the barrel, the machine that ruined people’s lives. A contemporary Ford Transit was leagues above VW’s carbon-monoxide-fridge-on-wheels.
I think there in lies the joke. My memory of these is quite similar to yours plus the billowing pot smoke that used to pour from them
I suspect a lot of it is the #VanLife crowd looking for something cool and nostalgic to have in the back of their Instagram shots while they hawk vitamin supplements.
My father would agree. He drove one of these wrecks at the low point of his life & career. Everything but smog, there wasn’t any in Northern MN.
You would have to be made of some stern stuff to drive an air-cooled VW in Northern MN. I darned near froze my butt off in a rented Ford Escape in Baudette many years ago. Had to block the radiator with cardboard and drive it in 2nd gear on the highway to get some heat. -45F while I was there… But at least it reluctantly started every time, even without a block heater.
Some Last Rides-style stuff:
Alice walked out of her old Colorado City house. It wasn’t big, but at least provided enough room for her, her dog Blossom and both her cars – a 1995 Subaru Outback and a 1971 Volkswagen Type 2 campervan.
Ah, the Volkswagen… Alice bought it back in 2010, hoping to revive her young days of the 60s and 70s, travelling in different stuff and smoking different stuff. She looked at a few cars, from Corollas to Country Squires, but the VW captured “that feeling” the best. $2800, and the tired and colorless, but running, Type 2, left Jason and his newly-founded family.
The last eight years hadn’t been so kind to it. Alice quickly discovered that driving an old manual car is harder than it seems through the lens of an automatic Eagle or Outback. The van sat on her property, taken out on occasional rides until Jerry bought the engine for his 914. Later, Charlie got the windscreen, Ken helped himself to the headlights, and so it went…
The VW had been up on Craigslist for weeks now, as its currently-unemployed owner needed to make rent. But all the prospective buyers balked at different things, from the missing glass, to the aged furnishings, to rusted bodywork.
It was nearly rent day. Alice suspected she won’t get a buyer on time, so she called one place – a place where any old car is welcome…
I have some fond memories of a crazy and attractive punk rock girl I knew in HS. Her brother bought and fixed up old VWs, so she ended up with a sky blue VW Van. And would get angry when she ran out of gas after putting 75 cents in (back in 1988). Oh the time she got really high – and lost – in a cul-de-sac, turning that van around and around while giggling like a maniac.
She ended up in the coast guard and is now a deputy sheriff (!).
please look at me
(Punk rock girl), what do you see?
Let’s travel round the cul de sac
Just you and me, punk rock girl
One of my cousins, who was THE pot dealer in my high school, ended up as a sheriff. But who better to catch them than someone who knew the trade? Now it is mostly legal, so no big deal anymore.
I think what’s happened with these is the second dip of the “Recession” has finally hit for those that would want to “restore” one of these.
No $$$ = vans going to scrap instead of getting put back on the road.
I am a bit surprised that the instrument cluster is still there. Four screws and some wires and its out. The speedos are a failure item and getting scarce.
BTW the 1971 VW was the last model, for N America, with the “Bug” engine. The 1972 had a similar engine to the 914, but with (awful) carburetors instead of fuel injection and a different exhaust.
Nobody looked for the place to put the brake fluid.
Brake fluid was in a reservoir on the master cylinder under the floor. a tube connected that to a smaller container on the kick panel between the pedals and the dash.
With the master cyl and brake booster under the floor they would have a short life in rust prone areas.
I had the displeasure of owning one of these for a while. It is difficult to tell the different years in this era, but this appears to be a ’71. It had a 4-port 1600cc bug engine, but the crankcase is custom to incorporate a rear engine mount. The rear fascia panel on the ’71 can be unbolted to facilitate the frequent engine changes. I got approx. 60,000km between rebuilds. Put a too small engine in a too big body and that is what happens. The brakes were much improved with excellent four pot opposed piston calipers on the front discs and there was a trick compensating valve that adjusted for cargo weight, distribution, and deceleration rate. It has the distinction of being the least reliable vehicle I have owned. Did I mention that the engine has to come out if you want to reconnect the wire on the gas gauge (unless you get the magic TSB on cutting the cargo floor). Succumbed to a broken crankshaft (still ran!) and RUST.
I test-drove a GTI earlier this Autumn. The salesman’s first name is Khambiz. It’s the perfect name for a guy hawking VWs to long-time VW owners like me, wouldn’t you say?
I never understand why so many people love these ugly, grossly underpowered vehicles that use one’s legs for a crumple zone…
They were roomy, decent on gas and cheap.
They were also slow and dangerous, but you’d never rear end anyone, since you could never catch up to anyone. And you’d likely never ever get a speeding ticket in a Kombi.
Remember that though these “bread” vans were built post “Unsafe At any Speed”, many countries had national speed limits under 55 mph, at the time. No one had heard of air bags and crumple-zones were in the development and testing stage.
I did get a few speeding tickets in the 1968 van that I had. I learned not to do that when I later got a 1978 which had a much more powerful motor.
Also recall that the use of these was around town delivery. Many of them employed by flower shops, cleaners, and so on. That tapered off quite a bit in the 1970s as you could no longer buy the empty van, in the USA, due to the “chicken tax”.
Most businesses changed to Ford, Chevy, and Dodge vans.