Transporter Talk by David Heard Dune Buggies and Hot VWs, August 1995 WHAT IS IT? With the Volkswagen show season in full swing, I find myself attending one event nearly every weekend. With the SOTO Anniversary Meet, in Garden Grove, CA, over with, I can get back to doing what I enjoy most at shows, talking to folks about their buses. At every show I get at least one person telling me about their Kombi or Deluxe, and when they show me the bus, it turns out to be something else entirely. This month I'm going to try and set the record straight as to what is what, in as simple of terms as possible. The flagship of the Transporter line was the Deluxe Microbus. Many people confuse the terms "Deluxe" and "Sunroof," or use them interchangeably. A Deluxe, simply put, is a bus that has at least four windows behind the front doors (one in each cargo door and at least two more to the rear of those). The Deluxe was also the only model that came from the factory with a clock in the passenger side of the dashboard, polished aluminum beltline and rocker molding, polished aluminum trim on the bumpers, a chrome front ashtray, chrome speedometer trim ring and a chrome plated front Volkswagen emblem. Other Deluxe only features were "jailbar" glass protectors inside the rearmost windows, and an aluminum grab bar/passenger protector on the rear seat. Deluxes could be ordered with or without a sunroof, the sunroof model is probably the most highly sought after Type 2 today. Deluxes usually came in a two-tone color scheme, with the exception that a few came in solid Lotus White. The Microbus, or Standard as I'll refer to it, was the basic station wagon model. The Standard had the same window configuration as the Kombi (3 windows behind the front doors), but had much more luxurious interior appointments. The Standard came with a full headliner, door panels front and rear, and with rear seats. The Standard came mainly in two-tone paint schemes, which makes differentiating between the Standard and Kombi easy on original paint vehicles. The front VW emblem was always painted the same color as the lower half of the bus, and the wheels were the same two-tone combination as the bus, on the models before 1959. The Kombi is often confused with the Standard. The Kombi is essentially a Panel bus with 3 windows down the sides. The Kombi could be ordered with or without rear seating (I have a neat 1958 Kombi that came with no rear seat hold downs and came from the factory in primer). The cargo/passenger area of the Kombi was finished in gray primer and had no panels or headliner. As you can probably deduce frm the name, the Kombi was designed as a combi-nation vehicle, for hauling passengers or cargo. The Kombi always came in solid colors, and had gray painted hubcaps, as did all of the commercial models (Panels and all Trucks). The Panel or Delivery Van is just what its name implies. This was the basic cargo hauling model in the Transporter line. The Panel had no windows down the side behind the front doors, and for extra cargo privacy, could even be ordered with a solid (no window) rear hatch. The Panel came only with front seats, there were no provisions for seats in the rear, after all, this bus was made for hauling stuff, not people! The Panel also came with a cargo area/passenger compartment divider with a small window (on the bench seat models), so the Panel is among the quietest of the Type 2s to drive. Panels, like all commercial models, came in solid colors and had gray painted hubcaps. Many Panels, however, were ordered with custom paint schemes or in primer, ostensibly so the companies which purchased them could make them into a rolling billboard for their business. This is a trend that appears to be making a comeback, with lots of current businesses using early buses as advertising vehicles. Recently, a 1967 Panel was discovered for sale at the Pomona Swap Meet with the original logo, Dart Carpet Cleaning, still intact and purchased by local Type 2 aficionado and part time Bus Stop assistant, Ryan. We'll finish up with the Pickup models. If you don't know that you're driving a Pickup model, you should seek help elsewhere. The trucks came in two basic configurations, the Single Cab, and the Double Cab, or Crew Cab. The Single Cab had seating for three in the cab area and had a bed that measures five by nine feet. The Single Cab also has a lockable storage compartment beneath the bed, sometimes known as the treasure chest. All truck models (without special bodies anyway) came with the fold-down gates on all three sides of the bed. This made the trucks dual purpose, usable as either a normal pickup truck or as a flatbed with the sides down. The Double Cab truck had, believe it or not, a Double Cab ... imagine that. The Double Cab had interior seating for six people, with a neat storage area beneath the rear seat. The Double Cab obviously had a shorter pickup bed, but was still extremely useful for hauling cargo. Both of the trucks were available with a "tilt," more commonly known as a covered wagon. This was a system of bows and rails that were covered with a removable canvas cover, which had roll-up sides for easy access. The tilt made the bed area virtually weatherproof, and could easily be removed for larger loads. To find an original these days is pretty hard, and you can expect to pay some good money for one if you're fortunate enough to find a nice original. Hopefully this has helped those of you out there who are unsure of the "official" model name of the bus you drive. If you have more specific questions, please don't hesitate to write me at: David Heard or even call me at (510) 937-7686 P. O. Box 3555 937-SOTO, Walnut Creek, CA 94598 The best time to reach me in person is between six and ten o'clock in the evening, Pacific Standard Time. Take the bus every day!