VW Info, Parts and Restoration

History of the Volkswagen Bus.

There has been a lot written about the history of the VW bus. A classic car since it conception in 1949 the Volkswagen bus has a loyal following that rivals many classic cars today. In 1947 Ben Pon, a Dutch Volkswagen distributor drew the initial idea for the Volkswagen bus. It wasn’t until November 1949 that the first Volkswagen bus was put in to production and Ben Pon’s idea becomes a reality. The original Volkswagen buses were designed as work vehicles and were a hit for new businesses staring up after WWII. As the market grew Volkswagen introduced a new line of more lavish buses the Type 2 offering a wide range of additional features, and then the variation began. Not only could you have options like more windows and rear seating but a line of specialty buses came available. For major loads you could get a special high-roof panel van. There were fire trucks, food buses and an ambulance conversion as well. Another option was a double door bus, with loading doors on both sides. One of the most renowned modifications of the bus was the Volkswagen single cab and double cab pickup. With all of these variations available, in addition to the window configurations choices, it made for a seemingly infinite number of different busses.

Volkswagen Double Cab History

History of the Volkswagen single cab

Volkswagen single cab vw

With the addition of the Volkswagen single cab in 1952 Volkswagen introduced there first pick up version of the vw bus. The intended use for the VW single cab was for farm workers and construction companies. The unique fold down gates allowed the Volkswagen single cab to carry objects larger then itself and made the truck versatile in many situations

History of the Volkswagen Double Cab

The story goes that in the early 1950’s a florist went to BINZ, a German coachbuilder that was synonymous for special purpose vehicles, requesting a vehicle that he could use for transporting materials, workers and plants in, but also had an area that was safe from the weather. Apparently, the single cab didn’t fit his needs Binz solution was to take the Volkswagen Single cab and modify it into what is now known as the Binz double cab. Binz realized that they had a good idea in there hands and began to produce and market the double cab. They would make the conversion, upholster a rear seat that they made, and then paint the new double cab (the single cab came from Volkswagen primed). Because of its success Volkswagen contracted Binz to start making the VW double cab. It should be noted that there is no solid evidence to verify this story about the VW double cab. The only documented information is that VW contracted Binz to coach build the Double Cab in Oct, 1953 according to a Volkswagen Special options brochure. Although Binz Started making the double cab Type 2s in 1953 for Volkswagen, a few years later in 1958 VW took the production of the double cab in house started making the vehicles at there own facilities. They sold for about $1800 that was about $300 more than the single cab.