The versatility of the VW Bus is proverbial: As a travel car, which makes traveling twice as enjoyable. As a business car, a reliable and economical bus. As a family car, handy with eight people on the road. As a camper (if you are going to build in a camping set). But now we know that it has become an exclusive hobby car that is no longer used for business. We met Henk and his Volkswagen Combi de luxe from 1962.
Our southern neighbors
Henk found this special Volkswagen Combi de luxe in Belgium in a reasonable condition. It had already been given a new coat of paint. In fact, it was a stranded project that was standing at a Ford dealer and had not been able to be repaired further. After purchase, Henk renewed the interior and outsourced the necessary work on the chassis to a specialist. This piece of automotive art is now 99 percent finished.
The story behind the bus
Before the Ford dealer took over the bus, it was owned by a church council in a small Belgian village. The Ford dealer knew of course that the Volkswagen Combi de luxe was a special version. For example, the version is completely identical to the well-known and much sought-after VW Samba bus, only the skylights are missing. At the time, Volkswagen had the option to choose between the Samba and this Combi de luxe.
Lost street scene
Henk: “For me, the Beetle is still the car that evokes fond memories. I have therefore had, refurbished and driven many Beetles in my VW hobby life. The desire for a VW bus has always remained, especially for the type 1. But for years it was a great challenge to find a nice usable Volkswagen bus, which finally succeeded two years ago in Belgium. It is therefore clear to me in the first place the emotional value and not the monetary value. It is simply a source of pleasure for me, this pure beauty through its simplicity, the color scheme and the luxury. Owning gives great satisfaction. Especially this version as a Combi de luxe makes it special and immediately attracts a lot of interest, especially among the real air-cooled Volkswagen enthusiasts.”
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High time for apologies, but one more time.
What I regret is that there are no hubcaps on it. Would have been nice before the pictures were taken.
For the rest: very nice bus.
Dear other Henk, probably didn't have any history in the package? Both the design of the beetle and the bus are not original, neatly said. I care about the whole, so the stain of vw 🖐
This also applies to the curse of Toyota, Kia, the American brands, the British with their colonial policy and what do you think of the French in Algeria.
JUST A BEAUTIFUL VW BUS!
I'm sorry, something always sticks to it from about 80 years ago. Beetle, bus….added to this is the shame that this billion dollar company,
received even more billions from Fraulein Merkel to build an electric VW. As a “subsidy” to give them a push….. also , (and more), shame!
Does this belong here? 80 years ago? What is it about?
Enjoy a nice car from the past I would say.
Presumably JP has second-generation war syndrome. Earlier I responded to it with “don't mention the war”. Doesn't seem to have arrived. Dear JP, we are all talking about classic cars here. That's all. And the VW van is from after WW2 and initiated by Ben Pon sr.