First introduced in 1950, the VW Type 2 was in essence a re-bodied Beetle. Driving it brings back fond memories of long hair, sweet smoke, free love and loud music, which became more psychedelic with every fresh No Nukes! sticker, tattoo or T-shirt. Familiar features include a slim lightweight ignition key made of pressed steel, the famous off-white Bakelite two-spoke steering-wheel installed at an almost horizontal angle, the airy footwell dominated by standing pedals, a spidery gearlever with matching two-feet long handbrake, and a painted metal tube in which the long steering column rotates from lock to lock.
One sits close enough to the windscreen to defrost it by breathing, upright enough to automatically check the vertebrae whenever the trailing-arm front suspension hits a ridge or a pothole, and far enough forward to become a very physical part of the marginal crumple zone in case of a head-on collision. Integrated in the bare-metal dashboard are various pull-knobs, a single round instrument depicting speed and accumulated miles, and a large pull-out ashtray the Gauloises & Gitanes generation could not do without.
Despite a displacement of 1.5 litres and a kerbweight of only 1140 kilos, our 1963 Bulli was not exactly a scorcher. Saddled by a single carburettor, the boxer engine is hampered by excessively long respiratory tracts which cause a sleepy throttle response and a certain reluctance to build up revs and torque.
The four-drum brakes are heavy and occasionally at odds with each other, the steering is even heavier and prone to harden as you wind on more lock, the swing-axle rear suspension is tospy-turvy through bumpy corners but benign elsewhere, the spaghetti gearlever which tries to sort out the four-speed box feels light and vague yet rarely misses a beat. Good for exactly 66mph, the holdall from Wolfsburg averages 30.7mpg.
A well-kept Type 2 bus is worth at least $30K these days. Stephen Toshiyuki shelled out over $35K for his partly restored specimen pictured here, but an original 23-window Samba version with fabric sunroof easily doubles this tally, and a one-owner low-mileage trailer queen has recently changed hands for more than $200K.
Just goes to show how much some people love the iconic classic Volkswagens. And driving these two, you can see why.