The Rise and Rise of the Volkswagen Kombi

The Rise and Rise of the Volkswagen Kombi

As we are all aware, the humble Volkswagen Kombi van began it's coming of age some time ago, and is now going on into realms that owners some years ago would have only dreamt of valuewise.

There always were many variations of this charismatic vehicle, right from it's inception in 1950. Because it was Volkswagen's second model after the infamous Beetle, it was called the Type 2. This first variant ran from 1950 until 1967, and featured the now famous " Split Screen ", which was one of the things that sent the values of these early " 11 window " vans skyrocketing to $120,000 or more in some countries, most especially in Europe.

Later versions had a one piece windscreen and the larger 1600 cc engine, and were available as a pick up, van or Kombi. In 1972 the engine bay was enlargened to accomodate the option of the 1700 and 2000cc engines, which had significantly more power, and were actually much smoother to drive. This second generation ran until 1980, when it was replaced with the more square third generation model, which then ran for many years.

The first and second generation models are still the ones that are rising and rising in value at present, with the usual range of restored, totally rebuilt, and in fact new ones still being available............. from Brazil ! ( until the end of 2013 ). One of the early series vans is a VERY wise investment, as they have never gone backwards in value. Get into the surf culture now !.