The Magazine

From a sketch to a classic

This year it's 65 years ago that Dutch businessman Ben Pon visited Volkswagen in Wolfsburg. In 1947 he was there to discuss the import of the Beetle in Holland and during the talks he drew a sketch of what he thought a van should look like. VW liked the idea and two years later the first Transporter rolled of the production line. Based on the passenger car it was basically a shoebox on wheels that, like Ford's Model T, was only available in one color: blue. This changed soon. Today the first models are affectionately known as the split-window or 'splittie' and they, with all the models that came after, have a huge following. No wonder that VW-Nutzfahrzeuge in Hannover, Germany has opened its own restoration workshop. Their restoration-department existed since 2007, supplying parts and service, but was officially opened last week.

Tuesday, 01 May 2012