A Legend's Origin: The Plattenwagen
During Funfest for Air-Cooled VWs 2023, our annual Volkswagen show held here on our corporate campus in Effingham, IL, we didn't realize we were in for an extremely rare treat when a very unique VW began being unloaded from its trailer. Say hello to the “Plattenwagen” (Platform Truck) – a useful tool around the Volkswagen factory that was never available to the public. The Plattenwagen’s importance isn’t just due to its rarity, but also the inspiration it sparked that led to a legend.
The concept for the Type 2 Bus is credited to Dutch Volkswagen importer Ben Pon. Pon visited Wolfsburg in 1946 (intending to purchase Type 1 Beetles to import to Holland), where he saw an improvised parts mover known as the “Plattenwagen” and realized something else was possible using the stock Type 1 pan. He first sketched the van in a doodle dated April 23, 1947 that proposed a payload of 600kg (1,500lbs) and placed the driver at the very front. Production would have to wait, however, as the factory was already running at full capacity producing the Beetle.
When capacity freed up, a prototype known internally as the Type 29 was produced in just three short months. The stock Type 1 pan proved to be too weak for the new project, so the prototype used a box frame chassis with a fixed body on top. Coincidentally, the wheelbase was the same as the Type 1’s. Engineers were able to reuse the reduction gearboxes from the Type 81, enabling the 1.5 ton van to use a 25hp (19kW) flat four engine.
Although the aerodynamics of the first prototypes were poor (with an initial drag coefficient of 0.75). Engineers used the wind tunnel located at the Technical University of Braunschweig to optimize the design. Simple alterations to its design such as splitting the windshield and roofline into a “vee” helped the final drag coefficient for the Type 2 come to 0.44, which even surpassed the Beetle’s 0.48. Volkswagen’s new chief executive officer Heinz Nordhoff (appointed January 1st, 1948) approved the van design for production on May 19th, 1949 and the first production model of Pon’s creation rolled off the assembly line for the first time on November 12th, 1949.
Only two models were originally offered: the Kombi (with two side windows and middle and rear seats that could easily be removed by one person), and the Commercial. The Microbus was added into production in May of 1950, soon after joined by the Deluxe Microbus in June of 1951. In all, 9,541 Type 2s were built during the first year of production.
An ambulance model was added in December of 1951 and this addition repositioned the fuel tank in front of the transaxle, placed the spare tire behind the front seat, and added a “tailgate” style rear door. These features eventually became standard on the Type 2 from 1955 to 1967 as production continued to evolve. In 1951, 11,805 Type 2s were built. These were joined by a single cab pickup option in August of 1952 and the Type 2’s design remained relatively unchanged until everything was overhauled for the introduction of the Bay Window Bus in 1968.
