By 1962 there were ute versions, although of course the word “ute” is not an automotive reference when talking to Germans, but rather the name of their favourite cabaret singer, Ute Lemper, who wasn’t even born until 1963. Kombis started out with split windscreens, the aim being to create a slight vee to improve their atrocious aerodynamics. You can see where the engineering minimalism came from. The design dates from 1950, and a Dutch inventor named Ben Pon. It’s quintessentially German and yet international: in particular a ubiquitous part of Latin American life, from Mexico City to Rio. It’s a van, but built on the same chassis as the Beetle. The Kombi is an enigma, both culturally and mechanically. For Australians “Kombi” has remained essential – what else would Colin Hay have rhymed with “zombie”? In Portugal the term Pão-de-Forma is a reference to that unsexy breadloaf bodyshape. In Peru, the nickname Combi Asesina translates as Deadly Combi, in recognition of the notoriously ruthless traffic tactics of the city bus drivers. The Germans themselves call them “VW-Buses”. The ballpoint pen, the safety pin, the Swiss Army knife… and an unreliable and frankly dangerous German-designed people-mover that looks like a loaf of bread on wheels.įormally known as the Volkswagen Type 2, (full translation: Kombinationskraftwagen, or “combination motor vehicle”), the Kombi van goes by dozens of aliases, built up around its roles in millions of lives.
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