We’re speechless. Hell, we’re worse off than that. We ran across this incredible little creation on eBay yesterday while doing a generic search for “rat rods”. Yeah we were planning on finding some grotesque weirdness to scare you with and instead found this. Yeah, this thing is amazing. This VW bug was turned into a miniature big rig and made the pages of Hot Rod Magazine in the 1970s. The little truck is so great we may have a tear of two of BangShitfty joy leaking down our cheeks.
The vehicle started out as a normal 1959 VW bus (something that would be worth an ungodly pile of dough today) and was cut down to make a brilliantly cool “cab” for the big rig look. There was some fancy engineering out back to mount what the ad calls a Formula Vee style engine and transmission layout which is kind of inverse as it would have appeared in the bus originally. The whole chassis is custom buy keeps the torsion bar suspension. The truck no longer has that engine in it so the buyer will need to fix that situation. The interior is 100% custom and while it has aged, it’s all still there and can totally be fixed up. There is one huge element missing, though…the trailer.
Perhaps the most stunning part of the whole program was the custom designed, engineered, and built aluminum trailer that the tractor hauled around. It was basically a camper type situation which, as you can see from the old Hot Rod photos below opened up and had enough room for an open-air den along with what we assume is another couple rooms as well. Incredible.
The paint scheme has been changed over the years, one of the exhaust stacks is gonzo, and father time has dulled the formerly polished wheels but the incredible thing is that all of this can be fixed. The trailer, though. Is it possible that the thing has been lost to history? Sadly it appears so but we have to guess that someone, somewhere knows where it is.
We don’t know the asking price of the VW but we do know that we love it. Boy howdy do we love it!
eBay link: This VW Bus was turned into a miniature big rig and it is amazing!
Too bad it’s not a complete package anymore. The setup was definitely unique!
I remember that from the magazine.
Now see that is very cool.If ya had the trailer .You would be the hit at every camp ground in the country .A trailer could be modified to work
That trailer was quite a piece of workmanship too.
Back in the seventies I saw one made from an Austin mini. It had a long trailer, the kind with wood frame and canvas top that were commonly seen in those days. Anybody from Toronto remember seeing that at the Ex?
Looks like it’s based on a 59′ regular cab VW pick-up. I love those trucks in stock form. A swap to a 2.0 Subaru boxer or the Europe only boxer diesel would be the bee’s knees in this set-up. I’d delete the grill and make it a hauler for a matching type one and Ghia. Would kill at the VW shows.