There’s a handful of these old VW T1 pickups around, single and double cab. But this one, parked next to a little neighborhood market, has a set of very fine wheels, so I decided to take a closer look at them. I knew they were the wheels that EMPI, which once dominated the VW aftermarket, used to sell. And that they came from England. But it had been a while, so I needed to immerse myself a bit in their history.
These are a classic “mag” wheel from the 60s. And unlike most later alloy wheels, these were cast from almost pure magnesium, making them some 40% lighter than the stock steel wheels.
These wheels were made by BRM Speedwell, an outfit that started in 1957, and included future F1 champion Graham Hill as its mechanic. Speedwell grew rapidly, and the VW wheel was first cast in January 1966, and quickly became a big seller in the US via EMPI. There’s a more detailed history of Speedwell and this wheel here.
EMPI, the largest VW aftermarket supplier in the US, had been campaigning an ever-faster gas-class drag racer, the legendary Inch Pincher. And it was one of the first to sport the new Speedwell wheels.
Here’s the Inch Pincher on a lengthened VW pickup as its transporter.
Needless to say, these wheels were not cheap in their day. I don’t know that I ever saw one until I got to California on my hitchhiking trip in 1972, when the custom VW mania was already in full bloom.
This is a nice clean double cab pickup, especially on the inside. I once caught a ride hitchhiking in one on I-80, across Illinois into Indiana. It was stock, which meant a 1500cc engine out back. The driver had it wide open, naturally, which meant a steady 65 mph on the billiard-table flats of Illinois. But having ridden in lots of T1 buses, i was quite surprised at how quiet it was. The engine’s full-chat holler and the blower’s whistle were a distant muted hum.
It’s because the cab was completely separated from the engine compartment, unlike in a bus, where it resided right inside its sheet metal box at the rear of the bus. This made me appreciate the double cab pickup in a new light, and its roomy rear seat are only added to that. These were mighty practical, except for when it came to sleeping in them.
The VW has the distinction of being the progenitor to what is now the best selling type of vehicle in the country, an F-150 double cab pickup. I covered the history of it here, but the short story is that the first one was made back in 1953. It was obviously a concept with legs. And fine wheels, in this case.
Nice, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a VW pickup whilst walking around, ever..
Speaking of walking, welcome back. Good hiking vacation?
Superb. We hiked every day in Joshua Tree. Weather was perfect, sunny but not too warm. 12 miles one day. And then in the evening we’d drive 15 minutes to Desert Hot Springs and hop in the hot tubs and pools there in one of the many spas.
And we got in some more at Half Moon Bay. There’s a walking path right along the beach that goes either direction for several miles, and then there’s the Santa Cruz mountains 10 minutes inland. Redwood trees and great trails. I came back rested but in better shape.
I could be wrong but I seem to remember pictures of 1 or 2 of these VW pickup trucks, doing wheelies no less, with the pictures being taken at drag strips. The photos appeared in VW magazines and Hot Rod magazines.
Wait, these have a separate wall within the cabin (2nd to last pic)? That looks even less comfortable than riding in a taxi with the hard divider, do your knees end up jammed against metal? Are they all like this? How about the later Vanagon DOKA’s? I’m full of questions, I know. This blew my mind..
Jim, that’s the way all VW buses/transporters were until they came up with the optional walk-through front seats in about 1960 or so. Some panel vans had the walk through front seats since 1958, but it showed up later in buses. But the original bench front seat version was still available to the end, as a 9 seater version, at least in Europe.
The spare tire fits in that bulge behind the front seat. In the walk-through buses, the spare goes in the cargo area in the way back, but that doesn’t exist in the double cab. I suppose one could have thrown the spare in the under-bed cargo area. I don’t think they ever made walk-through versions of the double cab T1.
It’s not uncomfortable at all, as there’s massive amounts of leg room in the back. But yeah, one has to hop over the seat to get in the back. But we were young back then, so no problem.
The walk-trough bus version was a revelation to me when it came out, as I’d grown up only with the version like this, with the bench seat and spare there. All the buses in Austria were like that, and my friend who had an old bus in Iowa City was like that.
Very interesting, thanks! I had no idea, our 68/69 was obviously a walkthrough, never thought there was a different way and never looked that closely at a pre-60 version.
I hate to admit it now, but I took a sawzall to the divider wall and replaced the split bench with 2 Mazda bucket seats on my really nice ’66 Sundial VW Camper. It came out nice, but could you imagine doing that today at the crazy prices these things are worth today? I did resist the temptation to mount the spare on the front panel. I replaced the painted front VW emblem with a (pricey) genuine factory chrome emblem that looked too good to cover up.
My ’72 was the optional nine passenger version with the full width front seat.
BTW, the double cab pickup was the most expensive VW sold in the US back then. Chicken tax and more complex construction both contributed.
Actually the walk through option was available early on, around 1953, though it was very rare until the early 60’s.
I have a theory on this, by the way. VW started to promote the walk through Cab availability around that time. I think because that’s when the competition from the Big 3 emerged. The Ford And Dodge had the engine between the front seats so no walk through cab was available on them and the Corvair van’s suspension prevented it from having a walk through cab. It was an advantage VW could promote and since more people were aware, more were ordered that way.
Those VW utes are worth gold here even without mag wheels great find, VW nutters world wide are now using google satelite imagery searching out buses and I guess utes to restore VW’s idea didnt just have legs its got wings now.
Yep, that’s a mid-high five-figure truck right there! Prices have gone bonkers the past few years.
The first VW dealership I worked at had one of these crew cab split window’s on the used car lot, freshly painted offered for $3750. I drove it for a few days while the ’68 Bay window single cab was getting a new engine.
The single cab was really quiet with the windows closed.
of course, you CAN use the door to get into the back seat. my grandfather had one of these in the Redwoods south of SF. I got to drive it up Kings Mountain Road from Half Moon Bay to Skyline Blvd when I was 19. was well geared for that ascent. you could not drive the road fast in ANY vehicle.
I’ve seen a few classic VW’s with similar wheels
I like it!!! These are definitely cool little rigs anyway, but that patina’d sage green color is set off nicely by a great looking wheel. I hear tell original BRMs are worth a fortune. I believe reproductions of these are still popular with the VW crowd.
Wow. Been catching a few Type 3s all EMPIed out, and I’m still climbing the learning curve on this brand, but I am totally surprised to see this. I knew of BRM as an F1 racing constructor, and now I know even more. Thank you CC
My absolute worst automotive experiences have been with a ’60 single cab transporter. 40 Hp slug with marginal brakes and a sometimes functioning electrical system. Combine that with no heat because if you put on the old style heater boxes that grabbed the air off the bottom of the cylinders, the motor would overheat and seize. Brutally hot in the summer with the sliding windows that wouldn’t open very far and the roof vent didn’t do much. And who engineered it so the tailgate covered the rear lights and license plate? No gas gauge either. I have been permanently soured on all things air cooled from VW. High maintenance low performance crap. I would rather take my chances on a secondhand Lada. Nice wheels on this one though.
This one does the rounds in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs. Owned by a guy who does upper-end tradie work and run as a daily driver. He’s about to seriously resto-mod it.
Today’s jacked up soccer mom pickups really should have those fold down sides.
Wow, I learned a lot here! Type 1Doka, not actually that unusual a sight here in California. EMPI wheels, well I remember them also, from an earlier era (the EMPI name is now used by a major distributor of auto parts, not VW specific or performance oriented). BRM? Well, Graham Hill was one of my childhood heroes and I still remember the H16 as well as the fast 3litre V12 F1 cars of the early ‘70’s. And I also remember seeing pictures of the Speedwell Sprites. But I knew nothing of the relationship between BRM, EMPI and Speedwell, and I don’t remember ever seeing that wheel in natural alloy; I associate them with a painted/polished colorway as seen in the old pictures of the Inch Pincher. And, I don’t think I ever saw a set on a bus or pickup, only on Beetles or Type III’s. So, as I said, lots new here. Thanks!
I’d like to know more about the inch pinchers transporter.
From what I have read about them they were borderline when it came to power stock. Throw a beetle on its lengthened back and I would think it would need major mechanical upgrading just to be able to even move!
Anyone have history on it?
I saw one a few months ago when visiting Erlangen (close to Nuremberg). Yes, the paintwork is patina…
They are called Kastenwagen or Pritschenwagen in Germany.
More than likely those BRMs are reproductions. Originals are very rare, and unless they were just polished, they would be dingy grey instead of shiny.
I bought a half-finished Squareback project a while back that also has reproduction BRMs.
Nice crewcab .
We had two of the first year 1959 crewcabs, the third door was a ‘suicide’ typ .
Partway through the 1960’s they added stamped holes to the rear tailgate so the stop lamps were visible with the tailgate down, very important .
I’ve driven early VW Typ II’s all over America, slowly to be sure but very reliable .
-Nate