Don Kincl found a veteran of the shorty VW bus craze that swept the land like a minor pandemic back in the late 60s and 70s. Yes, these were not that uncommon, kids. It was a time when creative impulses were indulged, especially when it came to VWs. And yes, that “drag bar” in the back was highly functional, as it didn’t take much to lift the front wheels.
I wonder what’s the fastest anyone ever dared to drive one of these?
Running over speed bumps at much of any speed must be fun.
This might sound weird, but I never saw one of these in real life. I wonder if the picture is photochopped.
It’s not.
“… as it didn’t take much to lift the front wheels.”
I bet it took a whole lot more then the standard 40 hp engine.
The standard engine in these had 53 hp, or more! 🙂
Given that the engine hangs out back, it really doesn’t take much, especially if there’s only one light driver in front.
Not to mention the stump-puller first gear.
Many years ago I saw one done with an early version in a front yard with a for sale sign on it. Of course I had to stop, they guy was home and swore it would to wheelies when it still had an engine in it anyway. He did say it was rather scary to drive at speed. He had a bunch of other air cooled VWs and claimed to have built it himself.
A craze? I suppose, like ergotism. Horrific.
Clownish, but in a John Wayne Gacy sort of way.
Ergot, like the psychoactive fungus that grows on grain? I did a freshman term paper arguing that the Salem Witch Trials may have been the Puritan reaction to outbreaks of ergot poisoning in the community. I wasn’t able to make a solid case for it but that didn’t stop me from bluffing my way to a C grade and an “Interesting. Needs more factual documentation.” note from my instructor written in red across the top. Admittedly I only had two sources to work with and no hope of doing any empirical research in the time allotted.
That very thing! I find the concept of ergotism’s possible role in the witch trials- and other dangerous mass-hysteria/religious fervor events in the past- utterly fascinating. A buncha credulous freaks tripping on bad bread. Which explains short Bay Buses as well as anything else.
Also one of my very favorite postpunk combos were kind enough to weigh in on the subject, not that one is able to make out the lyrics in any way:
https://youtu.be/hKF67FEVGNI
Although sometimes no ergot is required for a bunch of people to trip out. Consider the Seattle Windshield Pitting Epidemic of 1954.
???Dang! That is an obscure and localized event for sure and one I had never heard of.
The conclusion is that an already existing and ongoing minor event that is fairly insignificant in consequence is completely altered when a specific focus is placed upon it. The alteration results in speculation as the human brain struggles to make sense of what seems to be new information that competes with existing information and seems to have come from nowhere into sudden existence and significance. Adding any form of mass communication enlarges and amplifies this cognitive dissonance. Human brains try to make sense of everything they experience often outstripping reasoning and logic. And there you get your delusional thoughts and conspiracy theories.
Nope I can’t see that this event has anything in common with any events that have happened in this country in the last few years. No, there’s nothing to learn here. Not a thing. (joking)
This is a terrific example and a fairly benign one. It does make you want to revisit some other historic events.
The human mind is wired to perceive patterns, and it will perceive them, whether or not they actually exist. We see airplanes and rabbits and Abraham Lincoln in clouds; we see Jesus in our grilled cheese sandwiches and Mary in the froth on our coffee. We encounter a word we didn’t know before—an old one, not a newly-coined one—and suddenly it seems like everyone’s saying it.
(And yeah, then throw Fecebook into the mix and it all gets hypercharged.)
That is precisely what I refer to! Mass hysteria from nutsy fungus.
See also: A Field In England.
I have never heard of that movie. Thank you. I just watched the trailer and it looks really interesting and scary.
I am a little disappointed that I never considered turning my term paper into a screenplay about ergot.
Ergot might explain some the events in this country in the past few years.
Haha… but maybe…
Okeh, then I guess I’ll be the one to make the “short bus” comment.
Oh, no you dih-ent❗
Well, somebody had to! The comment wasn’t going to make itself, was it?! 🤓
“Compensating for something large?”
Yeah, no one ever says that do they?
The grille of an Edsel does suggest a question of similar type, no?
These were something of a stoplight-to-stoplight, wheel-standing, crowd-pleaser like the old Bill ‘Maverick’ Golden’s Little Red Wagon A100.
This picture is cute and distressing at the same time; I don’t know why.
The Tilamook Cheese Company in Oregon made one of these into a promo vehicle and dubbed it the “Baby Loaf”, video tour here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8w8uB0aAukg
Saw it in person in Northern CA probably 5-10 years ago , was very cute and completely ridiculous
I forgot about that one, I ran across it at some fair or some place like that and I think I also saw it on display at their factory store.
Paul is right, these were not terribly uncommon back in the day. VWs have been sliced and diced all different ways over the years!
I think it is a waste cutting up a bay window bus.
https://www.shannons.com.au/club/video/members-videos/rodney-the-short-kombi-driving-out-of-the-kompound/
This has to be one of the scariest cars to drive I can think of. Sure it’s cute and funny as hell but I wouldn’t let it out of the circus ring. To the uninitiated they could roll one faster than the Zig-Zag man.
There were a lot of shortened VW vans over here back in the day one I remember had a 2.5L V6 Ford Zephyr engine it just did wheelstands too easily to the point the owner installed separate wheel brakes on the back so he could steer it even concreting the front floors didnt help much.
That is the worst execution of a VW Shorty I have ever seen. I’ve seen a few. You don’t have to remove much to get the desired effect. The best ones got your attention and made you smile, but were well done and finished and still sort of driveable. This one must have been created as a circus clown car and not a true shorty.
You wouldn’t want to stop too short in this baby, either ! I wonder how much additional sheet metal grafted into the middle would make the thing (barely) drivable . . .
Speaking of Thing, has anyone seen one of those shortened—or extended, for that matter ?
Once saw a “limo-stretched” Thing down here in SoCal. It had an extra pair of doors, like a safari tourist-hauler.
Meanwhile in the Ozarks…
https://preview.redd.it/7ni7dtkptsy61.jpg?width=960&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=cd7720d516c15201d8280dd3d2f64a53f3e61a8a
A solid gust of wind at speed and this Bus would be in the ditch! I wonder how twitchy the steering was at anything over 40 mph?
It probably doesn’t spend much of its time over 40 😁.
See, I have to appreciate this Volkswagen, because it’s still a necessary tiny step in the direction of what I actually believe is the right car for me. Bring out the short vans!
Nice, I’d drive it.
Neat if an obvious death trap .
Once the wheel base gets this short a 1200C.C. 40 horse engine would easily pop the tires off the ground .
-Nate