VW Beetle Van? You'll Love/Hate This

A 'phantom' body style that was never built but should have been - a VW Beetle van. Eric Ericsson Skärstad thought so too, so he built one, using Type 2 parts grafted onto a late 50's Beetle and I'm guessing a Type 3 'suitcase' engine, as so to keep a low load floor. Confusing, as the prose on the website refers to it as a Type 81, but I thought that was the KubelWagen?
Anyway, more info here, or if you're not familiar with Swedish, there's a translation below the pics.
- Amazosan

'Just as there are cars that should never have been produced, there are models that seem so obvious that you wonder why they did not reach the production stage. Volkswagen Type 81 is one such car, the sleek cabinet version of the bubble that we experimented with in Wolfsburg during the 1940s. Why was not it?

Eric Ericsson Skärstad just north of Huskvarna have done something about it, he built a Type 81 itself.

- Many believe that it is authentic and wondering where they can find a similar, "says Eric.

Eric has succeeded so well in his quest to get people to see the trailer factory made out that it feels somewhat unreal.'

'- It's an idea I brought with me many years, continues Eric. But first there was the sentence would include modern components. Alloy wheels and tiltable VW brand from the Caddy over the fuel cap. Now I'm glad I changed my mind!

Why not then made Volkswagen itself as a handy little tool? Long before to Type? 2 "VW bus" was presented in 1949, had a few prototypes have been developed.Already in 1940 used the Porsche factory in Zuffenhausen a tasty pickup built in the last VW38-chassis, called the Type 68th Another pickup truck, Type 88, built on a Kübelwagenchassi whose reduction gears out of the wheel resulted in higher ground clearance, was tested during the war years. This had a more rumphugget look and a shorter bed.'

'But what it really looked like a van was the delivery vehicle called the Type 81, also standing high on a Kübelwagen chassis and finished 1940. The abrupt closure was equipped with a left-hung huge windowless rear doors. A transverse beam at the bottom made it difficult to access and engine cooling problems were concerned. Only one copy was made and a continuation of the concept was never taken up once the Type 1 came into production after the war ended.
Marshall Aid, the Allies' aid programs to the war devastated Germany, financed and helped to launch the production of the Volkswagen Type 1 during the difficult times that the focus on a single product in the initial stage. Convertible version was assembled by Karmann, which is not disrupted production in the huge plant in Wolfsburg.'

'The reconstruction of Germany was undertaken in a collective spirit in which the need for a flexible work vehicle for the individual craftsman works not yet been born. When Type? Two in the cabinet, coach and pickup version was included on the program in March 1950 was filled with many gaps, where the demand still existed for smaller vehicles for transport of people and materials. First with type 3 presented in February 1962 could offer a smooth Volkswagen van on the passenger car chassis.
A bubble of 1964, as his last years acted play house was saved from destruction and became the foundation. A 1970 VW bus in Gothenburg was donating the rear. Huvemblemet with a wolf standing on top of the castle roof was found in the woods along with the wiper mechanism. It has not had to buy as much part of the project, possibly a bit of a veteran market.
Eric total usable parts continuously to be able to work effectively. A friend gave one door of a 1950s model when he saw the energy that Eric was in the building.Salvage Corps (!) In Jönköping had a couple of decent screens as they politely gave it away. The list of savings goes on.'

'Eric figured a bit and then inspected the beetle, of course, after some repairs, before any modifications took off. For the survey, he had mounted an original trailer hitch and after that carried out all procedures in this order the car now considered to be a "modified vehicle", a milder degree than "converted". The survey was completed creation of what is seen on the pictures to take off.
Most of the work is done outdoors. When Eric hijacked -64: an an inch behind the doors of the saw was anything but silent. The neighbor looked terrible, shaking his head and went back inside. There he would stay for quite a while for Eric continued month after month.
No body parts from a VW bus fits on a standard VW but that did not stop Eric has cut into small pieces after pieces that were joined together by spot welding and later welded. A small sketch done on a torn off piece of paper served as drawing, a huge sense of lines and a keen eye for proportions were different means. Apart from that - just hard work.
So was it, and maybe secretly watched the neighbor behind the curtain sometimes. After the roof and side panels completed sawed crescents up the rear fenders, which strangely enough have the original mounting farther.'

'That it was already winter and freezing cold did not stop four children, the father of creation. On the gravel courtyard, he saw how it shone in the kitchen and the children played games and did homework. When my wife Solveig put out for the night it was time to go.

When the body structure was finished it was time for the combined engine and trunk. The window frame of the bus was cut into pieces and then were added together to get the right size. Around this framework was built themselves flip up to fit in the body hole. And since clutterbar sketch only showed the car in profile Eric had made it particularly difficult for itself. By splitting the door in 16-bit external and eight internal, he was ultimately to the whole.

When I met Eric first saw the car like an old workhorse, a heavily cultivated car during the renovation. Eric talked about how the doors been replaced by older with doorknobs of dragtyp. How he felled the flashers on the roof pillar and the interior would be supplemented with Masonite on the following surfaces and corrugated iron on the landscape.

The car looked ready for painting and also where Eric knew how it would get out on the color and decal ring. But he was not quite satisfied with the lines up to and mentioned it to my friend with the door which then decided to donate even a front header rail from the early 1950s and the adjacent instrument panel.'

Eric Ericsson Skärstad, the van's builder

'Now it was in mid-May but still one day left until the painter had promised to set up. Submittedby Tiger Claw again for a facial surgery ...

Just in time for the big hit VW Bug Run on Mantorp in early June this year was the unique car ready, at least on the outside, and Eric and his family finally got to enjoy a bit of all the work - remarks on the meeting was numerous and appreciative.

Gradually, interior masonite and corrugated sheet metal assembly, the motor replaced with a newer model with no established cooling fan and ...

Once that is done waiting son's bubble on the renovation and then we'll see, the girl ...?'