The VW Bus community is about to have its mind blown by two builds that look impossible. Based on famous renderings by digital artist Rob3rt Design, skilled craftsmen have created ultra-widebody versions of both the Bus and its Kombi pickup cousin which are about to debut at the 2022 SEMA show.
There’s a lot of creativity in the classic VW air-cooled world. However, doing extreme modifications to a Beetle or Bus is pretty rare and often looked at with critical eyes. But hate didn’t stop famous Japanese tuner Akira Nakai from making his RWB versions of the 911.
A couple of years back, the South American artist Rob3rt Design applied that RAUH-Welt Begriff (RWB) style to a few other cars which also have “flat” engines. We’ve already featured the RWB Beetle build, but this is on another level.
So it’s Japanese? No.
We don’t have all the details of these builds, which will probably be disclosed at SEMA. However, it’s pretty easy to appreciate what’s going on. Both the Type 2 models have received custom widebody kits fabricated by hand at Kenny Pfitzer Design. It’s a Corona, California shop with quite a few SEMA builds to its name, including a Tesla and the Zero to 60 Designs GTT, which a Mustang-GT40 hybrid.
The RWB widebody conversions include massive flares that add at least a foot of extra girth and resemble the Akira Nakai look. We can also see a deep chin spoiler with side wings, skirts with air intakes, and diffusers. Of course, there’s a lot more bodywork involved, smoothing out the imperfections on car bodies that could be 60 years old.
Such builds require a lot of money, and we can confirm they are backed by Original Cascade, a clothing brand, and AL13 Wheels, which also equipped the two vehicles with their aluminum shoes. The pickup is painted yellow and the Bus has a deep brown finish, just like in the Rob3rt renderings that circulate the web.
What will the VW Bus world say?
It’s pretty obvious that major suspension changes have also been carried out, pairing those massive tires with independent control arms, coilovers, and even disc brakes, alien technology by the standards of these old VWs.
Volkswagen had a groundbreaking vehicle on its hands when it introduced the Type 2 in 1950. It went on to sell over 1.8 million units, and they became iconic vehicles, synonymous with the California surfer lifestyle. We’re talking about the T1 first-generation version of the Transporter, which is worth the most money. A couple of years ago, a luxury version of this sold for $300,000.
VW was trying to recover from the devastation of WWII and was making the Beetle. While visiting their factory, a Dutch importer spotted a trolley used to move parts around and had the idea of a lightweight and simple van which German businesses could use. It had a simple, brick-like shape, and to stop it from having the aerodynamics of one, the front end got this iconic V-shape, including the angled windows which gave it the “Split Screen” nickname.
Today, we call this a T1 to indicate it’s the first Transporter series. But back in the day, Volkswagen just called this a Type 2, Type 1 being the Beetle. Variation was key to their success. First came the normal van, followed by the Kombi mixing passenger and cargo capabilities. The brown one looks like a 15-window, maybe a Deluxe model, and it’s pretty rare.
