10 THINKS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT… THE VOLKSWAGEN TRANSPORTER

The Transporter was unveiled to the press in November 1949, although the Transporter name was only adopted later and the first vehicles were simply called by their role – the Volkswagen Delivery Van. This was followed in May 1950 by the eight-seater Kombi that featured side windows and removable seating which meant it could be quickly converted from carrying loads to carrying people. A few days later came the much better appointed Microbus. The Microbus De Luxe appeared in June 1951, often known as the Samba today and highly desirable with its canvas sunroof and eight Plexiglas skylights, not to mention curved Plexiglas windows in the rear corners too.

The pick-up didn’t arrive until August 1952, although it had been in the original prototype plans from the outset. This required the spare wheel and the fuel tank to be relocated, and gave the Transporter family their first external fuel filler – earlier versions had housed the filler inside