Photo: DanteRC / Bring a Trailer
An original Volkswagen Type 2 Bus can have a prohibitive price, especially when it is well maintained. That’s why people buy Brazilian builds, which are a lot cheaper. Nevertheless, sometimes you get what you pay for, and these builds can later give you massive headaches.
Although Volkswagen stopped European production of the first-generation Type 2 Bus in 1967, it continued to build it in Brazil until 1975. Many think that because they are newer, they are in better condition, although this is not guaranteed. Many T1 Buses (named Kombi in Brazil) were restored using cheap materials, and there’s a reason why Brazilian builds would never sell as high as a Europe-built model.
You can almost always recognize a Brazilian Kombi by its side ladder and the roof baskets. Despite their gorgeous looks, they scream “poor build.” This is further amplified in builds that mimic the successful (and expensive) Samba by cutting off the roof. Without proper measures, the chassis is prone to body twisting, which will ruin the Bus. Most Brazilian rebuilds don’t consider this, hence the poor reputation (and lower prices).
This 1972 Volkswagen Type 2 Kombi selling on Bring a Trailer looks lovely and would probably attract quite a few bidders. In fact, it already got to $20,000 until somebody noticed what was wrong with it. Even though the roof was cut out to make way for a retractable sunroof, this Bus never got fitted with the required belly pans to stabilize the body. In time, this leads to body-panel alignment issues, ruining the Bus completely. Once the problem has become obvious, there’s really no easy workaround.
The 23-window conversion was performed in Brazil, after which the Bus was imported into the U.S. in January 2022. It features all the expected details from a Brazilian build, including the basket picnic set. The Bus is powered by the usual air-cooled 1.5-liter flat-four engine mated to a four-speed manual transaxle.
You can almost always recognize a Brazilian Kombi by its side ladder and the roof baskets. Despite their gorgeous looks, they scream “poor build.” This is further amplified in builds that mimic the successful (and expensive) Samba by cutting off the roof. Without proper measures, the chassis is prone to body twisting, which will ruin the Bus. Most Brazilian rebuilds don’t consider this, hence the poor reputation (and lower prices).
This 1972 Volkswagen Type 2 Kombi selling on Bring a Trailer looks lovely and would probably attract quite a few bidders. In fact, it already got to $20,000 until somebody noticed what was wrong with it. Even though the roof was cut out to make way for a retractable sunroof, this Bus never got fitted with the required belly pans to stabilize the body. In time, this leads to body-panel alignment issues, ruining the Bus completely. Once the problem has become obvious, there’s really no easy workaround.
The 23-window conversion was performed in Brazil, after which the Bus was imported into the U.S. in January 2022. It features all the expected details from a Brazilian build, including the basket picnic set. The Bus is powered by the usual air-cooled 1.5-liter flat-four engine mated to a four-speed manual transaxle.
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