Volkswagen produced some station wagons using the Beetle floor pan: the Type 3 Squareback, 411 Variant, and the Brazilian Variant and Variant II are the ones we are aware of. Yet, it never sold one with the Beetle front end. The guys from Overtake Garage in Brazil decided to fix that and have created a crossover that mixed elements of the most produced vehicle in history with those of another spin-off: the Volkswagen Type 2.
The name “Fuskombi” is also a mix of the two words used in Brazil for these cars: Fusca (Beetle) and Kombi (Type 2, which you also know as the Bus). Diego Riello and Danilo da Silva started working on it in 2019. At the time, they had just joined their two companies and wanted a project to show what they could do together. If it was not for the international health crisis, Riello imagines they could have ended it way earlier.
The 1974 Beetle donor belonged to Riello’s father, while the Bus parts came from a junkyard. Riello said the work involved cutting the roof and the rear end of the Type 2 in eight to ten different parts.
“Putting all that together was the most difficult part. We had to combine them in a way that made the lines of these two vehicles match well together. For you to have an idea, the entire body structure comes from the Fusca, not from the Kombi. Anyone that thinks we just cut the Kombi’s roof and welded it to the Fusca is very wrong.”
Photo: Diego Riello/Overtake Garage
The fenders also had to be enlarged because Riello wanted to give the car a crossover appearance – with off-road tires.
The Bus may have come from a junkyard, but it was carefully chosen to be from the same model year of the Beetle.
“That made it easier for us to make the designs match. There was also an issue with the taillights. Newer models use larger ones, and most people prefer them to be smaller.”
Photo: Diego Riello/Overtake Garage
Riello and Silva also made the interior with the same red upholstery these cars could get in 1974, and the dashboard received gauges that remind of those used by Porsche vehicles of the time, according to Riello.
Concerning the engine, it is the one the Beetle already had: a 1.5-liter, 54-hp, four-cylinder mill with a pair of carburetors, one for each side of the traditional boxer. With the added weight from more windows and more steel performance must be a little impaired, but we are sure the future owner will not care about that.
Although the vehicle was presented by a local website called Botucatu Online – from the city where Riello and Silva established Overtake Garage – the images became popular with car enthusiasts all over the country and even abroad. So much so that Riello received an offer to sell the car to Germany.
Photo: Diego Riello/Overtake Garage
If other customers want something similar, Riello can make another one, but it is not in the plans right now.
“The project price depends a lot on what the customer wants the car to have when it comes to wheels, interior, etc., but if we stick with the body work and painting, something similar to the Fuskombi would cost around R$ 80,000 ($15,300 at the current exchange rate). We now have plans to create a Baja pickup truck, a convertible…”
Considering paid jobs have a priority, Riello and Silva may change the plans depending on demand for other station wagons such as the Fuskombi. Wherever the buyer lives, be it in Germany or Botucatu, they must be sure there is nothing remotely similar anywhere near them. We’re now curious to find out more about the Baja pickup truck, and all else Overtake Garage may present as its future projects, and the names they may receive depending on which country gets them. Käferbulli? Bettlebus? You name it.
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