Comments on: 520hp VW Bus

By: wrybread

wrybread — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 07:50:00 +0000

I wonder if they transferred the sensor from the donor VW van that makes it break down whenever you’re far from home, forcing a complete draining of your bank account? That was about the only reliable feature on my old 1980 Westy…

By: jackbird

jackbird — Sun, 23 Dec 2012 20:02:00 +0000

We had a Porsche engine in the aircooled VW camper van my family drove when I was a kid. It didn’t make it go fast, though – just made it work after the stock engine died. Or maybe that’s just the way my folks drove it. We got rid of it soon after when they tried to change a tire and the jack went right through the rusty frame-like substance without lifting the car.

By: Dlo Burns

Dlo Burns — Sun, 23 Dec 2012 19:01:00 +0000

Did you have to Fitzcarraldo it?

By: knoxblox

knoxblox — Sun, 23 Dec 2012 18:11:00 +0000

I can’t help but hear Yakity Sax in my head as I watch this video.

By: euansmith

euansmith — Sun, 23 Dec 2012 13:56:00 +0000

I always thought of Micro Buses being the Healer Monks of the automotive world.

By: grimc

grimc — Sun, 23 Dec 2012 05:24:00 +0000

Flashback of an old SC I once had. July, top off, I’m in shorts and wondering why I felt so hot…

By: Cornan

Cornan — Sun, 23 Dec 2012 05:21:00 +0000

I knew a guy who had dropped a Porsche engine into his VW Beetle with modifications to drive-train and suspension (improvements but not just yoinked from a 911) so it didn’t just destroy itself. From the outside it looked just like an old crappy Beetle. I was in it once at a red light when a Honda pulled up and did the “race?” head-nod. We just flew away from the line and it was the most hilariously terrifying quarter mile of my life. The people in the Honda were laughing their asses off at the next light.

By: Preston Sturges

Preston Sturges — Sun, 23 Dec 2012 05:17:00 +0000

A far cry from when we put three canoes on a VW van and headed for the mountains, realizing too late that it would only do about 10 mph over the mountains.

By: chris jimson

chris jimson — Sun, 23 Dec 2012 04:03:00 +0000

Yes, this is true– many VW and Porsche parts were interchangeable back then, in fact if you went to a shop and asked for the Porsche part they would charge you more than if you asked for the VW part, even though they both came out of the same bin in back.

By: Michael D

Michael D — Sun, 23 Dec 2012 03:45:00 +0000

Yes. I had a 67 bus and a 70. That vertically-oriented steering wheel is just WRONG. It’s a bus shell on something else, entirely.

By: margaretpoa

margaretpoa — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 23:32:00 +0000

I’m sure that will come in handy next time he needs to pull 3 fifteen meter trailers in tandem across the Australian Outback.

By: Sten Bedwell

Sten Bedwell — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 23:20:00 +0000

This might look like a VW bus; but if you check out the build gallery on his website at http://www.race-taxi.ch/ you will see that it’s more of a tube frame race car wearing a bus skin. He’s running the complete suspension and drivetrain from a twin turbo 993 Porsche.

By: Lisa Miller

Lisa Miller — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 23:20:00 +0000

Thanks for clarifying, I was thinking that’s what it had to be because the positioning of the steering wheel and the pedals is totally wrong for a bus.

By: Ladyfingers

Ladyfingers — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 23:19:00 +0000

As a point of interest, there was actually a relatively high-powered 4×4 Kombi for sale in South Africa during the 1980s.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=le8TlHJMzes

By: Ipo

Ipo — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 22:32:00 +0000

Or it does. And then you can’t turn it off all summer.

By: howaboutthisdangit

howaboutthisdangit — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 22:01:00 +0000

This brings back fond memories of the original San Francisco Rush arcade game, which gave you the option of racing through SF in a VW Bus.

By: bo1n6bo1n6

bo1n6bo1n6 — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 21:45:00 +0000

No footage of the hippies in the back doing bong hits?

By: Jason Weisberger

Jason Weisberger — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 21:45:00 +0000

Wheels are much larger than the stock 14″ — look at how low profile the tires are. Also in rear shots notice the tire width, looks 2x a stock bus.

By: Daneel

Daneel — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 21:23:00 +0000

Jamie Oliver has one a bit like this (or used to..)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3kVkSRwiZQ

By: Incipient Madness

Incipient Madness — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 21:22:00 +0000

I am sure they put in heavier struts and shocks to match the engine. They might have filled the back with sandbags to lower the center of gravity. A regular Bus or Westie would have tipped over in the first curve without a better suspension and possibly counterweights.

By: Todd Bradley

Todd Bradley — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 20:59:00 +0000

I imagine the heater works as well as the heater in a 911 plus the heater in a VW bus, which is to say “no, it doesn’t work.”

By: Kevin Pierce

Kevin Pierce — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 20:58:00 +0000

Wife: Where is this?
Me: The parking lot at Costco.

By: Kailin Naughton-Lockhart

Kailin Naughton-Lockhart — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 20:53:00 +0000

hahahah this comment made my day

By: crummett

crummett — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 20:48:00 +0000

But does the heater work?

By: Jason Weisberger

Jason Weisberger — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 20:14:00 +0000

With their new, not a MakerBot, 3D printer?

By: Paul Bradley

Paul Bradley — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 20:03:00 +0000

Being familiar with that car–it is really a 911 (I forget which) with a bus body on it…

By: Boundegar

Boundegar — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 19:58:00 +0000

I heard they had to call up Mark’s daughter to 3D print them some custom engine mountings.

By: robcat2075

robcat2075 — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 19:45:00 +0000

How does that not tip over? Those things were a problem just in a cross wind.

By: Jason Weisberger

Jason Weisberger — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 19:03:00 +0000

Thats an aircooled bus with the last aircooled 911 motor. We used to call my old 1955 Pre-A 356 Speedster “The world most expensive Kharma-ghia” Very similar cars, very different collectibility.

By: Jesseham

Jesseham — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 18:52:00 +0000

I wonder if all the cars it’s passing are yielding to it, scared that it could roll over on them. The video counters my expectations though, I assumed it would corner like a loaf of bread.