Couple revive Volkswagen magic bus

By Murray Green Jen Brewer and Andrew Scott own a 1962 Volkswagen split window bus (van).

“We found it rotting in the bush with the glass all smashed in and all over the place. The doors were seized over. It was awful, but it was fun to restore. We drove all around the world with this thing,” said Jen.

“When we were kids, my two siblings and I, played in here all of the time. I showed it to him (Andrew) in 2019, and showed him my playhouse. His jaw dropped, but he said we have to get this out of the bush and in our yard, so a new generation of kids can enjoy it,” explained Jen.

“He said we will turn it into a playhouse and just salvage it a bit. However, it absolutely snowballed from there. The Volkswagen community got wind of it and Andrew’s family has always had Volkswagens, so his dad chatted up a few people and all of a sudden parts started to arrive,” shared Jen.

“What we thought was going to be a playhouse in our backyard, turned out to be our insured, registered driver vehicle. It was supposed to be a surprise for my siblings and mom. We were going to unveil it at our wedding. We had it out of the bush, all restored and it passed inspection in seven months. It was crazy,” said Jen.

“When I finished rebuilding it for safe and legal driv-

Andrew

The bus ing, I made sure she had the first turn (of the key to start it),” added Andrew.

“We winched it on to a trailer, hauled it two and a half hours to my mom’s place and with one turn of the key it started. It fired right up,” said Jen.

“The next day people showed up unannounced to

Fun Facts

In 1962, a heavy-duty Transporter was introduced as a factory option. It featured a cargo capacity of 1,000 kg (2,205 lb) instead of the previous 750 kg (1,653 lb), smaller but wider 14 inch roadwheels, and a 1.5 L, 31 kW (42 PS; 42 bhp) DIN engine. This was so successful that only a year later, the 750 kg, 1.2 L Transporter was discontinued. The 1963 model year introduced the 1500 engine–1,493cc as standard equipment to the US market. Among American enthusiasts, it is common to refer to the different models by the number of their windows. The basic Kombi or Bus is the 11-window (three-window bus because of three side windows) with a split windshield, two front cabin door windows, six rear side windows, and one rear window. The DeLuxe model featured eight rear side windows and two rear corner windows, making it the 15-window.

The Volkswagen Type 2, known officially (depending on body type) as the Transporter, Kombi or Microbus, or, informally, as the Bus, Camper or Bulli, is a forward control light commercial vehicle introduced in 1950 by the German automaker Volkswagen as its second car model. As one of the forerunners of the modern cargo and passenger vans, the Type 2 gave rise to modern minivans.

help with the wedding and we hid the van back in the bush exactly where it was, thinking nobody ever goes back there,” recalled Andrew.

“The whole family got in the van and drove it out of the bush,” laughed Andrew.

“Everyone got to see it at the wedding. Unfortunately, I lost my mom shortly after that, but at least she had the opportunity to see the finished van. She wanted a girls’ camping trip, so we took her ashes and camped in the mountains,” said Jen.

“I had to fix absolutely everything on the van. It had no suspension, transmission, motor or much of anything. There was barely a nut and bolt left on it, just a carcass. The roof was crushed down, some dents and it wasn’t even in one piece because of so much rust. It was hard to keep it looking old, considering the amount of new parts that had to go into it,” confessed Andrew.

“We drive it everywhere and not afraid to take it down mountain trails. We want to use it,” he said.

It has a 1641 engine that produces about 70 horsepower and can go 100 kph. Andrew re-geared the transmission to drive the actual highway speed limit. The stock motor produced about 40 horsepower and went about 75 kph.

“We are even going to leave the bullet holes in it. It adds some character. A bullet went into the dash, so we are going to leave it,” said Jen. “I love to see and hear people’s reaction when they see and talk about our vehicle. We can’t drive down the road without someone giving us a smile, thumbs up or wave,” said Jen.

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