4WD SYNCRO BEETLE

The Weatherman said:

I'm no expert, but love Type 87's (or 187's I believe they're also called)

But it just doesn't seem right to others I've seen.

It has permanent 4 wheel drive as opposed to just in 1st gear I seem to remember...

Click to expand...

Just found this weatherman.

The Type 87 & Kommandeurwagen

Although the Kubelwagen was a 2 wheel drive vehicle (unlike the American Willis Jeep) - that is not quite the end of the story.

During the war just over 560 4 wheel drive versions of the Kubelwagen were built. With similar 4WD mechanics to the Schwimmwagen, the 87s had Kubelwagen bodies and 2 and 4 wheel drive in all gears. There were 2 versions of this bucket car, Type 87 0 (4 seats) and Type 87 1 (3 seats). Furthermore 382 of these were adapted to desert condition (the Tropenfest spec) and sent to the Afrika Korps. A few of these 4WD Kubelwagens still exist.

One of the rarest of all "Beetles" has got to be the Type 87 7, known as the Kommandeurwagen, a Kafer Beetle body on the 4WD Type 87 base. Only 3 of these were built in wartime, 2 at Wolfsburg and the remaining one at the Porsche works in Stuttgart. None of these 3 survived the war.