DriveTimes Five

The first five generations of Volkswagen Transporter

While it continually teases us with concept vehicles that threaten to properly bring back the spirit of the original Type 2 Beetle-based van, Volkswagen is at least doing a few cool things with the current incarnation, in terms of special editions and retro paint jobs. To celebrate the long and varied history of the Transporter van, today we take a look at the five previous generations.

Type 2 (T1)

The first and easily the coolest of the Transporter family was the Type 1 (Beetle) based Type 2, also officially known as the Transporter, Microbus or Kombi. It sat on the same platform as the Type 1 and was powered by the same air-cooled 1100cc four-cylinder boxer engine that produced a colossal 18kW of power.

The original Type 2 was built in Germany, Brazil and Australia and was produced in a bewildering array of variants, including panel vans, single and double cab pick-ups, buses and campers. Needless to say, they are extremely sought after and expensive today, particularly the 23-window Samba bus.

Type 2 (T2)

The T2 was introduced in 1967 to replace the T1, although in true VW tradition, the T1 continued to be produced in Brazil for a further eight years.

The T2 was slightly larger and considerably heavier than the T1. It was powered by a slightly larger (1.6-litre) and more powerful boxer engine that produced 35kW, although this would increase to a 2.0-litre that produced 52kW in the 1976 model year. Similar looking to the T1, but not quite as cool, the T2 gained the nickname ‘‘The Breadloaf’’ for obvious reasons.

Type 2 (T3)

While the T3 was introduced in 1979 to ‘‘replace’’ the T2, the T2 pulled the same trick as the T1 and stuck around until 2013. Yes, really.

The squarer T3 was officially the last generation of rear-engined Volkswagens, but the fact that it ended production in 2002 in South Africa means that the T2 actually outlasted it, being built in Brazil until 2013. Like its predecessors, the T3 was available with a large array of body styles and started its life powered by the air-cooled boxer engine, but by 1983 had switched to water-cooled engines.

Transporter (T4)

Now the overlaps start to get really confusing. The T4 was introduced in 1990 and was a conventional watercooled front-engined, front wheel drive (AWD was available) van. At the time of its introduction the T3 was still being built in South Africa, while the T2 was still being built in Brazil.

The T4 shared nothing at all with any previous Transporters and, in fact, even the ‘‘T’’ model naming system was retrospectively applied to the previous vans when the T4 came out. While the T4 was a very conventional van, the South African T3 had evolved into something rather more interesting – it was ultimately powered by a water-cooled Audi inline fivecylinder engine!

Transporter (T5)

The T5 replaced the T4 in 2003 and was, again, a very conventional van. The South African-built T3 had stopped being produced the year before, but the T2 soldiered on in Brazil, albeit now powered by a watercooled 1.4-litre inline four-cylinder unit from the small Polo.

This generation of Transporter saw the introduction of an official factorybuilt camper version called the California. Previously all Transporter campers had been built for VW by Westfalia, but that had been bought by DaimlerChrysler in 2001. The T5 was in production until 2015 when it was replaced by the current T6, only just outlasting the Brazilian T2 that finally finished its run in 2013.