Volkswagen's 21-window Samba Bus is a blast from the past, full of quirks and imperfections — and we wouldn't have it any other way.
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — “It’s so cute!” a woman yelled from her bike as we passed her through an intersection, the 1967Type 2 Samba’s air-cooled engine working as hard as it could to maintain a knackering 40-ish mph. I couldn’t help but agree with my vocal admirer — and there are plenty more out there on a warm summer day — but at the moment I was busy just steering this thing, trying to keep it from veering into anything that might mar its collector-quality appearance.
And there were some issues with this otherwise gorgeous relic. I was warned it’s not watertight, and I’m glad the forecast for my next day with this 21-window Microbus was mostly clear. The linkage for reverse is difficult to find, but I learned how to massage the shifter into the correct position. There was the odd paint bubble or crack. Many of the moving parts squeaked, especially the steering wheel and gear shifter. The pieces that aren’t supposed to move rattled instead.
This thing seats nine, if some passengers are willing to share the longer lap belts, but I can’t imagine what a loaded Bus would feel like from behind the wheel. With just myself and my son, Wollie, behind me in a car seat, the rear-mounted 1.5-liter boxer-four and its whopping 53 horsepower struggled to push us downRoad.
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