The Volkswagen Microbus and Woodstock Share a Colorful History
At Woodstock, there was an iconic Microbus that caught everyone’s attention. It was an 11-window 1963 Type 2 Deluxe named “Light” painted in vivid cosmic patterns. One of the most famous photos taken and distributed by the Associated Press showed a pair of hippies sitting on the roof of the iconic bus.
By 1969, an artist known as Dr. Bob Hieronimus celebrated the 50th anniversary of the festival with a replica of the ’63 Microbus, named “Light.” The customized VW microbus was hand-painted to replicate the original that had rusted away after serving its duty in the commune. Earlier this year (2023), the painted replica of the long-gone original was showcased at the Amelia Island Concours, along with some working examples of the Transporter and the ID. Buzz.
“My friend, Bob Grimm commissioned the painting on it so he would have something eye-catching and meaningful in which to drive himself, with his fellow musicians and their gear, to their performances. He named it after his band, Light, and it was with friends and fellow bandmates that he drove it up to Woodstock the following year.”
-Dr. Bob Hieronimus
According to Julia Fell, the curator of exhibits at the Museum of Bethel Woods, who maintains an extensive Woodstock archive, 75 percent of the 1,500 attendees polled used their vehicles to get to the site. Of that number, an astonishing 45 percent reported using a Volkswagen model.
Further, within the traveling group, 42 percent specifically described using a VW bus or van. Therefore, a Microbus was the transportation of choice for many Woodstockers. Many Woodstock enthusiasts purchased Microbuses for $100, replaced the engines (which only required removing four bolts), and drove them until they could no longer drive.
Ben Pon was an early Dutch Volkswagen dealer in 1947, and he was pretty ambitious. At first, he tried to import Beetles into the US, but when that didn’t initially work out, he came up with another idea.
After visiting Wolfsburg and seeing the makeshift transporters on the Bug platform that workers were using in the plant, Ben Pon proposed a more sophisticated cargo van that could sit on the chassis. Although he may have been influenced by innovative designs such as the Buckminster Fuller Dymaxion or the Stout Scarab, his plan was close to the realized Microbus. The engine was still in the back, and the driver and passenger sat up front.
At the time, VW was under postwar British administration, and the automaker enthusiastically met the idea. A new ladder-frame chassis was built, and what was known as the Bulli in Germany (a name revived for some ID. Buzz prototypes) went into production at the end of 1949 as a 1950 model.
The introduction of the Microbus and the Deluxe Microbus in the early 1950s was followed by an ambulance and a pickup truck.
In addition to the Microbus and the Deluxe Microbus, several other models of the Volkswagen Transporter were introduced over the years, including the panel van, the Westfalia camper, and the upscale Samba, which had up to 23 windows and an optional fabric sunroof. Today, these models are the most valuable Microbuses, fetching prices of $200,000 or more when restored.
The first-generation Microbus was produced until 1967, while the second-generation model had more power but slightly less charm.
Michael Bream, the owner of EV West, a company based in Santa Monica, California, specializes in converting classic cars to battery power. Among the vehicles he converts are early Volkswagen buses. Bream believes that the release of the ID. Buzz will lead more people to recycle their old buses to electric power. Bream thinks the advantages of battery power will become more evident and that the bus is an excellent platform for EV conversion. Ewan McGregor is one of Bream’s clients who loves driving his electric Beetle.
Enthusiast Jack Smith and some companions took an EV West 1964 battery panel bus with a beat-up and semi-rusty body on a 6000-mile road trip from San Francisco to New York and back. Their route was the same by Dr. Horatio Nelson Jackson, the first person to drive across the US in 1903 (in a Winton with Sewell Crocker and a bulldog named Bud). The electric buses are not just for driving locally but also for long-distance travel.
Jack Smith and his group met with Dr. Bob Hieronimus in Cleveland at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, where VW displayed the newly painted Woodstock Light bus. Smith is now going out on the road again, but this time, he will be driving the exact vehicle, formerly known as the “Rust Bus,” which has just undergone a body makeover. The itinerary for this trip is Chicago to California, following the old Route 66.
“I have a passion for traveling across America, and I like to see it at a slower pace. I went coast to coast on skateboards four times, and then again on an electric skateboard.”
-Jack Smith
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Photo Source/Copyright: Volkswagen Newsroom