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@etunimenisukunimeni1302

Ай бұрын

That intro in the sponsored segment honestly made me laugh, always nice when that happens 😁

@ontheroad_again

28 күн бұрын

Sad to see yet another popular YT channel promote the misleading Surfshark protection claims.

In the 1970's we had both a CJ5 and a Volkswagen Thing. Living in the upper Midwest we used them in various weather conditions and terrain. The CJ5 was a real farm vehicle were as the Thing was more of a fun ride and something to tinker around with. The Jeep was a better tool on the farm, but as a teenager the Thing was much better for pulling girls because it was unique, goofy and orange! We must have looked like a strange cartoon military every hunting season when we would be dressed up in blaze orange, carrying rifles, and riding around the countryside in a blaze orange Thing.

@DivAgent556

29 күн бұрын

My dad had a Thing and I remember it growing up. It was burnt orange. Fun memories riding in the back as a small kid. We had it until 1998 or so when my brother T-boned it in high school....and then my sister did the same thing to a Nova and Grand Torino...yeah...clearly the favorite kid ha!

@amorkunas9071

26 күн бұрын

I had a 1973 Volkswagen 181 Thing. Fun car, fun to drive. If you're the industrious type you can drop an old Porsche engine in it, or with a little finagling a wrx engine.

@WoodyXRay

25 күн бұрын

Just this past week I saw a ‘73 VW THING for sale in North Conway NH. Looked to be in good shape. I remember that my Dad’s friend had new one about that time when I was in High School.

@MeYou-yz2yz

7 күн бұрын

They were badged as Kubelwagons in Europe.

When "The Thing" came out in the U.S. I was just starting my first "real" job and I wanted one. The young lady I was seeing at the time said she would not go out with me in it even though I had a 64 Beetle at the time. Fast forward about 5 years.... Shoulda bought the Thing.

@basshead.

28 күн бұрын

Your ex gf had a better taste in cars than you lol.

@markdraper3469

28 күн бұрын

@@basshead. It all worked out though, A string of disappointing cars is still cheaper than one disappointing relationship.

@basshead.

28 күн бұрын

@@markdraper3469 Probably cheaper too.

@tomhenry897

27 күн бұрын

Needed a hard top for Iowa

@tomhenry897

27 күн бұрын

The VW be around longer then her

Had a mid 70’s Thing for a few years. Anytime my buddies and I would leave to anyplace in it one of them would always . “Shultz, to the Squad Car”

The legacy of the Type 82 was also built into the VW van in 1949 - to get extra ground clearance they used offset stub axles at the front and an extra pair of reduction gears at the rear. That dropped the overall gear ratio (useful to let the van carry more weight) and gave more ground clearance too. Great video, thank you!

@fastinradfordable

Ай бұрын

Some things had the bus gear reduction in the rear I think !

@kayangevare981

19 күн бұрын

Did they use the same shiftknob by any chance?

7:43 Poor dude in the back definitely got a concussion from his head slapping the side of the jeep! 😮

@NoahSteel-wx8ry

Ай бұрын

I saw that too lol 😅

@ssgtmole8610

Ай бұрын

Worse ride I ever had in a vehicle was in the back of a Jeep with a rag top. Bloody roof kept flapping up and down ever so slightly attached to its support frame and creating constant waves of changing pressure. I had to lay down on the back seat to avoid some of the effect it was having on my sinuses on a 90 minute trip. 🤯

@aaronbollinger5642

Ай бұрын

dam shut rang his bell had to watch it several times at 1/4 speed and if u blink you miss it but omg hes probably spitting out teeth after that ive seen that footage all my life from time to time never seen that until now. I cant unsee it now

@robertcamble3543

27 күн бұрын

Dem guys really know how test a suspension .

@clivestainlesssteelwomble7665

26 күн бұрын

You definitely don't want a vehicle that curves in at the top ... Best off-road design probably the 1984 Wooden bodied Africars . 🇬🇧 . 4-6 wheelers. Citroen / hydrogas suspension..

After the war, VW converted remaining Kübelwagens into VW Beetles. That was simply because the chassis and engine are the same. The oldest VW Beetle still operational in Germany was an officially converted VW Kübelwagen.

@spinnetti

6 күн бұрын

There were differences... greater ground clearance for one.

I own a replica Kubelwagen. I drive it like I stole it.

@mho...

Ай бұрын

yeeeah?! does it have an Ü ?

@sirrobinofloxley7156

Ай бұрын

Pulling up to friends saying "Get in, we're saving Europe von Communismus"

@dylanrocha2442

Ай бұрын

As you should sir…as you should.

@WestSideGorilla1980

Ай бұрын

Three 3 whiskey's....

@davidthomspson9771

Ай бұрын

I built one too,tube chassis though.with vw tunnel bus trans,and 2180cc motor😂

Random fun fact: when the UN was deciding what to do with Volkswagen, they offered to sell it to Ford for $100,000. Ford politely declined the offer saying they weren't interested.

@MaticTheProto

Ай бұрын

Ford makes a lot of bad products and decisions

@trevdagg

Ай бұрын

That's surprising, considering Henry Ford was a known eugenics supporter and admirer of one Mr Hitler. I suppose he just didn't think taking over a brand so strongly tied to the Nazis after the they lost the war would be good for sales

@timewave02012

28 күн бұрын

💀

@tomhenry897

27 күн бұрын

Surprised

@arffadailey8055

27 күн бұрын

Apparently Henry said something like."Who would want to drive that little shitbox"

I was a concript in the early 80the and the Bundeswehr still used after war produced Kübelwagens. They had to compete offroad with the unbeatable Zwei Tonner Unimog, and the Kuebels did pretty good. The Kuebel was never much else than the a Beetle on steroid. But it was astonishing to see how good this simple car did offroad

@allandavis8201

25 күн бұрын

Unimog was a wonderful piece of kit, during the 80s and 90s we had them in the BAOR (British Army of the Rhine) it was so versatile and most importantly it worked.

i remember the VW Thing ads that in part said, "You can drive it with the roof on. You can drive it with the roof off. You can drive it with the doors on. You can drive it with the doors off." It's hard to imagine any vehicle today advertising the ability to drive with it's doors off !:-)

@weirdshibainu

Ай бұрын

Jeep

@petesheppard1709

Ай бұрын

I think it was US vehicle safety and pollution laws that killed it in the States.

@theladyfingers___

Ай бұрын

It's a selling point on the Ford Bronco.

@user-xv9tj3dl2o

Ай бұрын

Boing, I mean Boeing :)

@pauliewalnuts240

Ай бұрын

The main reason it's not more common in modern cars is that doors have tons of wiring for all the electronic controls housed in the door. Modern car doors are also much heavier as your avg vehicle is larger today then in the past.

There is a great story about how the Schwimmwagen saved VW, I think it came from the book "Small Wonder, the Story of Volkswagen". It seems that right after the war ended some Italians ever visiting the VW factory to see if there was any of their equipment that had been stolen by the Nazis. There was, it was a big press and if VW lost it they wouldn't have been able to continue. So the VW top brass gave the Italians the grand tour, feeding them PLENTY of wine, and they were driven around plant in a Schwimmwagen. Before they got to the plant where the machine was located the Germans had managed to get the Italians quite drunk... and without warning they drove the Schwimmwagen into the river. The Italians were quite shaken up, decided they'd had enough. and left, without ever seeing the stolen machine.

@sirrobinofloxley7156

Ай бұрын

@@JeffDeWitt 😂😂 great story bro

@justinbruck9602

26 күн бұрын

Peak kleptomania

@rescue270

13 күн бұрын

@@JeffDeWitt I read that story in that book. Actually they were French inspectors in search of a butt welding machine that was crucial to production, since no sheets of steel long enough to make the roof section were available at that time. They had to butt weld two sheets together to make the roof. Their original German machine had broken down and could not be repaired due to an inavailability of parts for it. Somehow they had procured the very same French machine the inspectors were looking for. The Wolfsburg factory was under British control at that time. After making their visit into a real party and getting them drunk, they put them into a Schwimmwagen and took them on a wild whizzing ride through the factory and then out into the water and cruised up and down the river, at which time "the bilge plug just happened to come out, and our vehicle just happened to sink." No longer amused, the soaked inspectors insisted on seeing the butt welder NOW. At that point the British Colonel took them, still soaking wet and half drunk, to inspect the welding machine. He showed them the old broken one and they just said "this isn't it," and left. Their French machine was covered with tarps and sitting right next to the broken one. I've often wondered if that Schwimmer is still at the bottom of the river...

@JeffDeWitt

13 күн бұрын

@@rescue270 Cool! It's only been something like 35 years since I read that book, so it's not surprising I don't remember all the details, thanks!

@rescue270

13 күн бұрын

@@JeffDeWitt Thank you! I forgot to mention that the Germans had stolen lots of industrial equipment from France during the occupation. After the war ended, France wanted that stuff back and had sent inspectors to Germany to track down and recover any and all that remained of the stolen items. That butt welder was on their list.

The US GIs appropriated enough of these that an English language maintenance guide was published. Apparently the independent suspension and longer wheelbase made them much more comfortable than the solid axle Willys.

@Pavlos_Charalambous

Ай бұрын

The US occupation forces made serval orders of kubelwaggens and other beetle variants for utility vehicles

Looks like the Opel Blitz might also be worth a shot/video

@Kaltagstar96

Ай бұрын

That'd be really interesting.

@ReggaeGandalf86

27 күн бұрын

That story is way more interesting because the opel was on one side and the chevy (same car) was on the other.

@morrisminor56

26 күн бұрын

and the WW2 German ford trucks

@thenevadadesertrat2713

26 күн бұрын

My boss had one of those, also an Opel Kapitan.

As long as there were privates around to push, pull, and dig it out of the Russian mud... it could go anywhere.

@phantom0456

25 күн бұрын

Heh… yep. Lack of 4wd really hurt it relative to the US Jeep 😂

@williamzk9083

25 күн бұрын

@@phantom0456 Actually the lack of 4WD did not harm it much. There was a 4WD system for kubelwaggon but it was mainly used on schwimmwaggon with only a few used on beetles or kubelwaggons. 1 Due to the rear engine bulk of the weight was over the rear traction wheels thus giving good traction. 2 The independent suspension meant it was more likely to have all wheels on the ground than the jeep. 3 The rear differential was self locking while that of the jeep wasn't. A jeep could end up teetering on mainly two diagonally opposite wheels and have no traction while the kubelwaggon differential would lock and give good traction on the remaining wheel. The VW had 70% the weight, used 70% of the fuel and carried 4 instead of 2 plus it had a 'boot'. You could build and fuel 3 VW for the cost of two jeeps and transport 12 instead of just 4.

@callsigndd9ls897

22 күн бұрын

@@williamzk9083 Yes, and another important aspect: In the depths of the Russian winter at 104°F, (-40°C) a water-cooled jeep would not survive. The air-cooled Kübelwagen did not care. In addition, the high side walls and lockable doors in the Russian mud peliod (Rasputiza) were an advantage..

I had plenty of experience with the M-151 jeep and for your average 18-25 year old serviceman its really no problem making your way into the back seat of a jeep. That said if I had a choice to own a willies jeep or kubelwagen from WWII I would pick the kubelwagen hands down just because it just looks so cool and would be simpler to maintain since it largely uses still common VW car parts.

@williamzk9083

25 күн бұрын

US troops like to commandeer a few VW alongside their jeeps. If only for the fact it could transport 4 instead of 2 and had glove compartments and a storage boot.

I had the type 181 civilian version called VW Thing in North America , which I hot roded with a stroker 140hp type 1 engine with a beefed up trans , wide rear tires , etc . The big advantage I would say was its excellent ride quality where I could drive fast off road with it soaking up the bumps with ease , unlike the Jeep that like gave many soldiers spinal cord injuries. I pity the poor bastards that were forced to make the Army videos bucking over the test track . In closing the 181 was one of my favourite vehicles I ever owned .

@Apollyon67

24 күн бұрын

I had the pleasure of working on one with electrical issues. This was back in the eighties. Oh what fun that was. Bright Yellow that stood out like a sore thumb.

Volkswagen REALLY wanted to cut the Nazi-image lose when they created the 181 for the Bundeswehr. Thus, the model (which became "The Thing" in the US), was officially named the Kommandowagen (Command car). Except it took about 4 minutes for the Bundeswehr (and soon everyone else too) to call it a Kübelwagen, which leads to some confusion nowadays as the Kübelwagen and the 181/Thing are very much not the same car.

@sirrobinofloxley7156

Ай бұрын

@@Happymali10 and the spoils of war went to, whom?

@RonnieRawdawg

Ай бұрын

Kubelwagen is kubelwagen

@brittakriep2938

Ай бұрын

Kübel is a kind of large bucket, in context of military vehicles the word Kübel was used for the military type of seats. Kübelwagen was also used for other offroad cars. Even odernary civilian cars, sligtly transformed for military use sometimes Had been called Kübelwagen. The transformation of ordinary cars: Offroad tyrres, No steel dorors , Kübel seats.

@wolf310ii

25 күн бұрын

Actually the Kübelwagen was the only german military car that wasnt a Kübelwagen, because it didnt had bucket seats.

@wolfganggugelweith8760

25 күн бұрын

@@RonnieRawdawgKuebelwagen or Kübelwagen

Fuel comparison: Jeep goes 23miles per gallon while the Kübelwagen goes 30miles per gallon

@lastguy8613

Ай бұрын

Doesn't matter if you don't have enough gallons

@TinyBearTim

Ай бұрын

@lastguy8613if you don’t have much fuel it matters a lot how much fuel it uses

The Kubelwagen also had a plated bottom so it could sleigh over snow.

When I was a kid in the 1970s, you could buy a civilian version of this. When I was a teenager in the 1980s, one of my friends had one. It was called the "THING."

Thanks to Simon I now fully understand the phrase “comparing apples to oranges”. This is why I turn to KZread for my learnin’

TY simon. The VW's all had Independent suspention , so nothing but a big skid plate underneath. "Floatation" over soft terrain was achieved in this way.

@thenevadadesertrat2713

26 күн бұрын

Also tension bar shocks. Unheard of before VW. Porsche wantedtthem.

My Dad brought back from his service in the US Army in WWII the TM E9-803 technical manual on the Kubelwagen. I still have it. It was published on 6 June 1944. It was put out so American soldiers could use the vehicle.

I heard a veteran say that the great thing about the Kubelwagen was that it was so light that if it got stuck somewhere, a hand full of men could lift it out of the mud and carry it to solid ground again.

@rm5902

27 күн бұрын

True Thus th bathtub bottom design

@drg5352

18 күн бұрын

Back in the day, one of the teachers at my school drove a VW, and some of the high schoolers would play pranks on him by picking up his car and moving it from where he parked. A couple times it got hid behind one of the buildings.

I find it amusing in a video about the Kubelwagen that the video clips showing vehicle assembly (6:30 is the second appearance) are from the NSU factory in Neckarsulm showing the assembly of the SdKfz 2 kleines Kettenkraftrad - the railings on the rear seat area are distinctive.

Intermeccanica of Canada has been producing a Kubelwagen replica since 1995.

@tomhenry897

27 күн бұрын

Hand made so only 60 made

I rarely, if ever see kugelwagen on the roadways, but they were around more years ago. I knew nothing about them as a child, except they were wildly different and cool looking. I always wanted one, but no longer, as pick-up trucks have advanced so well and are (at the time that I got mine) the absolute best bang for the buck. Thanks Simon for filling in one of my childhood gaps.

@NoahSteel-wx8ry

Ай бұрын

Pick-up trucks are currently incredibly expensive 😅

@tomhenry897

27 күн бұрын

Thank biden

How the Beatle became the Thing.

@obelic71

Ай бұрын

correction Kubelwagen MKII thanks to the British

@globalcitizen8321

Ай бұрын

VW Type 82 (Kübelwagen) is not the same as a VW Type 181 (the Thing)

@jetwrench2854

Ай бұрын

@@globalcitizen8321 agreed, but it is it's direct ancestor. Still a cool machine.

@ArnoSchmidt70

Ай бұрын

One could say the Kübelwagen was the father of the beetle, the thing was it's younger cousin.

@obelic71

Ай бұрын

@@ArnoSchmidt70 the KDF wagen was first! There was a compensation scheme after WW2 for people who save money to get a KDF car. Only after WW2 the VW Beertle Type 1 emerged

Having owned three Jeeps and driven my wife’s Thing, they are both great. The Thing took crappy roads like a champ. It was sparsely equipped but was did what was needed.

Perhaps the first good video I've seen talking about the Kübelwagen. As someone who's restored a replica Kübel, its history is something of a special interest of mine, so it's nice to see someone finally do it justice. It's always so goofy seeing articles saying "The German's answer to the Jeep" when the Kübelwagen started production before the Jeep was even designed...

What’s missing from this documentary, is the Nazis never made any of the Volkswagens they promised. They collected millions in instalments from ordinary people for these cars in the future, but barely made 100 for Party officials and promotional use before the invasion of Poland. During WWII a few hundred of the classic curved panels were bolted to Kübelwagen chassis for use by the Gestapo and oddly the Alpine Corps. Real mass production of the *Beetle* only begins after the British military handed to factory over to Wolfsburg council and other investors (this is a town that didn’t exist pre-war, taking its post-war name from a nearby castle) and made the most mass produced car in post-war Europe. What makes a car model, its panelling and design, its chassis, its transmission and engine? Almost any pictures of WWII cars that look like classic Beetles are Kübelwagen with Volkswagen panelling and weren’t in private ownership beyond the Nazi elite.

@fastinradfordable

Ай бұрын

Yea and America gives more money in aid each year than our national debt. Govt sucks. But it wasn’t VW who collected money. It was people. The people building the car were equally screwed. What we know as VW was what was built up after the great war

@davidjustice1848

29 күн бұрын

That's interesting. Sounds like Hitler conned the German people out of there money in order to fund his quest for power. I'd like to hear more about that. If you know of any youtube chanels

I really expected to see the VW civilian jeep 'the thing' at the end the look is so similar to the military version... you don t need to say a thing! ha, ha cha ba duo [good enough]

I love the older Volkswagen vehicle's. Like Beetle, Karmann Ghia, Van, The 181 Thing and definitely Type 82 Kubelwagen.

@Mark-yy2py

26 күн бұрын

Had a 1968 and 1974 VW bug convertible. Regret getting rid of the 74, to this day. I sold it in 1985 😢

@ShawnStafford-1978

26 күн бұрын

@@Mark-yy2py Sorry.

@Mark-yy2py

26 күн бұрын

@@ShawnStafford-1978 yeah, thanks. At the time I sold it I was in the Air Force and I had orders for Germany. The dollar to Deutsche Mark rate very favorable, so after I sold it and arrived to Germany, I wanted a Porsche 911, but I ended up buying a 1981 BMW 3 series with a 5 speed, 30,000 km on the odometer for only $3500. Great car, but I missed my bug.

@ShawnStafford-1978

26 күн бұрын

@@Mark-yy2py I miss our old VW vehicle's.

I bought a Volkswagen 181 from a school teacher in 1992; she had purchased it directly from VW and it was in excellent shape. The 181 is just a Beatle with a chassis adjusted to military needs, so it was slow, reliable (my dad drove a different model once from Warry , Nigeria to Bremen, Germany back in the Eighties) and ideally suited for fun rides with loads of tipsy and pretty students through the wine yards around Freiburg, the most romantic town in Germany. Mine was green, but it looks gentle and inviting in any color whatsoever.

No mention of the Volkswagen Thing?

@matthewdavies2057

Ай бұрын

You still see them around Los Angeles CA. Mostly in junk yards.

@jeffdroog

Ай бұрын

Probably because the video is specifically NOT about that vehicle.Weird how that happens lol

@ArnoSchmidt70

Ай бұрын

The Thing was a post war development based on the beetle while the Kübelwagen was more or less a parallel development of the beetle.

@cartoonerystudios

27 күн бұрын

@@jeffdroog But it WAS. Weird how that happens.

Simon, they sold those in the US (73'74) as the Thing. It was the Type 181 at that point. The 181 was sold internationally from 1968 to 1983.

@Wally56S

Ай бұрын

Having had a Thing, it wasn't quite the same thing.

@AtheistOrphan

Ай бұрын

No. The Type 82 Kubelwagen featured here was a different, much earlier car.

Civilian versions produced from '69-'74 as Things, Safaris and a few other marketing names for different countries. I've a '74. The German Army bought a few hundred, maybe more, some outfitted as police patrol cars. It was a sympathy purchase and the army went with a larger vehicle called the Iltis (capital i l t i s). Mine's yellow, four door convertible windshield folds down doors come off easily It's a hoot.

At some point during the war the U.S.Army printed a maintainance manual for the Kubelwagan detailing how to keep it running and serviced. I discovered this on line while looking for something else. I did read it and it was very comprehensive. It was published in 1944 as I remember.

You forgot that the Type 82 was the foundation of private aviation in Europe after the war. With the country strewn with abandoned Kübelwagen, its 1100 ccm engine was readily available for home built aircraft.

4wd/awd is now crutch and warm blanket to people that don't know how to drive in poor conditions. Yes in very severe snow/mud conditions it's helpful, but I've got multiple 4wd work trucks temporarily stuck in deep snow from bottoming out on the snow. I also drove my rwd S10 through Canadian winters on Ottawa streets with no issues.

@lancerevell5979

27 күн бұрын

For most drivers, all 4X4 does is allow them to get stuck further out in the boonies. 😅

THey were an interesting... thing, but they weren't four wheel drive. That's what made the Jeep far superior. Four driven wheels will get you a lot further than two. The Jeep could also haul about twice as much payload.

@546268

Ай бұрын

@@rayceeya8659 being good off road is about more than just 4wd. Thanks to its superior suspension design and superior ground clearance the kubelwagen was a match for the jeep in most off road situations, and superior in some.

@morstyrannis1951

Ай бұрын

Did you watch the video?

@rayceeya8659

Ай бұрын

@@morstyrannis1951 Yep and I stand by what I said. The Jeep had twice the HP, twice the traction and could haul twice the load in a smaller package. Sorry VW fanboy. Your tears are delicious BTW.

@secondchance6603

Ай бұрын

@@rayceeya8659 'Sorry VW fanboy. Your tears are delicious BTW.' Grow tf up kiddo.

@546268

Ай бұрын

@@morstyrannis1951 yes, obviously

28.000 dollars for the rare tank variant?? That was a steal for whoever purchased it.. Absolutely worth a lot more in the proper circles i'd wager

Interesting that those learned publications called it germanys answer to the jeep, when it was actually designed well before the jeep.

@NoahSteel-wx8ry

Ай бұрын

Both created prototypes and were largely developed in the early 1940’s.

@546268

Ай бұрын

@@NoahSteel-wx8ry the first jeep prototype was in late 1940. development of the kubelwagen started several years before that.

@giulioespositi9052

29 күн бұрын

​@@546268.....Absolutely true😊

I think it's pretty funny that my 2018 2 door jeep and the WW2 jeep have the same rated towing capacity

@Aspen7780

27 күн бұрын

I love referring to the CJ-5 as a 1/4 ton utility truck. Drives like an old truck too. Big difference from the sports car-like modern jeeps.

Always interesting. Correction: post-war the British ordered 20,000 kdf-Wagens, not Kubelwagens. However, these used newly-produced civilian kdf-wagen body on type-82 running gear, a lot of it being left-over war production. The high-clearance cars seen at 13:57 - 14:04 were part of this production run rather than 4WD Type 87s as implied by their placement in the video.

I nicknamed my Mk1 Jetta "Kubel" in honor of it's heritage.

I have to say that I love that body style. I've always wanted a type 181.

@obelic71

Ай бұрын

The VW Type 181 is the Kubelwagen MKII. After WW2 tne British and the new Bundeswehr needed a small military car. They used the civil VW 1947 chassis and some moulds from the Kubelwagen MKi The VW Iltis (in use in several NATO countries) could be seen as a the Kubelwagen MKIII

At 7:46 that unfortunate soul brains himself on the rail. That was a serious injury

Several years ago a fully restored 1944 Type 166 Shwimmwagen sold at auction on the Bring A Trailer website for $152,000. I wanted one... until I saw that! 😮

@546268

Ай бұрын

@@alanm.4298 yeh I think that’s the going rate

I have five of the VW type 183 the Iltis . This solved many of the apparent problems as it is four wheel drive , 90 horse power and has independent four wheel suspension with a tow hook . Problems solved except they are very hard to get parts for !

25 h.p?!? THE ACCELERATION IS KILLING ME!!!

@ZombiePumps

Ай бұрын

Mine had 13hp 😂

The latter day Kubelwagen's 1970's progeny, the balloon tired, VW styled beach buggy, was able to 'beetle' it's way effortlessly over sand rutted beach exits on Queensland's Fraser Island. This was a common sight when I visited the world's largest sand Island in the 1970'/80's. Virtually all other, all terrain competition could well be, 'bodied out' and stuck, or axle deep and wheel spinning helplessly at the identical location. I am surprised that WWII German technology didn't equip the venerable Kubelwagen with a similar, elegant BB styled, wheel/tire alternative.🙂

Fun fact: The original VW beetle and its military counterpart had a 50:50 weight distribution thanks in part to Porsche's racing background. Thankfully this didn't translate into good off-roading performance since in wet and muddy conditions it wouldn't have enough traction on the rear wheels to dig itself out. Even more thankfully this is why I am alive today and hence this comment here 😂

The name is by the way derived from its tub (German Kübel) shaped seats.

Funfact: The Kübelwagen is actually no Kübelwagen. Kübel translates to bucket and refers in this instance to the seating. The Horch in the video was a Kübelwagen, because you sit in a Kübelsitz, a bucket seat, which holds you in place. It takes actually an effort to fall out. Therefore no doors were needed. The problem with those bucket seats: They are way to expensive and heavy. So Porsche made it a normal car, but kept the name. This is all explained in the video of the Deutsches Panzermuseum. The automatic English caption are quite good, just remember to turn them on.

I remember when they started selling them in the 70's as the Volkswagen Thing.

I've read stories from Afrika Core veterans who say the VW was the only really reliable vehicle in the desert. No radiator to keep filled, drivetrain is not exposed to being bent by dunes etc. As long as the oil was topped up and the vents let air flow it would run.

@lancerevell5979

27 күн бұрын

"Corps".

@davidkermes376

27 күн бұрын

@@lancerevell5979 "korps."

@Bumper776

27 күн бұрын

The ones used by the Afrikakorps had tires that looked like big doughnuts.

@mikefromvernon

25 күн бұрын

@@Bumper776 Well of course they would use sand tires in the desert. You see that on the Baja racers.

The Kubelwagen and early Beetle suffered from a hot cam with angled lifters, that made a fundamental cam impossible. This was mindless Ferdinand Porsche's idea. He was a racecar builder, and like it or not, everybody got a racecar motor. This problem was finally fixed with the second type of 1200 motor, that could be fitted into any type 1 running chassis. I was unaware of the aluminum body, although it's framework was pipes.

The Type 82/3 looks like what was called Attrape (plural : Attrapen). Attrapen were dummy tanks used for tactical training purposes. As Germany was explicitly forbidden to build tanks, the German Army used Attrapen to train soldiers in mechanised tactics. They continued, even after discarding the Versailles constraints, as it was cheaper than tanks for exercises where the actual mechanical issues were not a factor in the assessment of succes of the exercise.

Kubels are featured in a lot of war movies such as Valkyrie and Last Crusade to name two.

@dunzjos9754

Ай бұрын

What about the Monuments Men, with trailer 🙂

Great video, but I'm a little saddened that they didn't mention the VW Thing/ Safari/Trekker.

The original VW was "prepay" on compulsory wage deductions of many categories of German workers. Needless to say, the number of paid up workers who were to eventually receive their wheels was a very tiny grouping indeed. Various methods were tried later to eventually make whole the victims of the swindle. Bavaria used interest acumulating bonds which were one of the final payouts made and the books closed.

I recall an updated civilian Kubelwagen being manufactured in the late 60s or early 70s. On a recent trip to Bali I saw two such vehicles being used.

In my armytime (1979-2001 Danish Army) we had both the updated Jeep (M138 and M151) and the updated Kübelwagen (VW 181). The Jeep was a superior vehicle in difficult terrain, but the VW was close and at a fraction of the cost. The VW had only 2x4 drive, but the differential lock and the smooth "bottom" was almost as good, and you had regular seats for four, unless radiosets took up the rear seats. Privately I drive a SUV (I'm a passionate hunter) as they usually come with 4x4, but I would be happy with a regular car with a smooth "bottom" and a differential lock, and perhaps a slightly heightend chassis. But you can't get such a vehicle - the car companies insist on selling relatively expensive SUVs with largely redundant 4x4.

missed a bit of legacy... in 1968 the new west german military was in need of more jeeps... VW dusted off the old shematics threw in a new motor and tweaked a few things, called it Modell 181 and that became a thing... nicknamed THE THING

The tv show "Combat Dealers" did a rough test comparison between the Jeep and Kübelwagen. The jeep was better at speed but the Kübelwagen was better cross-country and more comfortable

There is a company in British Columbia that hand builds new kubelwagens.

the amphibian one is just fascinating. I wonder how well it worked, given the performance of other alleged amphibian vehicles like the BMP.

@rm5902

27 күн бұрын

Calm waters best

Jeep:Simply much as possible. Kubelwagen:Ergonomics and real used friendly thinking.

The Type 166 Schwimwagon was 4x4 design by Porsche.. The Kubelwagon: Bucket Car was a Bug with a military top

'Kubelwagem' translates into "Tub Car" FYI 😀

I love the Kubelwagen ❤ - the light weight , short cut offs , higher clearance , rear engine , soft top , off road - and this presentation ( and images ) is the best I have come across . Thanks and well done! You would think a modern iteration of it using newer ( ? hybrid engine ,AWD , carbon fibre body) would be worth a shot, maybe with a “ Schwimmwagen” option , and spare tyre on the front bonnet

55,000 Kubelwagons vs 650,000 Jeeps. German manufacturing never managed to meet the scale that the allies managed with their production.

The Jeep (GP) was based on the Bantam automobile and was built in weeks. Design won. It had the Willis Go Devil engine. Built by Ford and Willis

Best of the two is No3, the Schwimmkübel 😉 it's swims and has 4x4

@davidthomspson9771

Ай бұрын

Schwimmwagen was 4×4 in first gear only...to climb river banks

The Kubelwagen must have been an early ancestor of the Volkswagen Thing.

Another video! Happy Saturday to us

several of my friends would take Volkswagen things and try to make them look like a kibel. Lots of fun. In my hometown of Galveston Texas in the 70s the police department owns several Volkswagen things for the beach patrol and I believe the US post office used them sometimes.

Perhaps you should have explained that "Kübelwagen" means "bucket car", due to the bucket seats they were fitted with.

Had a neighbor in the 80's that had a VW Thing. Good thing it had a roll cage because a palm tree fell on it after a storm and that roll cage took a real beating but the car was mostly ok.

One thing you do not mention is the fact that the Kübelwagen is not really a Kübelwagen because this would have meant it would have been issued with Kübel seats which it didn't have. A Kübel seat meant that you as a passenger would have been confined into a narrow seat which prevented you from falling out if the car went through rough terrain. The so-called Kübel hat traditional seats, so it wasn't a true Kübel. Check out the video from the German Panzer museum that'll explain it to you

Without the type 82 there would be no Audi quattro either

@jeffdroog

Ай бұрын

That's inherently wrong lol

@angusdewar5933

Ай бұрын

@@jeffdroog how so? Without the type 82 you wouldn't have had the iltis (type 183) which is the inspiration for the Audi quattro

Very slightly better break over angle, ground clearance, and even being way lighter doesn’t excuse 2WD. You can be stuck in 2 inches of snow on flat ground without 4WD. (Ask me how I know)

@callsigndd9ls897

22 күн бұрын

I know what you mean, I've been driving 4WD myself for 20 years, but in contrast to the 4WD Jeep with rigid axles, the Kübelwagen had a limited-slip differential and independent suspension with better grip of the drive wheels, which compensated for the advantage of the 4WD Jeep. The Kübelwagen was also lighter (aluminium) and the main weight (engine) was on the drive axle.

We had the Iltis in Canada. Made in Germany. It is a direct descendant. Much loved by Canadians. We drove the shit out of it lol.❤😂

This is one of my favorite cars.

Dude 4wd is a thing,one is a car the other is an off road vehicle.

You’ve never been off-roading have you? Compare an early, lightweight Jeep with mud tires to a VW Baja bug with mid tires and 1/3 the power and there would be no comparison. In wintery, muddy conditions, the 4x4 and extra power wins, hands down.

@546268

Ай бұрын

@@larzlarz1140 not necessarily. It’s also about suspension, weight, ground clearance and gearing. That’s why an x5 is crap off road but a 2cv is really good. The kubelwagen was more than a match for the jeep.

I feel sorry for those soldiers that had to sit in those Jeep's as they drove over those big bumps. I have to wonder how many of them ended up with a bad back after that crazy drive

was Ferdinand trying to pull an Oskar Schindler? "oh yeah. right on guys..." goes into his office and makes sketches of the 356 for 9 months.

My father was head salesman at the local VW dealership and for the May Day parade we rode in the first Kubelwagen in Canada. Fun fact: I now live across the street from the house we lived in that day.

4 years ago: New channel about Megaprojects! Here is the ISS, 3 Gorges Dam, Manhattan Project, LHC, etc. Today: Here's a modification of an existing VW...

The 1960’s version of der Kubelwagen was the Thing. It won the 1965 Car and Driver Automotive Engineering Malpractice Award.

I actually saw one of those at an air show in the 80s. Not sure if it was original or a replica, but they had it done up in the WW2 paint scheme with the cross on the side. I'm almost certain that the MG34 on the tripod in back was a replica. Still, very impressive level of effort even if it wasn't authentic because it certainly looked it.

@callsigndd9ls897

22 күн бұрын

There was a company in the Czech Republic that made Kübelwagen and Schwimmwagen kits. I don't know if this company still exists though.

A captured Kubelwagen was shipped back to the US and taken apart to create the specifications for developing the Jeep. To say that comparing the two is unfair or calling the Kubelwagen the "Nazi Jeep" would be incorrect. The Jeep is the American Kubelwagen.

I just found this channel. I love that you use the Metric system, not only the dreaded outdated boring inch and feet mesurement. 😅

Like the character George, Kramer would ask you 'how do you do madam'. Nice woman's glasses.

Another Volkswagen you should make an episode on is the Schwimmwagen.

The thing about the length of the Jeep vs a Kubelwagen is the US was shipping these things all over the world. Being slightly smaller has huge advantages when packing on rail cars and on ships.

This was no a Nazi-Jeep, it was the VW-Kuebelwagen of the German Army.