A historic Volkswagen Type 2 T1 bus departed the company’s Hanover plant for an Austrian buyer sixty years ago. It didn’t spend much time as a van before Viennese mechanic Kurt Kretzner transformed it into a one-of-a-kind all-terrain beast. Kretzner worked for four years on the design and construction of the Half-Track Fox.
The Volkswagen is equipped with four axles. The two in front move the vehicle with 14-inch tyres, while the two in the back have a chain drive mechanism that turns the 13-inch spinning into tracks. The design allows for a 32-foot turning circle for the bus (10 meters).
In the sales brochure, Kretzner described the bus as “an excellent assistant for everyone: mountain hut keepers, hunters, foresters, medics, maintenance engineers for ski-lifts, TV and radio masts, pipelines, and the like.” “I couldn’t find the automobile I was dreaming of,” Kretzner added. As a result, I chose to construct it myself.”
Each tyre was supplied with a brake, and an automatic limited-slip differential was built to help regulate the power, which wasn’t much. The Type 2 T1 was powered by a 1.2-liter engine that produced only 33 horsepower (25 kilowatts). Its top speed was only 56 miles per hour (35 kilometres per hour).
While just one Half-Track Fox remains, Kretzner is thought to have built a second. Only one one, however, has been discovered. It went missing for several years after Kretzner finished it until turning up in the Porsche Museum in Gmünd, Austria. The Bullikartei e.V., a group of first-generation Bulli fans, eventually acquired it. The group attempted to rehabilitate the bus in 2005, but it was unsuccessful.
The Half-Track Fox fell into the possession of Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles in late 2018. The team began a complete restoration process on the bus, even repainting the stripped and repaired exterior bodywork in similar matte orange color. VWCV gave its designers free rein over the interior, which sees beech and pine woods used throughout the cabin. The Half-Track Fox made an official outing in February of this year, traversing through the snow with ease.
Source:Â Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles
