The Volkswagen Kübel 181.

Not much to say about this one apart from a few dry facts. It was produced by VW for the German Military as light off-road Vehicle as the Euro-Jeep development (a collaboration of several EU member states) went too slow. In fact it was cancelled at some point… VW developed the 181 with lots of parts from other models. The design clearly was a progression of the famous WW2 Kübelwagen.

It was not only produced for the Bundeswehr but also sold to civilians right from the beginning. It was a bit of a fun car as the off-road capabilities weren’t really impressive. It only had 2-wheel drive, which it inherited from the Beetle. It was a low-maintenance, low-cost, low design car. Something you should use and not look at it because of its beauty. It had a lot of fans and still attracts people today. Maybe it was even a bit of a lifestyle choice. It couldn’t do anything properly but everything reasonably good with minimum effort to be put in.

But all that’s why I like it. Drive a car that actually looks much older than it really is. It also is a very cheap to run convertible with classic Beetle technology. So it should run and run and run and run…

What’s wrong with that?… Exactly. Nothing…