Two years ago, Volkswagen commemorated the seventy years since the production of the first piece of the T1 model, which ushered in a long era of commercial Transporters that continues to this day. In the history of the T1 series, a number of interesting or special versions were created, and just one of them has now been renovated by a German manufacturer. He calls it the “most technically unusual” attribute, because it has belts instead of rear wheels.
When one of the many T1s left the Volkswagen plant in Hanover in May 1962, nothing very unusual about it. He headed from Germany to Austria, where Viennese VW mechanic Kurt Kretzner soon turned it into perhaps the most unusual T1 ever. He exchanged the classic two axles for four: he provided two rear-wheel drive belts, and two front-mounted ones.
It is clear from the photos that the wheels were significantly smaller than in a production car. 14 inches at the front, the rubbers are additionally provided with a coarse pattern. This is due to movement on unpaved roads. The wheels on the two rear axles, on which the belts are located, then have only 13 inches. Kretzner made the belts themselves. He composed them of aluminum segments with rubber blocks that were two centimeters thick and had the task of protecting the asphalt when the car hit it. He then chose the orange color so that the car could be clearly seen from a distance in the snowy areas.
The unusual creation was nicknamed the “half-belt fox”, and its origin is probably not needed for too long due to its propulsion and color. The impetus for the reconstruction was the lack of supplies in the Austrian mountain areas. They lacked all-wheel drive, or at least something that would make it easier for them to move on more difficult terrain. On the other hand, Kretzner, himself an apparently passionate skier, wanted to build a car with the simplest possible control, so the belts appeared only at the back.
The drive was in charge of a completely standard four-cylinder boxer type with a volume of 1192 cm3 and an output of 25 kW. It is obvious that the “half-belt fox” was no fast. The car was able to drive a maximum of 35 km / h, but thanks to the steerable two front axles, it was able to turn at less than ten meters. The off-road driving characteristics were further improved by the automatic differential lock, which evenly distributed the driving force, and each wheel also received a separate brake.
“The ideal helper for everyone: mountain huts, hunters, foresters, doctors, ski lift maintenance, TV and radio transmitters, product pipelines and the like,” his brochure advertised the unusual car. This could imply that more such cars have been produced, but the opposite is true. According to the carmaker, Kurt Kretzner rebuilt this way until 1968, when he also gradually developed the car, only two T1s, and production stopped for the third car. Only this single piece has probably survived to this day.
It was bought by the Porsche Private Museum in Gmünd, Austria in the early 1990s, and the car came into the hands of the Bullikartei, an association of first-generation T1 fans, also known as Bulli. They also tried to renovate, but it was not completed. And so the “half-track fox” reached the Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles Division in 2018, which finally carefully renovated the car. She then mounted pine and beech wood parts in the interior and also used practical tool holders. Significantly, the renovation was completed in the spring of this year, 60 years since the production of the initial T1.
–
