1989 Volkswagen TriStar DOKA Synchro

Several years ago, there was a small automotive shop by my house in Phoenix called Exklusiv Motorsports that specialized in modifying Volkswagens. They had a pair of these big red trucks outside, so one day I took a picture of them. It wasn’t until recently that I learned how rare these things are!

These double-cab Volkswagens were sold in Northern Europe as very basic work trucks, but the TriStars were top-of-the-line models with full interiors, cruise control, power windows, heated seats, and armrests. Even rarer still, both of these trucks are the Synchro models (4WD)!

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Miniature Volkswagen Microbus: “Shorty”

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about Walter: The World’s Largest VW Microbus. Today I bring you the opposite: the smallest Type 2 Microbus!

This pint-sized VeeDub has had its mid-section chopped out, which leaves it with an extremely short wheelbase. It’s like a big go-kart for hippies!

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Electric Conversion VW Rabbit – Revisited

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I was going through some of my photos and found this. It’s the same electric Rabbit that I posted about before, only this is a shot of it driving at 40th Street and Indian School. I had forgotten that I had this picture. It was taken long before I saw it at the Pavilions when I took the pictures for the other post. I now recall seeing it driving around in the Arcadia area all the time about two years ago. Hopefully it’s still driving, but I don’t live around there any more so I couldn’t tell you for sure.

From this photo, the motivation behind the electric conversion is pretty clear. Apparently, it was built in 1993 because “screw OPEC”.

Walter The Bus: World’s Largest Volkswagen Microbus

Is it better to be a big fish in a small pond? Kirk Strawn would say so. He’s the man behind Walter the Bus, a 2:1 scale reconstruction of the classic Volkswagen Microbus. This one-of-a-kind vehicle is the largest known Microbus in the world, and that’s no small feat.

So how do you go about building a super-size version of one of Volkswagen’s most iconic vehicles? Kirk and his friends (known collectively as “Tribe Walter”) spent seven years on the project. They started with a 1963 Walter Crash Truck which was originally in service as an airport rescue vehicle at Luke Air Force Base in Phoenix, Arizona.

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