Volkswagen has a long history of building trucks, but this Volkswagen Type 825 Flatbed is something unusual – even by Volkswagen standards. With all of the recent buzz of Volkswagen debuting the Volkswagen Atlas Tanoak Pickup Truck Concept at the 2018 New York Auto Show, we thought that a unique pickup-ish vehicles from VW’s past would be fun.
There were several variants of the Volkswagen Beetle during World War II including the Kübelsitzwagen (spiritual predecessor to the Volkswagen Thing), Type 128 Schwimmwagen (amphibious) and the four-wheel drive Type 87. Another version, the Type 822 was an ambulance built on the back of the Beetle. This setup was also used with the Volkswagen Type 825 flatbed.
Like many other Type 82 variants, the Volkswagen Type 825 was powered by a 25 horsepower 1,131cc air-cooled engine paired with a four-speed manual transmission. While there is very little data available on the Volkswagen Type 825, it is believed that only a few hundred were made.
While the idea may seem absurd to some, the design was given another chance many years later.
The Domus and Omna kits from the 70’s were a unique take on the pickup/flatbed Volkswagen Beetle with a majority of these kits fitted to Beetles that had modified (Baja) suspensions. Unfortunately, like the Volkswagen Type 825 Flatbed, there is very little information available out there.
If you have any information about these flatbed Beetles, let us know in the comments below!
Fortunately, the Volkswagen Atlas Tanoak Pickup Truck Concept has a full video produced by Andre Smirnov!
