Kubelwagen Replica

[jack neville]

My mate sent me some photos I had long forgotten about so I thought I would post them on here.

About 25 five years ago Robin Mawson and I decided to add a German vehicle to the poorly resourced German sector of the Geelong Military Re-enactment Group. This was some time about 1996 we think.

We decided on a replica Kubelwagen as that was the easiest thing that could be put together with what existed back then in Australia.

Using a derelict 1967 Volkswagen Beetle which was stripped of its body our main reference source was a 1/9th Tamiya plastic model and a heap of photos.

Back then no one was making replica Kubel bodys or panels or any parts that we were aware of and our budget was pretty limited. We just wanted something that resembled a Kubelwagen for re-enacting.

The only genuine Kubelwagen we knew of then belonged in the Australian War Memorial so that was visited for photos and a close up inspection, complete with its upside down mounted spare wheel.

Robin took care of the mechanical work which involved a left hand drive conversion, reversing the pedal cluster and adding the reduction rear drive from a Kombi van and readjusting the suspension torque rods to give the correct ride height.

I took care of the bodywork. A skeletal frame was built up on the chassis using 25mm square tube and pipe and then I formed up panels which were welded directly to this frame. The ribs in the panels were formed using a bead roller after dies were machined to the correct size. The bead roller was identical to one I purchased to make the running boards for my 39 Ford ute recently. At this time I think we hired it for $50 for the job. It worked pretty well and small dies were machined up to press the ends of the ribs.

The kombi were obtained the rear end from was a split screen model and after removing the rear end we cut it up mainly because we had not room or use for it and used some of the body pressings to fashion the rear engine bay area and some other sections I think. I remember a chap coming into the workshop in disgust that we had scrapped such a rare Kombi. I didn't know what a split screen Kombi was nor care at the time but I certainly wish we still had the body now as it was rust free and straight and now would be worth a fortune.

The dash cluster and under dash fuel tank were copied as near as we could do and seats and hood bows and windscreen were all scratch built as near as we could do with the limited detail we could access.