Groovy Kombi kind of love

British rocker Roger Daltry and The Who autographed a VW Kombi and auctioned it for child cancer research. Photo / Supplied

About 12 months ago Volkswagen's marketing people in New Zealand were saying 15 million couples had had sex in hatchback Golf models since the first was launched 35 years ago.

It said too that 12 million children had fallen asleep on the seats of the car over the years. It didn't say how many of the 12 million kids were conceived by the 15 million couples.

Its research didn't go as far as the couples did. Nor did it contemplate how much more mischievous the sex statistics would have been had VW continued with the North American name for the first-generation Golf - Rabbit.

It changed Rabbit to Golf for the second-generation model. Generation three, four and five have been Golfs. Had they been Rabbits, VW would now be saying that 15 million couples have had sex over 35 years in a car called Rabbit.

The cheeky sex stuff was part of VW's advertising campaign for the sixth-generation Golf, on sale in New Zealand for about a year now.

VW didn't say that Golf VI could be used as an emergency love shack for three million couples worldwide. But do the sums: at this time last year it was five Golfs, 15 million couples. Now it's six Golfs and counting.

When the seventh Golf turns up in 2012, VW can claim the previous six generations have served the intimate needs of 18 million couples over 38 years.

But back the bus up a bit ... to March 15, 1950 - or when the carry-all that generations of young New Zealanders came to know as the VW Kombi first appeared in Europe.

And that's pretty much when, in a tangle of arms and legs in a restless post-war period, it quickly earned its reputation as a love shack on wheels.

It was set forever in stone in the 1960s as freewheeling transport for a free-loving generation hooked on music and marijuana and whatever their parents and the president didn't like.

Yep, the Kombi is 60 years old this week. VW as yet hasn't come out with sex statistics for the van - but it's a sure bet that no one under age 60 will dispute the findings.

Again, do the sums: 10 million Kombis over six decades ... any advance on 100 million coupling couples and counting? How about 250 million?

Websites saluting Kombi's 60th are cropping up daily, along with catchphrases of the 1960s, when California was really dreamin' and born-again Christian Barry McGuire was singing Eve of Destruction, perhaps the most popular protest song of the 60s. It was No1 in the US and No3 in Britain in 1965. It made the top 10 in New Zealand.

An advertising slogan for Kombis in the 70s said: "Not just a vehicle, more a way of life." Many carmakers have tried to copy the original. Some have arguably done a better job, from a packaging and efficiency point of view. But none has succeeded in capturing the Kombi's true essence, whatever body style it came in.

Volkswagen launched the original four-cylinder Kombi van in Europe in 1949. It had a split windscreen, seating for nine, 21 windows, a 1.1-litre air-cooled engine in the rear and was based on a 1947 design by Dutch VW importer Ben Pon. His concept was simple: he sketched a rectangle on top of the existing Beetle platform.

VW introduced it to the American market in 1950, where it was called the Microbus and sold as a station wagon to make it more palatable to consumers who had never heard of using a van for everyday driving.

The carmaker's advertising agency based its campaign on the success of the Beetle's legendary "Think Small" message. Only the Kombi ads told Americans to "Think Tall".

VW America sold more than 325,000 Kombis between 1950 and 1966. They became popular transport for the hippie generation, either as a van, double-cab or pick-up.

In 1967 the second-generation model, called the T2, appeared. The third-generation T3 was launched in 1979. In 1983, VW replaced the air-cooled engine with a water-cooled powerplant. This model was replaced in 1992 by the all-new fourth-generation T4, which came with an engine in the front.

The new Kombi in New Zealand is called the California, based on a reinforced platform of the T5 Transporter. Its aluminium pop-up roof opens at the press of a button. The roof in the original Kombi was made of fibreglass and canvas and had to be physically locked into place.

Like the Beetle, the Kombi has much to do with British Army officer Major Ivan Hirst, who in 1945 kick-started Beetle production at the VW factory in war-torn Germany.

He needed a flatbed truck of sorts to carry stuff around the factory, so he had one built. It had a ladder frame with Beetle axles, a front bed and an open cab above the rear VW flat-four engine. Others followed.

Enter Dutch trader Pon, who was already importing Beetles into Holland. Pon figured the small trucks had a role beyond the VW factory and wanted Hurst to improve on the model. Hurst said no.

Pon persisted, drawing the outline on his notebook of a box-shaped, rear-engined van he believed could be a sales success in the recovering German economy.

Hirst changed his mind and, in 1947, before returning to Britain, passed production plans for the small truck over to VW's new German administrators.

The first drawings were finished in November 1948. The first prototype appeared in March 1949. But tests showed the Beetle chassis wasn't strong enough. VW built a new chassis.

It withstood everything a 12,000km test drive threw at it. The Beetle-based mechanics were reliable and the reduction gears on the rear axle improved ground clearance and performance when fully loaded.

Eight prototypes were built in late 1949 - six panel vans, a window van and a "kombi-nation" window van with seats. A few months later a cultural icon was born.