A little more research indicates that this is a VW Plumber's Special.
I saw this passing through my hometown the other day, on a trailer, with some seriously old motorcycles on board.
What's the thing next the single Hella on the brush guard looking thing?
The trim/gasket for the "passenger" side windshield has got to be the unicornest of unicorn parts.
In reply to Woody :
That's truly an odd one.
Looks like an old siren.
I was wondering if that was Mike Wolfe's, but with a NY tag, probably not. The bike behind the cab has a VW engine and it almost looks like the Von Dutch BMVW he bought.
Now that is really cool... I have been going to VW shows for years and have not ever seen one of those...
thatsnowinnebago said:What's the thing next the single Hella on the brush guard looking thing?
That's an old Federal siren.
I thought I was a VW guy, but guess I need to question that now. I had no idea those existed.
even googling doesn't yield much of a result, if you have a hard time finding any info about a car on the interwebs then it has to be super rare.
not a lot of pics out there
In reply to Woody :
Oh cool, thanks.
I wonder what they were designed to carry. If you look up "plumbers special" you get regular buses.
mad_machine said:I wonder what they were designed to carry. If you look up "plumbers special" you get regular buses.
Long pipes.
I've seen flatbed trucks that had extremely narrow cabs so they could carry long loads over the full length of the truck. They're generally a lot more symmetrical than this thing, though.
What is the point of that tiny sliver of "passenger side" windshield?
Looks like a K Loader. That's seriously cool.
Was it a factory configuration or some sort of after market conversion?
Knurled said:mad_machine said:I wonder what they were designed to carry. If you look up "plumbers special" you get regular buses.
Long pipes.
I've seen flatbed trucks that had extremely narrow cabs so they could carry long loads over the full length of the truck. They're generally a lot more symmetrical than this thing, though.
managed to find another picture that shows its use with long objects
TheRX7Project said:What is the point of that tiny sliver of "passenger side" windshield?
I'm gonna assume that it is so they can use the same stock glass for the driver's side, although even that's a little weird. Splittys have flat windshields, so the glass would have been super cheap to get. No glass would have also made a terrible blind spot.
40 years as a VW guy, and I've never seen one of those.
I'm not sure I'd want to drive one of those through narrow London streets with pipes sticking out like that. Seems like an easy way to shish kabob a few pedestrians. 
SVreX said:TheRX7Project said:What is the point of that tiny sliver of "passenger side" windshield?
I'm gonna assume that it is so they can use the same stock glass for the driver's side, although even that's a little weird. Splittys have flat windshields, so the glass would have been super cheap to get. No glass would have also made a terrible blind spot.
40 years as a VW guy, and I've never seen one of those.
Without seeing the inside, I can't be sure, but it looks like the gearshift lever on old buses is centered. It probably needs a little extra room for the gear shift lever. I also wouldn't be surprised, looking at how flat the right side panel is that these were at least partially assembled as a regular VW pickup, then hacked up afterwards. At that point, a small flat piece of glass seems to make more sense then hacking up the center post of the original windshield.
Yes, the gear shift lever is centered.
The reason to make the body cut off-center is clear- gear shift lever, space for the driver, keeping the VW emblem, centered over the "V", etc.
The reason for the sliver of glass is not quite as clear, but I am pretty sure it is for ease of assembly, standard parts, etc.
In reply to edizzle89 :
Did you see there's a Facebook group for these things?
In reply to Pete Gossett :
"Group"??
I see only 1 guy has posted, and only 2 cars are pictured. Lol!!
In reply to SVreX :
Well there obviously aren't that many of these things around. lol
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